2016 - What a year!

2016 has been a busy year for t ward shipping. We’ve been involved in so many exciting projects. Here is a concise review of some of our highlights!

Organising the Dazzle Ship launch

Dazzle Ships have been docked in London and Liverpool since 2014, and have become floating works of art for visitors and residents.  The latest Dazzle Ship features a design from Turner Prize-nominated artist Ciara Phillips which lit up the city of Edinburgh in style. It was launched in Scotland on 29 May and 1 June 2016, to mark the centenary of the Battle of Jutland. We were responsible for organising the movement of the ship, which went very well. We were busy behind the scenes booking the entire marine movement and making sure everything went smoothly on the day. We booked everything from the tugs, pilots and riggers to the tow master. It was a fantastic project to be involved with, and one we thoroughly enjoyed.

You can view mv Fingal from Ocean Driver, Leith Docks. Red more on our blog...

See more info at https://www.1418now.org.uk/commissions/dazzle-ship-scotland-4/.

Shipping fire engines to Paraguay

In February we sent a 20’ container with three fire engines 6000 miles to Paraguay for IFRA ifra.org. In August we shipped the famous Angel Franco, a donated fire appliance, to Paraguay. Although at the end of it’s working life in Scotland, it will be used by the city Luque for years to come.

"It's great to think that all this redundant and superseded kit continues to save people in other countries long after we stop using it and the people of Scotland should be justifiably proud of this."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-37142481

Shipping Laptops to Malawi

In September, we helped the Turing Trust with ship 101 laptops to Malawi. They were distributed to schools as part of a large ICT skills development programme. More about our shipping service for charities.

http://turingtrust.co.uk/new-what-we-do-in-malawi/

Shipping Paintings to Canada

Last month we arranged the transportation of some original artwork for the Biscuit Factory in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. We arranged for the safe transport of two paintings from the gallery in Northern England to the buyer in Toronto, Canada via our tried and trusted courier air freight service. Read more on our blog... or find out about our shipping service for artwork.

Shipping flowers to Shanghai

We recently shipped a pallet of bare root peonies from Binny Plants, West Lothian to Shanghai airport. More on our freight forwarding service.

Taking care of jumbo ships

We took care of H.M Fairpartner at #Rosyth docks last week for shipping giant @JumboMaritime m/v Fairpartner. More about ships agency..











Here's to a productive 2017! To find out more about our services, visit our website, email shipping@tward.co.uk or call us on +44 (0)131 554 1231.

Transporting Artwork for The Biscuit Factory, Newcastle

We recently arranged the transportation of some original artwork for the Biscuit Factory in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. This involved transporting two paintings safely from the gallery in Northern England to the buyer in Toronto, Canada via our tried and trusted courier air freight service.

Exporting works of art

We understand the requirements when transporting unique works of art and how important it is to transport goods safely and efficiently. For the Biscuit Factory, we took care of insurance, arranged the air freight courier service and provided advice on customs procedures.

Cargo insurance

We ensured appropriate cargo insurance was in place for works of art prior to shipment. 

Advice on customs procedures

We took the time to explain what customs procedures the customer could expect on arrival into Canada, and the approximate customs import costs they would face in order to correctly clear their purchased goods through customs.

Safe arrival

Taking care of these details ensured the goods arrived at the customer’s door in a matter of days, without issue. The paintings were delivered to their new owner on 1st November. The Biscuit Factory have kindly let us feature the wonderful paintings here: The Bird Family by local artist Peter Hallam and Second Sea Change by Steven Lindsay.

About the Biscuit Factory

The Biscuit Factory is the largest commercial art, craft & design gallery in the UK. Set in a former Victorian warehouse, its gallery space is housed over two floors, offering ‘a range of exciting contemporary fine art, sculpture, original prints and jewellery, quality craftsmanship and design led homewares.’ 

The Biscuit Factory holds four exhibitions each year, and they are keen to assist anyone who buys the artwork, offering advice and the Own Art purchase scheme. They regularly transport art to buyers around the world, and were delighted with our service:

“We look forward to doing more business with T.Ward in the future. I would also like to mention how helpful you were during the whole process. Thankyou Callum.”

