Pakistani customs is not a form you fill in: our partner at destination handles it. But it does decide one thing that is in your hands, and that is what you put in the box. This is the short list, in plain words.
What cannot travel
Nothing on this list can go in a box on the sea cargo to Pakistan from Spain corridor:
- Medicines of any kind, prescription or over the counter.
- Alcoholic beverages of any kind.
This is not a recommendation or small print: it is what you sign before the box leaves. If Pakistani customs finds any of these items, the box may be held or destroyed, and the shipment is not covered by any insurance.
The medicines one is worth repeating, because it is the one that slips through in good faith. A blister of ibuprofen tucked into a box of clothes "just in case" falls in the same category as the rest: it does not travel.
Electronics do travel — separately
There is a common misunderstanding here, so let us be clear: phones, tablets and laptops are not banned. What you cannot do is hide them in a box declared as general cargo.
Electronics travel in their own category, at their own rate: €5.00/kg instead of the €4.50/kg of general cargo. The difference exists because the partner carries them at a different price, not as a surprise surcharge.
Tell us before you pack and it goes right from the start. Declaring them as general cargo to pay less is a signed false declaration, and it is the box that pays for it.
What can go
This is family shipping: what fits in a box and is not in a hurry.
- Clothes, blankets and textiles. What travels most on this corridor: bulky and light, which is exactly what a ship is for.
- Household goods. Crockery, pans, bed linen, small appliances.
- Gifts and personal effects for your family, as long as it is not a commercial shipment.
- Non-perishable food. And the qualifier matters: the box spends weeks inside a container, so nothing that needs refrigeration or has a short shelf life.
If you are unsure about something specific, ask before you pack it. It is cheaper than taking it out later.
Paperwork: less than you think
To send, you need no Pakistani document. When you drop the box at the warehouse you sign a declaration of what is inside, and that is everything needed on the day.
What Pakistani customs does ask for, in order to clear the box, is the recipient's CNIC — their identity document. We will ask you for it in due course, before the ship leaves, so you do not need it when you bring the box in. If your family does not have it to hand, there are weeks of margin to get it.
The declaration: the only thing you sign
When you drop the box at the Barcelona warehouse you sign a contents declaration: what is inside and which category each box belongs to. Once, even if you bring several.
That is all the paperwork on your side. Customs clearance in Pakistan is handled by our partner at destination, and there is nothing else to bring in advance.
The declaration is not decorative bureaucracy: it is what lets the box through without anyone having to open it to guess what is inside. Done properly, customs is invisible.
What if customs charges something
What Pakistani customs decides to apply depends on what the box carries, and we do not know it in advance — which is why we do not publish it as though it were a fixed number. Tell us what you are sending before you pack and we will tell you what we know.