Image by Charles Leslie from Pixabay
A big part of the move to Belize that many expats make involves the logistical hurdle of shipping their belongings into the country. Whether choosing to import goods because they love their stuff, have discovered before moving that certain items aren’t available, or repurchasing items they already have will be costly, there are several ways to do it. I’ve seen this topic pop up in Facebook groups, and it was a big part of my move abroad, so I thought I’d chime in with a post to share my experience importing items into Belize.
It’s a big logistical task, with lots to know, so in this guide, we'll examine the options and the most common items expats bring here. It also isn’t inexpensive, so this guide is aimed at the do-it-yourselfer (like yours truly). I strive to provide you with as much information as possible to smooth the process and hopefully help keep your costs down.
Common Ways to Move to Belize
Shipping Container
Many expats import their personal belongings when they move to Belize to buy or build a house. One effective way to do so is by using a shipping container. For those readers less familiar, a shipping container is a large, standardized metal box used in global trade to transport goods, predominantly by sea, rail, and land. Typically made of steel, shipping containers are weather-resistant and secure, ensuring cargo's safe and efficient movement across long distances. They come in several sizes, the most common being twenty and forty-footers.
Also known as “cargo containers," "freight containers," or "intermodal containers,” shipping containers are a ubiquitous fixture in the Belizean landscape. You can spot the various coloured steel rectangles country-wide in lots, building sites, and developed plots. They are a convenient way to move goods across international borders and make great storage sheds, auxiliary buildings, homes, and even pools!
Depending on your budget and what you plan to load into one, it can be an affordable shipping option, even when purchasing your own. However, the cost to buy and send a container abroad fluctuates and can be pricey sometimes, especially if you don't have enough stuff to fill one. In this case, you can rent a portion of a container, but this has its downsides: your items are more exposed to loss, damage and theft as your times are routinely shuffled around, with loadings and unloadings, compared to having a container of your own that you seal after loading and don’t opened again until its destination.
If you consider bringing items into Belize, using a container is a viable option. A word of caution: Do your research! There is a wide range of pricing. When I looked into this nearly three years ago, I received quotes from a few thousand dollars to over sixty!
Shipping Your Items Out of Country
As I mentioned above, there is a lot of work, organization, and logistical planning involved in shipping your items to Belize, or abroad, for that matter. This process is the same or similar wherever you go, so the following is still a handy guide even if you aren’t moving to Belize. Due to the specific industry nature of this endeavor, I would advise hiring a professional to assist you. I found a local international shipping company from which I used to purchase a container and help with the logistics and bureaucratic process of sending a container full of stuff out of the country.
Renting vs. Buying a Container
An important decision to make early on is whether to rent or buy a container. After extensive research, we decided to purchase a container for the safety of our belongings and the convenience of timing. Since we had enough stuff to fill a twenty-footer, having our own ensured that our stuff would make the trip with minimal handling of the contents. Since we had our own, we would load it and witness the sealing —a little tag placed through one of the four lock brackets. A missing or broken seal indicates that someone opened it.
The Cost of Shuffling
Conversely, many companies quoting the rental option—whether a partial forty or a full twenty—required us to load our belongings into a moving truck for transport to a warehouse. A crew would unload and store everything there until a container became available. They would then load our items into the container for overseas transport. Once in Belize, another crew would unload the contents and store them again until they could be reloaded into a moving truck for final delivery. The whole process felt long-winded and exposed our belongings to innumerable hazards. Since we were building our home and knew it wouldn’t be move-in ready for some time, we would have had to store our items long-term, until they could be packed into a truck and delivered to our home.
Pay for Simplicity
As you can see, that's a lot of shuffling about, which increases the chance of damage, loss, and theft, plus the added cost of storage fees. Once we tallied the cost of both options, we chose to buy a container for a marginal amount more. With that small additional fee, we purchased peace of mind.