The Biscuit Factory’s Winter Exhibition opened earlier this month, and features work from over 200 artists, including Scottish painter Phil McLoughlin. They are also hosting a series of Festive weekends throughout December where Christmas shopping can be combined with seasonal food and a pop-up hot chocolate lounge. Sounds much better than braving the crowds on the High Street!

We specialise in art transportation, exporting and importing to and from Scotland and the rest of the UK. Find out more on our website.

Transporting your artwork

The arts industry is truly global. Theatres, galleries, auction houses, museums and private collectors all import and export works on a regular basis. These pieces are often unique, valuable and irreplaceable. Different countries have different laws for the import and export of goods, making the process more complicated. How do you ensure your work of art arrives at its destination legally and in one piece?

Packing

Unless your work is very small and easy to transport, it makes sense to involve a specialist firm for packing and crating. Artworks and sculpture comes in all shapes and sizes, and is often fragile and easily damaged. The high value and irreplaceable nature of many pieces make it the only option. Industry leading products from ShockDot will help give you peace of mind, and are cost effective in determining whether the product has been mishandled.

Shockdot determine if products are mishandled

Handling

You want your work to arrive at its destination in the best condition possible - and efficient handling and packaging can make a world of difference to how the receiver views a piece.  Consider transporting the work with air (not spring) suspension, to minimize movement of any sculptures being transported by road or in a container.

Customs

Some cultural goods over a certain age and value require a licence from the Export License from the Arts Council. Your shipping company should be able to give you advice on this.

Insurance

Marine cargo and transport insurance is essential for your work, to cover any accidental damage along the way. Go for an experienced broker. Read the government guidelines on this topic.

Personal advice

A specialist shipping company should offer a tailored freight forwarding service, which is unique to the client and the items being transported. This is one of the key services for all our clients - offering peace of mind and expert advice.

For more information on T.Ward's art transportation service, contact us or visit our art transportation page.

Shipping cars with t ward shipping

It can feel as if there is red tape everywhere when you start looking into importing or exporting vehicles.

If you’re thinking about selling a commercial vehicle such as a van, tractor or bulldozer, or even considering sending your own car, classic or otherwise, abroad, we know everything you need to know about the regulations and procedures involved, so we can offer you advice and assistance - even take the entire project off your hands and arrange everything for you.

Shipping classic cars is one of our specialist areas so come to us if you need help with that, too. t.ward shipping will have all the information and experience you need to be able to ship your vehicles in and out of the UK with as little stress as possible.

We can help with the following:

·         Full shipping and customs service for shipment of your private vehicle.

·         Collection of your vehicle - taking it from door to port.

·         Shipping your vehicle by container to all ports around the world.

·         Lashing and securing your car in a container making sure that it’s safe to transported.

·         Vehicle pre-checking prior to export.

·         Ro/Ro (roll on/roll off) service for cars being shipped to West and East Africa.

We love helping people import and export their classic cars, so please feel free to get in touch with us at t ward shipping if this is something you are currently thinking about doing.

We’d love to talk to you about helping you to import your vehicles, so contact us as soon as possible and let our friendly team guide you through the red tape - before you know it, you’ll be enjoying lovely classic car.

BIFA - what is the British International Freight Association?

Most professions have a trade association, set up to give them guidance and support as well as representation where needed. Freight Forwarding firms have their very own trade association - The British International Freight Association (BIFA), Of course, t ward shipping are members of this helpful body, which gives our clients confidence and also gives us support with training and development, specialist information and a lot more.

BIFA is the trade association for any UK-registered companies who are involved in the international movement of freight. Not just sea freight - BIFA is there for companies using any type transport to move freight around the world; air, road, rail and sea. Some members of BIFA are also involved with customs clearance and cross border controls.

What does this mean for our clients? Well, it gives you peace of mind that we will be trading under an internationally agreed set of standard trading conditions that are accepted and backed by the insurance sector.

