importing from countries outside the EU

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blood_magik

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if anyone's horse came to the UK from outside the EU but via Amsterdam, how long did it take to get them home?

horse left the UAE early Saturday morning (local time) and was in Amsterdam for 1030.

he was supposed to be delivered to glasgow Monday pm (coming via newmarket) but after phoning them, we were told he was still in Amsterdam.
we were then told that he would be here Tuesday pm or the early hours of Wednesday.

I'm sat waiting on him, wishing id brought a book as I've done all my chores and my boy is in his box munching. :o
 
Mine came from the US via Amsterdam. It took about five days to get to Durham from Amsterdam but I traveled with her so no waiting for her to arrive anywhere. It took bloody ages because they transport the horse to Kent the day after they fly to into Schipol (or that was the case with us anyway) and then we spent nearly three days sitting on our butts in Kent until our lift arrived to take us north. It seemed as if all horses who come to the UK from the continent arrive at this stable, which is kind of a holding area where where various UK-based shipping companies then pick them up to take them to their final destination. Our journey north took another two days, as the driver followed a rather circuitous route through England, dropping off and picking up horses. Some of these pick ups take ages as well. For example, we had to pick up a foal and its mum. Foal was unhandled and the mare had trailer loading issues. Great. When we arrived, neither had been caught and myself, the driver, and the owners had to chase them around the field. Then mum had to be convinced to go on board by loading her friend, who she followed, then unloading the friend while shutting her into the rig, and baby had to be manhandled on board. Stuff like this really lengthens the journey time. Also, the drivers are only allowed to spend so many hours on the road, so on that route we had an overnight stop in Newmarket.

The driver who picked us up in Kent arrived a fair bit later than anticipated, so that's probably what is happening with your boy.
 
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welcome to the world of shared transport. It can sometimes take up to 5 or 6 hours to clear customs in Schipol. 4.5 hours from there to Calais, 2/3 hours to cross. The rest of the time is made up of makink up and dropping off your shared load to keep costs down.
 
My horse got through customs and general faff in Schiphol faster than I did! After getting delayed in Frankfurt where I was transferring planes, I got into Schiphol much later than she did. Then my luggage never appeared at the baggage claim and after much faff, I found that it was still in Frankfurt. By the time I staggered into the "Horse Hotel" where my horse and I were spending our first night in Europe (try explaining this one to the lost baggage people in the airport when they ask where you're staying that night), she had been happily munching on hay in a stall for hours.
 
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That's shared loads for you!

If you want much cheapness then you have to go with the flow!

That includes:-

30+ other horses being picked up and dropped off
non loaders
chasing around fields
contacting owners that never answer phones
delivering to just fields without post codes
driver hours not forgetting they cannot drive for more than 9 hours in a day
defra hours for the horse after travelling 24 hours the horses legally MUST be unloaded and put into stables for 24 full hours rest
Let alone traffic jams and any accidents on the roads

This is why we went with individual loads! Our horses landed at schipol and went direct to the horse hotel there for a rest. Our designated transporter then picked up our horse 9 hours later after being landed and then arrived another 15 hours later at our home-refreshed and happy.

Individual loads have their merits! We had pictures all the time of our lovely stallion we also had the choice of being with him on the transport in question but we knew that it was an individual load and therefore direct to us and would be well looked after

I hope you get your horse soon
 
if only more people could figure it out, a few pennies saved many extra stressful hours in transport! bottom line every one wants the best for their horse then cuts the wrong corners!
 
im interested to know, how are we trying to cut corners?

I know it's a shared load (usually three in a 'container') and we split the cost of the third box as there were only two going.

I'm more annoyed (kinda) at being told he would be here on Monday and them constantly changing their minds.
it took 5 days for my current horse to arrive - why not just say it'll take 5 days? :o

anyways, he's supposed to be here today (fingers crossed).
 
cutting corners is directed at the road transport. you can always demand an individual load from the airport to you, rather than the shared multi drop.
 
probably not - don't want another infraction :o as far as I know they only have one outfit so unlikely anyone will use them unless they're based overseas in a certain country.

my parents won't be living in dubai as of Monday so they won't be getting any more business from us.

I'm quite disappointed because they were excellent when jerry came across. we got daily updates on his whereabouts and he turned up when they said he would.

my dads not very happy with them either (it's his horse).
they're attempting to empty their house and move into a flat for a few days before they leave the country and he keeps texting me to ask if his horse is here :cool:
 
it will be an english transporter delivering. if you ever do it again you can use your own english company to collect direct from scipol, not just the one the shipping company use!
 
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