*The above is my opinion; your situation is unique, so do your research and choose the best option for your situation, needs, and budget.
Whatever the Option, Prepare for an Involved Process
When planning to ship items via container, there is a multi-step process to consider:
1. A. Packaging Items: Wrapping and boxing items for moving. My wife and I did this ourselves, but packing services are available throughout North America if you have the budget or are time constrained.
1. B. Create a Detailed Manifest: When packing, itemize each box, bin, or crate and record its contents. You will need this for the customs brokers on both ends, and this information determines your import duties, fees, and contents insurance. Be sure to record the estimated value of each item and its replacement value, too. I used a spreadsheet when completing this, making it easy to send the info to domestic and Belizean-based brokers.
When importing items into Belize, you can drastically undervalue all of your used goods, but be sure to make note of the actual replacement value for the ocean freight insurance. Doing so ensures you receive adequate financial compensation to replace your items if something happens to the cargo ship or your container. I’ll touch on costs later in this section.
2. Loading the Container: The container arrives on a trailer hauled by a semi-truck.
Loading requires skill, as you want the container packed as densely as possible. All sorts of machines, including cranes and forklifts, will handle the container throughout its journey. It will also undoubtedly get jostled around on rail, road, and sea. Having a dozen or so ratchet straps during loading helps secure your belongings.
Again, you can hire professionals to do this for you or do it yourself. However, there is often a time limit, so if you do it yourself, you will need assistance. I loaded mine midweek, so soliciting the help of friends and family wasn’t an option as they were all at work. Instead, I hired some local, salt of the earth movers for half a day, and four of us loaded the container thirty minutes shy of the four-hour cut-off.
3. Transportation to Port: Depending on your location, your container may first travel by truck and then by railway into the port of departure, as was the case for us. It traveled by truck from Hamilton to Toronto, then by rail to the port of Montreal.
4. Clearing Domestic Customs: I have no idea of this process as our international shipper handled this part. She did a good job because our container was out of the country in a week or so.
5. Loaded onto Cargo Ship: Self-explanatory.
6. Seabound: Also self-explanatory.
7. Unloaded at the Port of Belize: Nuff said, apart from this caveat: this part of the process is a notoriously inconsistent experience. Some fortunate people, like myself, have their containers swiftly unloaded and sent to their customs broker’s yard, while others experience immense delays after their container gets buried in a pile of unprocessed containers for months on end. When they finally receive work that their container has been processed and is available for official entry into the country, it comes with a fat port storage fee.
8. Receipt By Broker: I have heard that this step doesn’t have to happen, and the broker monitors the inspection process and clears the container right at the port. For whatever reason, our Belize-based customs broker had our container sent directly to their yard, where the inspection took place before delivery to our lot.
9. Transportation to Your Lot or Specified Destination: Our customs broker organized this as part of their services.
10. Unloading the Container From the Trailer: On the day of delivery, my customs broker informed me that the SkyTrak he had organized to unload the containers fell through. In an effort not to reschedule and avoid storage fees at the broker’s yard, I quickly sprung into organization mode. Thankfully, the contractor we hired to complete the foundation work was reachable, and he made some calls to coordinate with a local SkyTrak operator from a site down the road.
When the container arrived, it was too heavy for the lone machine to manage, so we had to solicit the assistance of a second SkyTrak, who worked in tandem with the first to unload the container.
As you can see, it's a lengthy process with many stages and “moving parts.” There is plenty of room for errors, delays, added costs, and logistical hiccups. So if you choose this route, take your time to plan and research and choose the companies that you feel most comfortable with for each phase of the container's journey.
Is it Worth it the Costs of Shipping a Container?
Shipping your belongings to Belize isn’t cheap, so be sure that what you are sending has adequate value or rarity. If you can sell it at home and repurchase it in Belize for a slightly higher cost, it may not be worth bringing it. However, if you have unique furniture pieces, custom home finishes, or a lot of tools like we did, it may make sense to foot the bill.
