FAQ

Balikbayan Box UK Ltd is a registered Private Limited Company based in the United Kingdom operating a business as a Consolidator of Door to door shipment service of Balikbayan Boxes to the Philippines.

Balikbayan Box UK Ltd is in partnership with 12:24 Cargo Express as our deconsolidator of Balikbayan Box in the Philippines. It acts as our broker and delivery agent.

Balikbayan Box UK Ltd. offers the safest, most convenient handling of sea freight shipping, logistic and consolidation of balikbayan boxes delivery to the Philippines including door to door service anywhere to the islands of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. EXCEPT to the following Islands of Batanes, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, Jolo Sulu and Siargao. We send your Balikbayan Boxes with care, Promise.

Balikbayan Boxes are packages of personal effects and/or “pasalubongs” sent by Filipinos residing or working abroad to their families or relatives in the Philippines to enhance Philippine tradition and culture for the promotion and preservation of strong family ties through love and caring expressed in gift-giving.

Non-commercial goods or goods not in commercial quantity strictly for personal use only, such as: wearing apparel, clothing, foodstuffs/grocery items/canned goods; the value of which must not exceed £400.00.

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We ship 40 feet container by sea cargo vessel at least every 2 weeks.

We do not have a weight limit, but we do suggest to keep to a maximum 80 kg to Jumbo Max Box to avoid damages to your box, since a box is made of carton, it has it’s limitations.

As much as Balikbayan Box UK is concerned we would like to deliver your  balikbayan boxes to the Philippines in time, there are some situations beyond our control that may cause the delay in delivery to the ultimate consignees.
Below are some of the factors that can cause delays or non-delivery of the balikbayan boxes  to the consignees in the Philippines:

1. Unforeseen circumstances or/and natural calamity such as earthquake or typhoon that sets back the arrival of the cargo carrying vessels, or Road Delivery.
2. The consolidated shipment is tainted by:
   • Mis-declared or undeclared goods/items;
   • Regulated or banned cargoes such as prohibited drugs, ammunitions and firearms, gambling materials or apparatus, pornographic materials and pirated products.
   • Products that are in commercial quantity. (more than 12 items of the same kind is considered a commercial item)
   • Consolidated shipments that are abandoned by the Philippine representative, agent or broker for reasons of non-remittance of funds by the foreign freight forwarding entity / consolidator.
   • Wrong address and contact details of the consignee / recipient in the Philippines
   • Hard to find consignee / recipient address
   • The recipient / consignee lives in very remote area or a place where our team needs to cross a river.
   • The recipient lives in war-torn or potentially dangerous or critical areas such as Basilan and Maranaw City.

No, these are not allowed in “Balikbayan” Boxes. These are not considered personal effects or household good and are thus treated differently; other documentary requirements are needed for these to be brought into the Philippines without which these vehicles cannot be registered with the land Transportation Office (LTO).

• Transit time from the port of London Thamesport to the Port of Manila takes about 14 to 16 weeks. (via Singapore)
• BoC Release takes about 3 to 7 days
• Metro Manila takes about 5 to 7 days after the container has been released from the BoC
• North & Central Luzon about 7 to 12 days after the container has been released from the BoC
• Southern Tagalog and Bicol region about 10-14 days after the container has been released from BoC.
• Visayas & Mindanao including Palawan 15 to 21 days (after the container has been released from the BoC).

For more information please contact us using the following options:

Mobile: 07808792214 and speak with Alvin or 07828390650 and speak with Rhod.

Email:  info@balikbayanboxuk.co.uk

Contact Form: https://balikbayanboxuk.co.uk/contact/

Yes, it is required by law. You need to attached the Packing List copy, please downlaod here [sdm_download id=”410″ fancy=”0″ color=”blue”]

You need 3 copies of the information Sheet per box. The 1^st copy is attached to the box; the 2^nd copy is given to Balikbayan Box UK who acting as Consolidator service provider; and the 3^rd copy is your copy as the Sender.

They are Resident Filipino, Non-Resident Filipinos and Overseas Filipino Workers.

This is the privilege given to a Qualified Filipino Citizen While Abroad to send Balikbayan Boxes to a Family Member or Relative, tax and duty free.

There is no limit unless you will avail of the Balikbayan Box Privilege.

Qualified Filipino While Abroad can avail of the balikbayan box privilege up to 3 times or up to 3 shipments in a calendar year. The total amount of all the shipments should not be more than Php 150,000.00 in a calendar year.

There is no limit to the number of Balikbayan Boxes that you can send per shipment but the size of the boxes must be no bigger than .20cbm (about the size of an XL box) and the total value should not be more than Php 150,000.00 in a calendar year.

Anything in excess of the allowable quantity, amount or frequency shall be subject to duties and taxes, and civil and criminal liabilities, if any.

You can avail of the De Minimis privilege and you don’t need to be a Qualified Filipino While Abroad but you must have only 1 shipper/sender. An invoice or equivalent document is required for immediate release of shipments sent by or to be received by a Corporation, Partnership or Sole Proprietorship. Even if you are a Qualified Filipino While Abroad a De Minimis Value shipment shall not be counted as an availment under the Balikbayan Box privilege.

Balikbayan Box UK Track Box provides explanations for different tracking statuses which both the Sender and Receiver can track the status of shipments using references number assigned to the Balikbayan Box shipment from the United Kingdom.

Please visit the Track Box page here.

Please enter the five-digit number which is the number attached/assigned on your box or package you send to the Philippines. For example 01234.

