Importing from Vietnam
The documents are where first-time imports go wrong, and they go wrong quietly, weeks before anyone notices.
What the paperwork has to say
An export from Vietnam usually travels on a commercial invoice, a packing list, a bill of lading and a certificate of origin, plus whatever your product and your destination add on top. A wrong HS code or a certificate of origin that does not match the invoice will not stop the container leaving; it will stop it arriving.
- Commercial invoice and packing list, checked against what was actually loaded.
- Bill of lading, with the consignee and notify party set to the people who need them.
- Certificate of origin, in the form your destination's trade agreement requires — Form B, Form A, EUR.1 and so on.
- Phytosanitary, fumigation, health or quality certificates where the product calls for them.
- The HS code, agreed before shipping rather than argued about at the border.
Freight
We get quotes from forwarders we have used, compare them on the total landed cost rather than the headline sea freight, and book. For part-container volumes we will tell you when consolidating is worth the extra handling and when it is not.
Both ends of the customs line
On the Vietnamese side we deal with the exporter and the local formalities. On yours we work with your customs broker, or help you find one, and make sure they have what they need before the vessel arrives rather than after.
If this is your first import, we will explain what each document is for. Sending a stack of PDFs and calling it a handover is not support.
If this is close to what you need, tell us the specifics. We will say plainly whether we are the right partner for it, and what it would cost, before anything starts.
Start a conversationQuestions people ask about this
Can you handle shipping if we found the supplier ourselves?
Yes. Freight and documents can be a standalone piece of work. We would still glance at who the supplier is first, because an export document problem usually starts as a supplier problem.
Who pays the duty, and how do we know what it will be?
Duty is paid by the importer at the destination, and the rate follows the HS code and any trade agreement between Vietnam and your country. We agree the code and give you the expected landed cost before the order ships, so it is not a surprise at clearance.
What happens if the shipment is held at customs?
We stay on it. In practice most holds come down to a document mismatch that can be corrected, and the speed of the fix depends on someone chasing it in the right language and time zone.