A few days back a reader contacted me and told me he was leaving the country for good and wanted my recommendation on a shipping company. Since I had just used a shipping company myself I figured I might as well write about my experience.
Back in May I shipped some furniture and electronics to my apartment in Lebanon. I didn’t really look for a shipping company, I just contacted Alghanim Freight since I previously heard they were the best and so didn’t even bother looking for any other options. My experience was a mixed bag but truth be told, not sure they can be blamed for all of it.
The problem with shipping stuff to Lebanon right now is the the fact there is internal conflict taking place in Syria right now. Before the internal conflict shipping stuff from Kuwait to Lebanon could take anywhere from 1 to 4 days but now it takes around two weeks. The shipping trucks are held at the Jordan/Syria border a few days and then formed into a convoy and led by security to the Syria/Lebanon border. Once they get there they get stuck in a long queue waiting to be cleared into Lebanon.
Based on a previous conversation with Alghanim Freight we were told our stuff would arrive to Lebanon on June 3rd. So me and Nat booked out tickets from May 31st to June 16th. Alghanim Freight sent over a packing crew and they did an amazing job. They worked around 10 to 12 hours with just a small break packing everything into carton boxes and wrapping up stuff with bubble wrap. In the end we had a total of 105 boxes which they loaded up onto their truck and took off.
Insurance
The day after they picked up the packages and while talking to Alghanim Freight we found out that although our shipment was insured, it was only insured up to $20,000. That amount was far less than the cost of the items we were shipping. To increase the insurance we were told that we would need to state the value of the items in each box. Although we had a list of all the boxes and what was inside, the descriptions were generic. Majority of the boxes were described just as “Furniture”, a few boxes were described as “Kitchen” and only a few boxes mostly the electronics were more specific. Since there was no way to know what was in each box there was nothing that could be done and so we didn’t get the extra insurance. We should have been asked ahead of time if we needed extra insurance kinda like how McDonalds asks if you want to upsize your meal while taking the order and not after you’re done.
Delivery Dates
This is where we had the biggest issue but now looking back at it I realized it mostly wasn’t in their hands. Originally we were told our shipment would arrived June 3rd. Two days after our packages were packed and taken we were told our shipment would arrive to Lebanon June 8th. That’s already a 5 day delay and the packages hadn’t even left Kuwait. When we got to Lebanon we found out that the shipment would get delayed again and in the end the shipment finally arrived on June 12th.
The Delivery
Our biggest concern was if all our items would end up arriving to Lebanon and how much we would get charged for customs. Luckily we didn’t end up having any problems. All 105 boxes were delivered with nothing damaged and nothing missing. In addition we also didn’t pay any customs at the border. Seems Alghanim Freight use trucks who have good relationships with the border people and so their cargo don’t get unloaded which is why we didn’t pay any taxes.
Conclusion
The fact that all our items arrived safely and the fact we didn’t pay any Lebanese taxes on our shipment is more than enough reason to use them again or recommend them to people. They were not accurate with the delivery dates but I truly believe it wasn’t in their control this time around. Total cost for shipping was around KD650.
24 replies on “My experience with Alghanim Freight”
How much would it cost me to buy a good family apartment in Lebanon?
i know its out of the content but it would be much appreciated if you helped in that matter even near the location your taking your place or there it self
that’s too broad of a question since you can most likely buy an apartment for whatever price you have in mind. what makes a difference is the area you’re looking for an apartment in, the size of the apartment, the age of the building etc..
check out these sites
https://www.real-estate-lebanon.com/
https://realestatelebanon.com/
https://www.dagpaiqari.com/
https://www.realestate.com.lb/
https://www.3ikar.com/
are you leaving kuwait?
hope not š
i’m not.
Hi Mark!
So how do they calculate shipping cost? Do you have any idea how much it is per KG?
it’s not by KG, it’s by container size. I got half a container for around KD650 and its as much stuff as you can fit into the space. Weight is not a concern.
I use them last week for my Airfreight out of Kuwait… (Through Airlines) but so far their service looks good. I will update as soon as I get my boxes…
How does the container system work? What if I only have a few boxes that must be shipped via freight?
i’m guessing they do offer that service and maybe charge u per box
Some of the cargo services in Kuwait charge by the kilo if you’re sending just a few boxes. My father-in-law sent some fixtures and accessories back home last year and it was around 650 fils per KG.
Can you put up some contact details for them? i sent my car to Lebanon and had huge problems. Now planning to bring it back and looking for surface (with insurance), air, or sea options.
contact details are in the first picture. 1888088
Hey, Mark, this is incredibly helpful information. Thank you so much! Just curious, did you use port to port or door to door? My quote for door to door to America is quite costly (20 ft container). And was wondering if you took care of packing and unloading the container yourself?
Door to door.
I purchased two things, a car spoiler and a rear window visor and had them delivered to a cousin in Australia. DHL quoted 180 KD to bring two items weighing 8KG and 0.5 KG respectively to Kuwait. The boxes are past the limit of Au post. Do you know of a cheaper option to get the goods here?
I would never recommend Alghanim freight at least for the UAE. I had a bad experience shipping my household stuff to Abu Dhabi. Not only do they have the most unprofessional staff handling the logistics they over charge for then shipping. I had good of about 12 cbm but was charged for 20. I.e. half a 20 ft container. The driver arrives in abu Dhabi and starts yelling swear words at Alghanim calls me just to intimidate and extort money that apparently he paid from his pockets as customs. The gentleman Mr. Ashraf is totally mismanaged promising the customer one thing and instructing his staff to do something else. At the end I was helped by a kind person in the locality to arrange for a lorry and labor to have the things delivered.
I agree with Leo.. Never Alghanim Freight.. They give wrong assessment, they actually lost one of my carton and they steal some of my stuff.. without doubt I will say AWFUL service.
Alghanim Freight (now Atlas) is awesome. They are helpful and fast. I used it to ship from Kuwait to Istanbul.
Only one word for Alghanim Freight… Cheaters.
Pls can you wright the exactly phone number of your company that can I call. Her in kuwait because I call a lot I cant reach the call nobody answered please reply my message.. I need to cargo from Kuwait to Lebanon it’s orgen.and thanks
Please I need the exactly number of alghanim cargo boxes her in kuwait I called that number it’s not to reach please respond my message its emergency and thanks
Reply my message pls
Pls can u write that exactly phone number her in Kuwait because I called that number it’s out of reach its orgin and thanks
As I wrote in 2014..No one should use the services of Alghanim freight department:
1. giving false information
2. changing the offer at the last minute
3. robbing personal stuff
4. did not pay for the broken item
5. total mess in their documentation
and I can go ON and ON..
Disgusting company in one word.