I have provided some approximate shipping container costs below. Please note that these figures are not only more than two years old, but they are specific to our location in Canada, the contents of the container, the port of embarkation, and the actions of our receiving customs broker at the time. All prices below are in USD.
Ocean Certified Shipping Container: $5,000.00
Transportation & Exporting Cost: $7,000.00
Import Cost- Duties, Taxes and Fees: $8,000.00
Transportation/Delivery: $900
Total= $20,900.00
Now that we thoroughly understand shipping containers and their processes, let's look at other common ways expats import items into Belize.
Mules & Freight Forwarding
Image by ErikaWittlieb from Pixabay
There are several options for bringing items into the country beyond intermodal containers. A straightforward way is to jump on the Belize Mule Group and ask if anyone is making the trip down from Canada, the US, or Mexico. For a fee, ‘the mule’ will pick up, transport, and deliver your item.
There are also freight forwarding companies like Belizean Queen and Arrow Freight that allow you to order US items online from stores like Home Depot, Ikea, and Amazon, or any store with online ordering and delivery, for that matter. When placing your order, you provide the businesses’ mailing address, usually a depot in a major port city like Miami or Houston, and then inform them of your purchase. They box the items up as compactly as possible and ship them into the country for a flat rate per their set package sizes. The fee includes all duties and taxes. I’m unsure how they swing this, but I don’t doubt an institutionalized ‘greasing of palms’ is at play.
The Empty Box Paradox
This arrangement has both its positives and negatives. Since the shipment cost is based on size, it's a cost-effective way to import heavy items. However, if you only have a small item, it’s subject to their minimum box size and fee, which is $30 USD with Belizean Queen. Sometimes, one small item from a larger order gets delayed and doesn’t make the trip with the rest of the items. Unfortunately, if you don't have more items coming with the next scheduled delivery (which is every two to three weeks), they will send them by themselves. We’ve had a small and light package, equivalent to an 8x10 piece of paper, with a value of a few dollars, sent alone in a $30 USD box. It's definitely a bit frustrating at times.
Most expats use these services for smaller, everyday items, but I have heard of people using them to move personal belongings, too. While these companies are viable options for bringing in everyday items, I would contact them and request specific quotes if you plan to import larger household items like furniture or appliances.
Transporting it Yourself
Bringing your items in yourself via land border is another, albeit less common, option. This was also what we did in addition to a shipping container. Since import duties on vehicles are high, my wife and I decided to purchase an old shuttle bus in Canada. We did this for two reasons:
1. It was a great moving van, and 2. The import duties were significantly less than those for regular vehicles because the value was so low; keep all relevant documentation pertaining to the purchase and transfer of ownership for used vehicles from your home country. A quick note for context: in Canada, such vehicles aren’t costly but are quite valuable in Belize.
We loaded the bus with the belongings that didn't fit in the container or that we needed immediately: we had a lot of baby stuff that we didn’t want to be locked up in the container if it took a long time to arrive.
Keep it Cheap
If you plan to do something similar, ensure the bill of sale displays a low value ;). The customs department may refer to the Kelley Blue Book value, but if you have a bill of sale on hand, they will be less likely to charge you duties based on that value. The value of a vehicle like ours was also hard to find (not in KBB), so all they had to go off was our Canadian bill of sale.
While many people don't have much of an issue taking a vehicle or towing a trailer full of stuff over the Mexican border, this was not the case for me. I wrote about this experience on my Substack, so I will keep it short and sweet. Just Google “Transmigrante.”
I will say this: in all my research about driving through Mexico, I did not come across that term or anyone alluding to anything similar to my experience. Even after a retroactive search using specific key terms I now know, I still can’t find much on this. My only advice for someone bringing in a larger load of personal items is to make sure you line up a Spanish-speaking customs broker at the southern border in Texas to put together all relevant documentation before you attempt to make the border crossing into Mexico. Also, plan to budget around $1,000 USD for this process, plus have a small stash of USD bribe money tucked away for opportunistic municipal Mexican police.
