Does anybody have any experience with shipping school supplies from the uk?I have read that if the supplies are sent to a government funded school that the duty is free,What remains to be paid then?
Please put me in contact with somebody regarding school supplies as I have been trying for quite a few months now to get this ball rolling!
thankyou

Hi I use to work for a freight company here in Canada and Yes that is true that if you send it to a government funded school it will be duty free. I beleive all you'll have to paid is for the shipment from UK to Jamaica. The agents we use to deal with is called Freight Handlers Ltd. and they are located in Kingston and Montego Bay.
Try calling the office and see what you can find out.
Freight Handlers Ltd.
17 Kerr Crescent
Montego Bay, Jamaica, W.I.

876-952-6566/7 or 399-4706 Digicell

In my experience, you need to send school supplies to the Ministry of Education and make sure to specify which school the supplies are for. The school then needs to arrange for transportation to get the supplies from Kingston to the school.

Unfortunately, donating items to schools in Jamaica isn’t all that simple all the time.

One of the worst things you can do is blindly ship items in name of “such and such” school without first consulting on what is needed and without second insuring all exemptions have been approved prior to shipment.


The best way to go about the process is to first contact the principals and schools to see which items are needed. You can check out www.italjamaica.com/1VIJON.htm for an extensive list of items needed by our local schools, VIJON can then put you in touch with specific principals if you wish to arrange a donation to a particular school.

You then, upon getting your donations together, need to send the principal an itemized list of EXACTLY what you are sending.

The principal can then submit this list, along with other paperwork to the Ministry of Education who will then apply through the Ministry of Finance for an “exemption” of stamp duty, GCT etc. on your incoming shipment. The process SHOULD only take a week or so, but in our experience has often taken months. Per senior customs official’s advice, we will NEVER again send shipments UNTIL this has gone through.

Contact local shippers (air and sea) and ask about special rates for school donations- they should give you a break on the cost (though it won’t by any means be inexpensive from the UK).

Some of the paperwork held up our donation of playground equipment several months in customs this spring. That can begin to add up with storage fees and frustration/phone calls trying to find out if the paperwork has gone through- so don’t ship without the ok first!

Assuming you do in fact prepay the shipping costs, once approved, the schools only expense would be to go to the port and pick up the shipment. Bear in mind that this in itself can cost an average of $100-$120 US if Montego Bay, and higher if the shipment comes into Kingston.

Another method used for smaller amounts, or if there is a group of you traveling, is to carry donations with you in your luggage. There is a location on your customs form to list any items you are leaving on the island. It is the letter of the law that you declare that you have school supplies to donate. The spirit of the law and its enforcement as far as you then paying duty on these items varies upon the mood and the experience of the officer. Sometimes you will get through duty free, sometimes you will be charged up to approximately 40% of the value of the donations.

VIJON student groups donated literally thousands of pounds of school supplies to Treasure Beach area schools this spring utilizing this method, and no one was asked to pay duty.

It is a lot of work, but thanks for your thoughts and initiative- that is a major way that a lot of progress is being made in our local schools. It wouldn’t be possible without the kindness of those who are able to give to support our under-funded and under-equipped schools. BIG UP.

I sent a barrel of supplies at the end of Nov 2007 to a nearby school. They had to pay the duty which was roughly $2000ja for over 500usd in supplies. The principal stated that in order to avoid the duty the principal would have to have gotten a waiver from the Ministry of Education to clear the barrel duty free. She stated that to get such waiver may take some time, therefore it's best that it be done with a lot of time prior to the barrel's arrival in JA

I really appreciate all of the above detailed information given and the time spent explaining things,
now I just need to get a reliable cheap shipping company.

Greetings from London!

If 'happy' would e-mail me, I'll be happy to let you know who we use as a church shipping stuff from the UK to Jamaica.

I'm on Jackie.Morten@moravian.org.uk