If you’re an industry member like us, the experts at BIFA can be an invaluable source of support and education, with everything from a monthly newsletter updating members on anything important and relevant to freight forwarding, and if you’re looking for a freight forwarding company and want to ensure that they are a BIFA member, they have a website listing which is constantly updated.

BIFA also represents the interests of our industry in the media, and in recent weeks they have been calling on the government to start making decisions on air freight issues such as expanding and supporting the UK aviation industry in the wake of the Brexit vote.

We believe that being part of BIFA is a positive step for any businesses involved in freight forwarding and associated trades, and that membership helps t ward shipping to link in with BIFAs pursuit of excellence and quality in the transport and logistics sector.

For more information about BIFA, their members and what they do, take a look at the website at: http://www.bifa.org/

Be dazzled by the MV Fingal

You may have seen coverage of the unveiling of the MV Fingal, or Dazzle Ship, which left Leith at 0900 on Saturday 28th May and returned around 7pm the same day?

Starting in April this year the ship has been transformed by a local artist into ‘Every Woman.’ We’re proud to confirm that t ward shipping limited were responsible for organising the movement of the ship last month – and didn’t it go well? We were busy behind the scenes preparing for the unveiling of the newly dazzled ship, booking the entire marine movement and making sure everything went smoothly on the day. We booked everything from the tugs, pilots and riggers to the tow master.

Dazzle Ships have been docked in London and Liverpool since 2014, and have become floating works of art for visitors and residents.  This Dazzle Ship definitely brought a stunning splash of colour to Leith docks, as it celebrated the role British women played in the First World War effort. The MV Fingal offers its own contemporary take on the “dazzle” technique, a technique which was used in the war where vessels were painted with bold patterns designed to confuse the enemy.

The latest Dazzle Ship features a design from Turner Prize-nominated artist Ciara Phillips which lit up the city of Edinburgh in style. It’s the fourth Dazzle Ship to be commissioned, and was launched in Scotland on 29 May and 1 June 2016, to mark the centenary of the Battle of Jutland.

Dazzle painting played an important part in the Battle of Jutland according to Sorcha Carey, director of the Edinburgh Art Festival, which co-commissioned Phillips’ artwork with 14-18 NOW, the body involved with organising the centenary arts commissions.

The first artist, Tobias Rehberger from Germany converted the exterior of the warship HMS President (which was docked in London) into a modern combination of pipes and funnels. Following on from him, Venezuelan artist Carlos Cruz-Diez took on a Liverpool pilot vessel and dazzled it in a combination of red, yellow, green and black vertical stripes. Sir Peter Blake created his dazzle by turning a working Mersey ferry into a riot of Pop art.

For more information on mv Fingal (Dazzle Ship) please go to - https://www.1418now.org.uk/commissions/dazzle-ship-scotland-4/.

 

You can view mv Fingal from Ocean Driver, Leith Docks.

What are project cargoes?

Well, aside from being another service provided by t ward shipping, a project cargo is a name for a service that transports large, high value, heavy or critically important pieces of equipment to destinations all around the world, for use in engineering or other types of major project. Project cargo can very often involve moving multiple shipments, and the shipping of several component parts that may need to be taken apart for shipping and then reassembled upon delivery. It’s a service that clearly needs a great deal of attention to detail, meticulous planning and a very well integrated logistics plan.

Here at t ward we are happy to take on every aspect of your project cargo shipping needs. We’ll get stuck in and take the process forward with you, organising everything for you from start to finish. We know that time can be of the essence when dealing with a project cargo shipment so we’ll ensure that everything goes according to plan and contingency plans are in place for any problems that might occur. With our years of experience there’s no need to worry, we’re fully prepared. t.ward shipping have been transporting and shipping project cargo all over in the world for many years and we’ve worked with a wide variety of different industries in that time. Our clients have included:

•  oil and gas
•  mining
•  renewables
•  agriculture
•  Food and drinks industry

Whatever the size or complexity of your project, we’ll work closely with you to ensure that we always give you a tailor-made service. Our project cargo services include:

•  project planning and consulting
•  site inspections
•  designing specialist packing cases
•  export packing and multi-modal transport
•  heavy-lift and abnormal loads
•  co-ordinating freight and installation services
•  witness loading-on-site attendance and dedicated project personnel
•  arranging break bulk or Ro/Ro shipping rates/terms direct with shipping lines.