Please don’t confuse with Balikbayan  Box UK Ltd. receipt which have six digit number found in the bottom right corner. whilst our Boxes tracking numbers are five digit which is written by our staff/agent box collector during collection process and attached these sticky number on your box/s

Balikbayan Box UK Track Box statuses are explained bellow.

Shipment Collected– Either our driver or courier collected your shipment from UK addresses.

Consolidation at UK Storage Hub– Your shipment has arrived at our warehouse for sorting and consolidation process.

Departure at UK Seaport Handling Facility– Your shipment in sea cargo vessel at Departure Port of Loading (DP WORLD SOUTHAMPTON) or (DP WORLD LONDON GATEWAY)

Shipment En-Route– Your shipment is en route in sea cargo vessel. Currently in journey along the international sea lane.

Arrival at Philippine Seaport Handling Facility– You shipment in sea cargo vessel has arrived at Port of Discharging MICT (MANILA INTL CONTAINER TERMINAL)

Deconsolidation at 12:24 Cargo Express Distribution Centre– You shipment from sea cargo vessel has arrived at 12:24 Cargo Express warehouse for sorting and deconsolidation process.

In Transit for Door-to-Door Delivery– Your shipment is out for door-to-door delivery by our partner 12:24 Cargo Express over the Philippines within four weeks.

Shipment Delivered– Your shipment has been delivered by our partner 12:24 Cargo Express in the Philippines, expected to be delivered within a month from the date shown in Status.

On Tract- Shipment is on time, on schedule without delays.

Estimated- Shipment status with expected schedule or estimated date specified by tracking

Actual- Shipment status at actual time or real time

Shipment Delayed En Route– Your shipment is delayed by several reasons, like weather disturbances in the sea/ocean, shipping line congestion, custom documentations processing, compliance and other factor during shipping process. Please contact us for further information and action to be taken.

Shipment Stuck En Route– Your shipment is delayed by several reasons, like weather disturbances in the sea/ocean, shipping line congestion, custom documentations processing, compliance and other factor during shipping process. Please contact us for further information and action to be taken.

Shipment Delayed in Transit– Your shipment is delayed by several reasons, like weather disturbances, road congestion, detour, health protocol restrictions, and other factor during transit process over the land/inter-islands in the Philippines. Please contact us for further information and action to be taken.

Shipment Stuck in Transit– Your shipment is stuck in transit by several reasons, like weather disturbances, inaccessible road, health protocol restrictions, wrong address and other factor during transit process over the land/inter-islands in the Philippines. Please contact us for further information and action to be taken.

Shipment Cancelled– Either you the sender or Balikbayan Box UK made the cancellation the shipping process.

Shipment Returned to 12:24 Cargo Express Warehouse Facility– Your shipment has returned to our partner 12:24 Cargo Express for several reasons, like weather disturbances, inaccessible road, health protocol restrictions, wrong address and other factor during transit process over the land/inter-islands in the Philippines. Please contact us for further information and action to be taken.

The day when consolidated cargo boxes/shipment are loaded in the sea cargo container for collection by the hauler for transport to UK Seaport Handling Facility Outbound Terminal. (DP WORLD SOUTHAMPTON) or (DP WORLD LONDON GATEWAY)

The container number is the Loading Day which starts BBUK. For example Container No. BBUK-2021-05-05 which means May 05, 2021, is the Loading Day.

Transshipment means the unloading of goods from one ship and its loading into another to complete a journey to a further destination, even when the cargo may have to remain ashore some time before its onward journey.

Shipping Network is a complex process, they using feeder vessels for further movement of shipment container. Feeder vessels mainly collect shipping containers from different ports and transport them to central container terminals or transshipment hubs where they are loaded to another vessel for further transport.

At this time there is no direct shipping lane from DP WORLD SOUTHAMPTON/DP WORLD LONDON to MANILA INTL CONTAINER TERMINAL. Therefore, the shipping network is using Transshipment Port either at PSA (PORT OF SINGAPORE AUTHORITY), (PORT OF SHENZHEN) or HIT (HONGKONG INTERNATIONAL TERMINALS) via transshipment to Manila, depending on congestion and queue at Transshipment hub which may cause further delays on schedule for the container to arrive at MICT (MANILA INT’L CONTAINER TERMINAL), Philippines.

In Track Box History or Status, you may see either Shipment Delayed En Route, Shipment Stuck En Route, On Track, Shipment En Route, or At Transshipment Hub.

Suez Canal is one of the world’s most vital waterways, majority of sea vessels from Europe are using the shortcut sea route via Suez Canal to reach Asia and  Far east countries which include the Philippines.

Any congestion from this waterway may cause ripple effects on the shipment journey which adding furthermore time to reach transshipment hubs. Please read What is Transshipment.

In Track Box History or Status, you may see either Shipment En Route, Shipment Delayed En Route, Shipment Stuck En Route, or On Track

The access road by land delivery around Luzon provinces from 12:24 Cargo Express Distribution Centre at PasigCity is much quicker than those shipments requires a ferry boat called RORO/ROPAx vessels. Furthermore, the coastguard controls the seaport to seaport travel depending on condition by seaport congestion, weather, quarantine, safety, vessel availability, and volume of the shipment.  Therefore crossing Matnog, Sorsogon to Allen, Northern Samar toward nearby Visayas islands to Mindanao by seaport to seaport crossing require estimated time to travel as it beyond our control.

In the Track Box History or Status you may see either In Transit for Door-to-Door Delivery, Shipment Delayed in Transit, Shipment Stuck in Transit, or On Track.