Papers first, transport second
The order is the reverse of how people usually think about it. Carriage is the last question; the contract comes first, because what it says drives both the customs value and who answers for what in transit.
You need at least: a contract with the supplier, an invoice showing price and delivery terms, and a packing list. The Incoterms rule fixes where the seller's responsibility ends and yours begins — and the costs with it.
The commodity code decides more than it looks
The HS code is chosen from the description, composition and purpose of the goods. Three things follow from it: the import duty rate, whether permits are required, and mandatory marking.
An error in the code is not merely a wrong payment. It is also a certificate you learn about at customs, with the cargo already sitting at a bonded warehouse where every day costs money.
How the payments are calculated
Four charges arise on import, and each is calculated on a base that already includes the previous one:
- Clearance fee.
- Import duty — at the tariff rate, from zero to tens of per cent. Some lines carry a floor per kilogram or per unit.
- Excise — only for excisable goods, at fixed rates.
- VAT at 12% — on the customs value plus duty plus excise.
Which mode
- Road — 7–20 days. Suits most consignments and collects from the supplier's door.
- Rail — 18–35 days. Cheaper at volume, moves by container via Dostyk or Altynkol.
- Air — 3–7 days. For expensive, urgent or light cargo; charged per kilogram.
- Sea with transhipment — 30–50 days. Uzbekistan is landlocked, so the sea leg always becomes an overland one.
A consignment smaller than a truck travels as groupage — from a single pallet.
What to settle in advance
Minimum consignment. We work from one pallet and with legal entities. Parcels, personal effects and goods charged by weight are not what we carry.
Who clears the cargo. We clear only what we carry ourselves: when one party prepares both the route and the paperwork, an error in the code does not surface with the truck already at the border.
Insurance. A carrier's liability is capped by weight, not by the value of the goods.