T Ward Shipping prides itself on offering bespoke shipping services, so for more information on our project cargo services, or to discuss your requirements, please contact our friendly team and we’ll be delighted to help.

Ports we serve - the Port of Ayr

The Port of Ayr, which is conveniently situated on the West Coast of Scotland, and located at the entrance to the Firth of Clyde, is renowned for its convenience and fuss-free access to transport networks around Scotland and the UK. Ayr is an incredibly busy port which plays an important part in Scotland’s import/export industry - an impressive 558,000 tonnes of cargo passed through the port just in 2010 and that figure is rising every year.

Just one of the ports we serve at t. ward shipping, Ayr is the ideal access point to Scotland’s rail networks, and the motorways and trunk roads linking the west coast to the cities of Scotland and Northern England (the M77 for Glasgow, the M8 for Edinburgh, and the M74 for links to Northern England are all within easy reach.)

The Port of Ayr is just half a mile away from the town centre, and is managed from local offices. Along with Troon, Ayr is one of two Scottish harbours operated by Associated British Ports (ABP). The entrance to the port is protected by the detached north breakwater and south pier. The Griffin Dock provides 2000 feet of quay with a depth of 20 feet. Additional berths on the riverside provide a further 1800-plus feet of quay space and have slightly deeper waters - there you’ll find a depth of 22 feet.

Facilities-wise, the Port of Ayr mostly handles salt, aggregates, sand, and animal feed, and the Arran, Kintyre, Carrick and Jura terminals provide around 18,000 sq m of storage for dry bulks. Other cargo handled by Ayr includes a range of minerals (mainly coal and silica), scrap metals and general cargo. The port is also used to import around 200,000 tonnes of forest products per year, and handles imported bulk for the Scottish glass-making industry.

In recent years, Ayr has been used for the delivery of wind turbines, and he location and facilities there make it ideal for any special-project cargoes such as heavy lifts or wind-energy support.

The harbour also has facilities to handle cruise liners, and is popular with cruise operators for its beautiful scenery - and world-leading golf courses. Two pontoons are available at Ayr to accommodate up to two ships' tenders, along with car parking facilities and reception packages available for arriving cruises.

For more information on the services we provide at the Port of Ayr, and advice on your specific requirements, contact our helpful team at t. ward shipping limited.

The Port of Methil – Ports we serve

Methil, one of the Scottish ports served by t ward shipping limited, is Forth Ports’ most eastern port, mainly dealing with aggregate, timber, and general bulk commodities. This long established port is surrounded by the deep sheltered water of Largo Bay, which makes it the perfect choice for the specialist services it offers to Methil and the nearby area. The port also has capacity for handling repairs to, maintenance and supply of offshore drilling rigs and tankers.

The first dock at Methil (the Number 1 Dock) opened in May 1887 and in 1889 the North British Railway Company took ownership of the dock. A further dock was then constructed on the site of the tidal harbour in 1900, followed by the much larger Number 3 Dock in 1913. The Number 3 Dock boasted an impressive entrance channel and sea wall along the front of the previous docks, and was a huge feat of engineering undertaking at the time. The third dock was intended to be able to accommodate at least eight hydraulic coal hoists - but only six were ever built.

The port of Methil was once responsible for shipping over three million tonnes of coal every year, and coal has been a major influence on the character and prosperity of this town over the years. From the end of the First World War until the No. 3 Dock was closed down by the Forth Ports Authority in 1977 and coal exports were diverted to Leith, Methil was considered to be Scotland's most important coal port.

During the 1960s, however, the closure of the nearby collieries hit the dock hard. Nowadays there are two working docks available at Leith, which can accommodate vessels up to 3,000 dwt. Leith now specialises in wood pulp and timber distribution, and these two commodities total around 150,000 tonnes a year. The port also handles stone and coal exports, fertiliser imports, and road salt for Fife Council during the winter months.