The Usual Suspects
Apart from personal items, which can range from household goods, art, appliances, tools, clothing, etc., expats frequently bring pets and vehicles into the country.
Viable Vehicles
Many expats import vehicles and do it over land or by container. It requires a lot of research and organization, whichever option you choose. Be aware that the duties of conventional trucks and cars are quite high. Several factors that determine the import duties and taxes are:
The vehicle's age
Its value
The engine's number of cylinders
If you plan to drive a truck or fancy car from Canada or the US through Mexico, consider hiring a Spanish-speaking assistant familiar with the trip, the cartels and border crossings. This will make the trip easier and safer. You can hire someone to meet you in Texas and drive you through Mexico and Belize.
A word of advice: provide as little information as possible at border crossings, especially with Mexico. If you plan to import the vehicle into Belize and never bring it back, do your best to keep your plans from the Mexican border authorities; otherwise, they will excise a hefty duty to transit through. Simply say you are road-tripping to Belize, and the vehicle will head back to your country of origin on your return trip. Just pay the temporary importation fee and never look back. Their documentation process is analog, and the chances they ever check up on you, especially after the vehicle is registered and plated in Belize, is slim to none. You’ll still be able to cross into Mexico without issue, as we have several times.
You will need a customs broker to complete the importation process at one of the two borders. You can postpone this process for about thirty days (with the option to extend it to ninety days) by bringing the vehicle into Belize on a temporary importation permit. Brokers are relatively inexpensive and move the process along for you: they know who to bribe and much, LOL. All joking aside (but not really), they will help you negotiate the importation fees, which can be as high as 80% of the vehicle’s book value.
If you ship your vehicle by container, there are conditions pertaining to how much fuel you can have in the tank, among others.
How to Move Pets to Belize
Let’s not forget our furry friends! Many expats bring their pets into Belize too, and we are no exception. Our two family dogs accompanied my travel buddy and I on the seven-day journey (well, more like eleven, due to the difficulties at the Mexican border I alluded to above).
The following section will explain the process from a Canadian point of view, although I imagine it is similar to that of our US counterparts. It will also focus on the land crossing, as shipping our dogs with a Canadian airline wasn’t a viable option at the time. We chose to drive them because: 1. I was already driving a bus full of stuff, and 2. In order to fly them, we had to do it from the US, which meant crossing a land border by vehicle anyway and left us with the challenge of collecting them at the International Airport outside of Belize City the same day they left—a transportation impossibility. Ultimately, the cost of driving our bus full of stuff was cheaper and more convenient than the quotes I received for flying the two dogs. I digress.
Bringing dogs and cats into Belize is quite simple. Since Canada, the US, and Mexico are all part of NAFTA, it's a clean shot with the animals to Belize. I had no issue with the dogs at any of the borders. The US didn’t even ask for their paperwork, and the Mexican border officials briefly glanced at it.
Get Your Documents in Order
Before you leave, you need to do considerable coordinating. Get in touch with The Belize Agricultural Health Authority (BAHA) to obtain the required form for importing your pet(s). They are quite responsive and usually get back to email inquiries in a day or two. Once you have filled out and returned the form to them, you have up to three months to enter with your pets, so a little timing is needed when making your submission. If your pet(s) are entering through airline, you must schedule an inspection with a BAHA officer for the day of arrival.
Image by Mirko Sajkov from Pixabay
That's all pretty simple, but where it gets complicated is on the North American side of things. In Canada, you need to first visit the Canadian Food Inspection Agency –yes, random, I know– to get the required paperwork to have your pets travel internationally. At the time, they required you to visit them in person to get the necessary paperwork, which is essentially a pet passport, though it isn't called that. Then, you take that packet of information to your veterinarian and have them administer and record the required vaccinations, tick and flea medications and dewormer for your animal(s). Once that's filled out, you take it back to the CFIA to have one of their higher-ups sign off on it. You need to complete that process for each dog or cat in order to get them into Belize.
