Moving your dog to New Zealand from Europe part 2 (animal shipment)

When I said that collecting papers they require for a dog to enter NZ would be the most difficult part I was not exactly correct.

It took me recently about a month to find a safe way to ship dogs to Auckland from Helsinki.

As a side fact I have currently "adopted" friends' dog for a while. The animal is a White West Highland terrier, 8 years old cute girl, who is originally from Russia, has lived with me in Finland for more than half a year and has a Finnish passport. She will very soon finally meet her Russian family in Auckland!

So yes, I'm traveling with two dogs.

To cut a VERY long story short I just briefly mention that I pretty much called all airplane companies who fly to NZ from Helsinki and Germany: Finnair, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Korean airlines, Malaysian airlines - were among of them. All these companies do not allow dogs on board or as a checked luggage. They offer only one option which is cargo. When you ask for details they forward you to a third cargo company. 

The only company that seems to transfer animals by themselves is Singaporean airlines. However, they have recently stopped to ship any kind of terriers because dogs of these breeds died too often during the flight..

Stress was approaching my top level when finally I found contacts of two companies that specialize in shipping dogs on long distances: one in Frankfurt (Germany) and one in Helsinki (Finland). They were either advised by people who used their services before or by NZ qarantine facilities.

In fact, the Finnish company was not new for me, I have been in contact with them previously when we were planning to move in August.

Price-wise both companies offered almost the same service, however, the German company would require me to ship dogs to Frankfurt by myself (even though they claim they can do it on their web page)

A sales manager, Mattias Sjöberg, from the Finnish company, Travel Cargo - Pet Express, a division of Airport Travel Cargo Finland Oy, was just so much more friendly and helpful, that i made my mind to ship dogs through them in the end.

The price of service totally depends on the size of dogs and needed containers. In our case it was supposed to be around 3000e for both animals.

Included in the price:

Receiving at Helsinki-Vantaa airport during normal office hours (weekdays 8-17), cargo documents, AVI-fee, cargo to Amsterdam, receiving in Amsterdam, 1 night boarding for 2 dogs,  Kennel sealing and legalisation of certification B, cargo via Hong Kong to Auckland as free arrival uninsured.

General conditions:
1. Receiver pays any additional release/terminal charges in Auckland
2. Shipper is responsible for all needed documents both export and import (vaccinations, import permits, health certificate, suitable transportation boxes ac.cording to IATA regulations)
3. Offer is subject to space and availability, changes in freight charges, and subject to force majeure conditions
4. In Air Cargo 1m3 equals 167 kg and charges are based on either volume or actual weight.
5. Subject to prepayment or as agreed (credit card payments are ok).

But really, nothing, exactly nothing, went easy about shipping and preparing dogs.
The biggest problem was that the flight could not be booked  more than 21 days before the departure. Also I didn't know from the beginning the booking quarantine in NZ and receiving a Permit to Import must be done before booking dogs flight. When I found it out it was already a bit late and i almost all went gray trying to speed up. Succeeded with all papers in time.

BUT then there came another surprise, we couldn't ship the dogs through Amsterdam anymore.
The reason was that the international airport in Amsterdam doesn't have an international bio security room for dogs and they must be transferred from the airport to another facility. This fact somehow made it impossible to go through Amsterdam. However, after we changed the flight already I have finally received an answer from MAF that in fact they don't care and it's up to a government vet in Holland if he signs papers. I still didn't exactly understand if it's okay or not, but fortunately, our shipper has changed the flight already. Actually it was changed twice as there were no places on the first plane anymore. Just to add, the whole new flight thing cost almost 3000 more and the shipper suggested to cover these costs as the change in the regulations regarding Amsterdam was not my mistake. I mean that's what I call human relations and Finnish honest service.

As an important update I have to point now that one of the dogs, Chiquita has been just forbidden to import to NZ due to not ABSOLUTELY perfect blood results of particular kind. You can read more about it in the post about preparing dogs for export. So from now on I talk about shipping one dog, Yuki, Westhighland white terrier. Chiquita, Yorkshire terrier, stays in Finland for a while to undergo additional tests and repeat already made ones (sic). Hopefully she will be in NZ in the middle of March already. I will add her part then.

To be continued

Stressed, very stressed,
Lena

October 2012 Helsinki