Methil’s strategic location and range of specialist services should also serve the area well in years to come, as the port is perfectly placed to be able to serve the emerging renewable energy sector.

New t ward Partnership with Eurogate

We’re delighted to be able to announce a new partnership between t ward and Eurogate, a partnership that will enable us to serve our customers even better.

Teaming up with Eurogate means that t ward will now be able to offer clients a weekly road freight service to selected destinations in Eastern Europe. Please see the schedule for details of where we will be able to serve.

Eurogate is a well-established group of freight forwarding companies which operates across eight European countries. Founded in 1989, the company has an impressive road-freight forwarding background; it started out as a joint venture between the UK forwarder, MS Shipping, and the Hungarian state-owned road-transport company Hungarocamion.

Eurogate specialises in shipments between Western-European, Central-Eastern European countries and the former Soviet Union, and its FTL coverage includes countries in these regions.

• Services to and from the UK:Three departures per week to Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia and Slovakia.
• Two departures per week to Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Austria.
• Weekly departures to Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.

OVERLAND GROUPAGE SERVICES

Export Schedule

Destination	Departures	Transit time/day(s)	Close Off Days
Hungary / Budapest	Tuesday/Friday	4	Monday/Thursday
Poland / Warsaw	Tuesday/Friday	4	Monday/Thursday
Czech Rep/ Prague	Friday	4	Thursday
Slovakia/ Bratislava	Friday	4	Thursday
Romania/ Bucharest	Friday	7	Thursday
Bulgaria/ Sofia	Friday	8	Thursday
Slovenia/ Ljubljana	Friday	4	Thursday
Bosnia/ Sarajevo	Friday	8	Thursday
Croatia/ Zagreb	Friday	7	Thursday
Serbia/ Belgrade	Friday	9	Thursday
Latvia/ Riga	Friday	5	Thursday
Lithuania/ Vilnius	Friday	5	Thursday
Estonia/ Tallinn	Friday	5	Thursday
Russia/ Moscow	Friday	7-10	Thursday
Ukraine/ Kiev	Friday	7-10	Thursday
Uzbekistan/ Tashkent	Friday	26 - 30	Thursday
Kazakhstan/ Almaty	Friday	26 - 30	Thursday
Azerbaijan/ Baku	Friday	26 - 30	Thursday
Armenia/ Yerevan	Friday	26 - 30	Thursday
Georgia/ Tbilisi	Friday	26 - 30	Thursday
Turkey/ Istanbul	Friday	10	Thursday
Iran / Tehran	Friday	21	Thursday

Burntisland – Ports we serve

The Port of Burntisland, between Kirkcaldy and North Queensferry, is one of the oldest natural harbours on the Forth, and provides transport and distribution by sea, rail or road all over Scotland. The renewable energy sector along with an upturn in coastal shipping has provided something of a revival for the port, which is also home to Burntisland Fabrications and Briggs Marine.

 In the 21st century Burntisland can enable access for barges of 300ft by 90ft, and the port has been a major Scottish port for centuries, a position which was boosted in 1847 with the Edinburgh and Northern Railway which ran from Burntisland north to Lindores and Cupar. Three years later, the world's first roll-on/roll-off rail ferry service was launched, and was crossing the Firth of Forth from Burntisland to Granton. The service was operational until the Forth Bridge was opened in 1890 when the Forth Bridge opened.

The Burntisland Shipbuilding Company at Burntisland West Dock was founded as an emergency shipyard in 1918, and introduced ‘Burntisland Economy’ steamship in 1929. In the Second World the yard built three Loch class frigates: HMS Loch Killin (K391), HMS Loch Fyne (K429) and HMS Loch Glendhu (K619). The shipyard closed in 1969.

In 2014, Forth Ports Limited and Fife-based Scott Group announced investment into a proposed regeneration of the eastern end of the port. Forth Ports and Scott Group, supported by a Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) grant from Scottish Enterprise, promised to invest around £2.5million in the development of the site, with a view to creating what they called a ‘state-of-the-art pallet manufacturing facility’ – which would include upgrades to the electricity supply, a refurbishment of the existing building and other areas, upgrades to road infrastructure and relocation and installation of new equipment.