Cross Your Ts
A note of vaccinations: rabies vaccines are valid in Canada for 2-3 years, but that timeframe isn't recognized in Belize and is required annually. If your pet(s) got vaccinated last year and you weren't planning on doing it again because they are "still good," I'd recommend getting them again before entering Belize. It's a precautionary measure, just in case the BAHA officer who inspects your pet(s) takes issue with it and you find yourself subjected to additional “fees.”
Image by Mirko Sajkov from Pixabay
A final tidbit before we wrap up this section: It's important to understand that the US has placed Belize on a blacklist of countries surrounding rabies. North American nations don’t recognize the vaccine they use in Belize, so if you ever want to take your pets back home to the US, you must keep them up-to-date with the requisite vaccines. In Canada its less strict, but you will have to wait to high season to fly them direct as transiting them over American soil is prohibited. This means taking your pets to Mexico before their next shot. By doing so, you will be compliant with NA vax standards and should be able to get them back into your home country. I'm not 100% sure what the current status of this is, so if you have an update or insight into the latest developments on this, please leave a comment, and I’ll update this section accordingly.
Hiring a Customs Broker
Hire a customs broker, no matter what you are bringing in, where it's coming from, or from what border it's entering. Do not attempt to do this on your own unless you have direct experience working in this industry. A customs broker will help you navigate the paperwork and grease the necessary palms. I have no doubt that the ease at which our container made it to our lot in Maya Beach hinged heavily on the fact that we had someone who was experienced with the Belizean import process working behind the scenes. If you are interested in knowing who I used, you can email me directly.
Import Duties
For a complete list of duties, check out the Belize Customs and Excise Department website. It has almost every item you can think of, from vehicles, boats, and trailers to art, and furniture and appliances. These are essentially negotiable, and your customs broker will get costs down for you.
Missing and Damage Items
Image by Ronald Plett from Pixabay
It's not so much a matter of whether there will be damage but how much. From what I can tell, the items within our container made the journey unscathed but sustained damage during reloading after inspection. Our container was packed with pinpoint accuracy, and getting it back to its original state after the inspection process pulled out most of the contents would have required servant-like memory and a team of four people. According to my broker, the inspection was a one-man show. As a result, we had some damaged items, and when we finally got around to unloading it, a couple of boxes appeared not to
have made the trip, too.
Receiving Compensation for Damaged Items
Unfortunately, we weren't eligible for compensation due to the time it took to unload our container after delivery. Most brokers have a limit of thirty days to make a claim. When our container arrived, I was only able to do a quick inspection and didn’t see any damage at the time.
Our container arrived fast: six weeks from when it left Canada. Normally this would be great, but we had anticipated three to four months, and we were not ready to unload the container when it arrived. But, it came so quickly that we didn’t have a house to unload the container into. Thankfully, the damage wasn’t too bad, and we fixed and repaired most of the items ourselves –as DIYers do!
Everything in its Place
Image by Ronald Plett from Pixabay
Okay, so I think that's all I can think of regarding importing your life and belongings into Belize. It's a lot of work, so leave yourself a lot of time to do your research and due diligence. Moving to Belize and deciding how to bring your personal belongings is a significant logistical hurdle for many expats. Whether you opt for a shipping container, use a freight forwarding service, or transport items yourself, the process can be complex and time-consuming.
Thorough planning, research, and choosing the right method based on your needs and budget are critical to ensure a smooth transition. By understanding the options and anticipating potential challenges, you can make informed decisions that streamline the import process and minimize stress as you settle into your new life in Belize.
If you are still in the planning stages and looking for a home to call your own in Belize, check out this stunning house on the Placencia Peninsula, steps from the beach! Until the next post, happy moving y’all!
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