Importing from California to the UK

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At Barrington Freight, we handle the imports of numerous UK-based firms that trade with Californian companies. Given the vibrant economy of one of the largest states of the union, British firms will often want to import goods from Californian suppliers. After all, California has a booming export trade that goes around the world, specialising in many different classes of goods including beer and wine, electronic products, medical equipment, machinery and much more besides. Why not benefit from importing from California and allow Barrington Freight to handle the logistical matters that arise from trading with a West Coast supplier.

Although Los Angeles has a significant air freight operation that we can assist with, the majority of British importers buying goods from California will have their shipments sent by sea. This is quicker than you might imagine but the main reason for doing so is that it is exponentially less expensive. This is especially so if you opt for groupage rates so the costs of importing from California are shared by multiple British importation firms.

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Importing from California (and the other way too)

We can arrange for your goods to be loaded onto ocean-going vessels that will make their way from California to the UK. The Port of Los Angeles is the largest container port in the entire United States. However, depending on where your supplier is located, we can also send your consignment to other ports, such as Hueneme, Long Beach, San Francisco or San Diego. Many shipments will then make their way to the Atlantic via the Panama Canal. However, some ships will cross the Pacific Ocean and arrive in European waters via the Far East. Either way, our freight forwarding service will aim to offer competitive pricing without unnecessary delays.

Why Opt for Barrington Freight When Importing to the UK from California?

As a firm that is well-versed in all aspects of Californian imports, we can assist you whether you have suppliers in Silicon Valley close to the San Francisco Bay area or less well-known places in the state, such as Redding in the north or Brawley, close to the Mexican border. No matter where you trade in California, why not ask us how we can help your firm to import successfully?

Handling Californian Imports and Customs Clearances

On arrival in the UK, your goods will be unloaded ready for onward transit to you or your customers – in the case of a dropshipping arrangement. However, your order will need to pass through customs checks before it can enter the country. To do this, you will need to have an import license, an EORI number and to have made a customs declaration. In some cases, you will also need to pay import duty and VAT, too. 

This is why our customs clearance services are so beneficial when importing from California. Allow us to deal with the technicalities so you don’t have to have specialists on your payroll who can carry out this sort of work. It is worth underlining that our operations team handles both customs clearances and freight forwarding under one roof so the two services can be combined seamlessly.

We are friendly, easy to work with, honest and we do not charge the earth.

For more information about our services or if you have an unusual load request, reach out to our sales team on 01268 978660 or email sales@barringtonfreight.co.uk.

Top Tips
Top Tips
2023-11-14
The guys at Barrington are brilliant! I've used them for my shipments for around 12 years now and they never let you down. Always happy to help with anything!
David Darrock
David Darrock
2023-11-10
Barrington Freight are extremely helpful and professional, promptly answering any questions or queries. Communication from them has been great and they have taken the difficulty out of importing freight.
Scott Glazebrook
Scott Glazebrook
2023-11-01
Our business is the supply of high end luxury furniture and as such we rely on Barrington Freight to provide a 5* delivery service which they have done time and time again. Reliable, friendly and efficient sums up this great approachable freight forwarding business.
Krishan Dhillon
Krishan Dhillon
2023-11-01
10/10, dealt with everything start to finish. Customer service was friendly and helpful
Sharmane Barrett
Sharmane Barrett
2023-10-20
We had a last minute request and Lee was fantastic in helping us to arrange transportation and facilitate delivery from Europe, very quickly with no hiccups. I would highly recommend.
Simon Edgecombe
Simon Edgecombe
2023-10-16
HAVING USED MANY SHIPPERS TO IMPORT OUR GOODS FROM THE USA (NONE OUTSTANDING) I DECIDED THIS TIME TO HAVE A SEARCH AROUND TO SEE IF I COULD FIND A BETTER OPTION. I FOUND BARRINGTON FREIGHT AFTER EMAILING MANY OTHERS, SOME OF THEM (UPS,DHL,FEDEX) SIMPLY TOOK SO LONG TO CONTACT ME, THAT IT BECAME STUPID, SIMON AT BARRINGTON CAME BACK TO ME VIRTUALLY STRAIGHT AWAY WITH A VERY GOOD PRICE, ALSO GOOD SHIPPING TIMES. NOW A SERVICE IS ONLY AS GOOD AS THE RESULTS, AND THEY WERE AS GOOD AS THEIR WORD. HAPPY TO HAVE FOUND THEM AND SIMON AT BARRINGTON FREIGHT WILL BE THE FIRST PERSON WE GO TO NEXT TIME, WELL DONE!!
Emir Danial
Emir Danial
2023-09-26
Brilliant EXW freight forwarding services from China to the UK. Professionally done, readily available for support, and our shipments were trackable. There were last minute issues on regards to customs clearance and redirecting of goods that we take responsibility for, but with their quick action, we were able to swiftly solve it all in much less than 24hrs. Fantastic experience working with Simon and his team, will continue to engage them for the foreseeable future. Thanks again Simon and the BF team!
Tom Gilbey
Tom Gilbey
2023-09-18
Barrington Freight was brilliant from start to finish. We had a very good shipping experience with them.
Dean Marsh
Dean Marsh
2023-09-09
What a superb company especially Simon Poole the agent who handled all my inquiries even worked over weekend to clear and arrange for my items to be removed from airline shed to save us storage charges Then when there were a little issue with the airline loosening items he dealt with it very quickly. We will only use him for our import Clearence’s now
Tilly H
Tilly H
2023-08-10
I highly recommend Barrington freight. Simon could not do enough for me and as a first time user of freight services I was anxious. Simon guided me smoothly through the whole process from start to finish. I am beyond pleased with the service I was given.