For information about Burntisland and other ports we serve at t ward shipping limited, contact us and we’ll be delighted to advise you.

Port Glasgow – Ports we serve

Port Glasgow has a long tradition of shipbuilding and importation of goods from around the world. The port is situated on the West Coast of Scotland around 20 miles from the city of Glasgow. The town was originally named Newark but was renamed in 1775 after becoming the port for Glasgow – the vessels couldn’t make it up the waters of the Clyde.

117 jetties were built at Port Glasgow, which projected out from both banks at right angles. Ships of a larger size were now able to sail up river, and began to bypass Port Glasgow.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, Port Glasgow instead became known as the premier port for timber handling (for use in ship building) in Scotland. To this end logs were imported from all over Europe and as far away as North America.  Specially constructed boats with bow opening doors were used to transport the logs, which were then floated out, fastened together and kept in salt water ponds.

The channel built between Port Glasgow and Dumbarton stretches all the way to the centre of Glasgow. The added capacity for larger ships was doubtless  great for industry but it signalled an end to the harbour trade in Port Glasgow, as vessels began to bypass Port Glasgow altogether.

Shipbuilding soon became the main industry for the town, and it still plays a large part in the fabric of the area. You can still see reminders of the old harbours and dockside warehouses around Coronation Park, which was opened in 1937.

At t. ward shipping we are experienced in handling consignments of all sizes and types and we offer our services to a wide range of Scottish and UK ports, including Port of Glasgow.

t ward shipping – classic car import experts!

A classic car we shipped recently

 

If you’re lucky enough to buy a classic car from abroad, you’ll need to know how to get your latest luxury purchase into the country. It’s a good idea to familiarise yourself with the procedures before you take the step of making the purchase, or consult experts like t.ward shipping limited for advice. Importing a classic can be somewhat complicated affair and how it’s done will depend on whether you and the car are in the EU, and also your circumstances.

 

Transportation

If you’re importing for the love of the car and not for business reasons, once you’ve looked into the prices and made the decision to buy, you’ll have to think about how you intend to get the car from where it currently is to where you are. We would, of course, recommend that you have the car shipped across!

 

Duty & VAT

If you’re in the UK and want to import a classic car from mainland Europe, it’s quite simple, tax wise. Because of the EU, it’s not considered an import as such by HMRC, but a movement of goods from one member state top another. This is great news because it means that you don’t have to pay ant import duty, and VAT won’t have to be paid as you’ll already have paid VAT on the purchase of the car in the country the goods are being exported from.

 

The procedure is:

 

• Once you’ve bought the car, make sure it has an MOT – or the local version of an MOT.
• Get it insured in advance - use the car’s VIN number as you won’t have a registration plate yet. Insurance companies will be fine with this.
• In some EU countries you need to apply for temporary plates, which can be expensive.  Check beforehand as it might affect your decision to import the car!
• Get the official declaration of sale signed by you, the seller and a notary
• Get a Certificate of Ownership
• Transport your classic car back to the UK
• Notify HRMC
• Get the car MOT’d in the UK
• Register the car with the DVLA 

 

You’ll have to pay a customs fee and a DVLA registration fee too, around £50 each.The process for importing from outside the EU is trickier. Once you’ve bought the car, you’ll have to;

 

• Get the documentation organised  -  sale agreement and registration documentation
• Ship the vehicle back to the UK
• Complete a C384 form to work out the amount of Customs Duty and VAT liable 

 

As a rough guide expect to shell out 10 per cent in Import Duty for non-EU manufactured cars and 20 per cent for VAT. It’s complicated to work out but there’s a handy calculator here: http://www.dutycalculator.com/ 

 

• Notify HRMC and organise an MOT
• Register the vehicle with DVLA 

 

We love classic cars at t.ward shipping – and we’d love to talk to you about importing your latest purchase. Let our friendly team guide you through the red tape and help you enjoy your lovely classic car stress-free.