Shipment Is On Hold: What Is It Mean? (Explained)

What does it mean when the parcel is on hold?

Shipment or parcel is on hold means that your shipment or parcel is delayed in process and stopped somewhere not moving.

What causes shipment on hold?

There are many reasons causing shipment on hold. Most reasons belong to below four categories

  • Custom hold
    • Custom holds is caused by many things such as missing document, unpaid duty, or maybe a holiday in the destination country.
  • Negligence of workers
    • workers are humans so they make mistakes unintentionally, such as skip scans, and putting items on the wrong flight, or truck.
  • Uncontrolled circumstance
    • such as weather delaying the plane, port congestion delaying the vessel, and other uncontrolled conditions
  • Technical problem
    • sometimes your parcel is processed correctly but the system did not show it accordingly, so you might see the wrong information on the courier’s website

How long does shipment on hold last?

The on-hold time varies greatly depending on what causes the hold. if your parcel is missing a flight or truck, the carrier can put it on the next flight or truck, It is an easy fix for the courier once they find the problem. Your parcel would start moving within 3~5 days.

The technical problem is probably the quickest fix. The courier can straighten up its website in a couple of days.

The custom hold is likely the most tricky one. It totally depends on the destination country’s rules and policies once your parcel is in another country.

Different countries have different import rules. It is hard to estimate the time. The on-hold time may be as short as several days or as long as several weeks.

How long is the clearance process?

Normally a small package takes several hours to clear customs. A full container load cargo might take several days for clearance.

Each country has its own rules and procedures, so clearance time also varies depending on which country you ship to or ship from.

For example, if your parcel is from china the whole process will take 3~5 days. 1~2 days to declare custom, another day or two for consignee to pay duty.

Why is clearance taking so long?

If the document is correct, all duty has been paid, and the standard time of a small package should be cleared within 24~72 hours. There are unexpected things that happen many times.

  • Your package is waiting for clearance
    • The destination country might be on holiday, or they are short of labor so your package is waiting in queue for clearance
  • How long can a clearance delay take?
    • It depends on what caused the delay. the delay can be several days to several weeks.
  • How do you get a package out of clearance delay?
    • unless you know what cause the delay and you can do something about it. For example, missing a document, you can submit the complete document again. if it is a customs inspection, then you can do nothing about it.

How can I speed up customs clearance?

You can do things before you ship your parcel, such as using a dependable carrier, making sure your document amount, and value is all correct, etc. at least you can be confident that there is no incomplete information from your side.

There is not much thing you can do once your parcel is in another country waiting for customs clearance.

Many custom clearance delays because of the destination country’s procedure and policy, so the speed is determined by them, not by you or the courier.

What can you do if your package is stuck in transit?

The majority of the time you can do nothing about it if your package is stuck in the middle of transit. These circumstances such as flight delays, port congestion, and traffic are untrollable by anyone.

But if you see your package stuck in transit for several days, I would suggest you call the carrier to try to find out what happened. if it is an uncontrollable situation then you have to wait. sometimes might be their worker’s negligence to putting your parcel on the wrong flight or truck, so your call can help them locate your parcel and put it on the next flight quicker. then the delay won’t be so long.

If the delay is too long for you to bear, the last thing you can do is go ahead and cancel the order and ask for a refund.

What can you do to prevent shipment on hold?

  • Choose reliable couriers
    • The top three couriers for international shipping are DHL, FedEx, and UPS.
    • If you happened to use one courier that has done a good job previously, I would suggest you keep using it.
    • reliable courier has a good reputation worldwide so their shipment is less likely inspected by customs.
    • if something goes wrong you can always reach them. they do not disappear like small couriers.
  • Consult before shipping
    • you need to consult the courier before shipping, especially international parcels, so they can tell you the rules and policies of different countries.
    • you can prepare a custom clearance document without making major mistakes, otherwise, you take a big risk for customs to hold your parcel.
    • you can compare price and transit time to choose the best courier to fit your budget.
  • Do check your parcel regularly on the carrier’s website
    • you will notice as soon as you find something wrong, for example, your parcel did not move for over a week
    • once you find the problem you can contact the courier. It helps the courier to catch the negligence and correct it quickly.

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