Customs clearance at the Port of Tarragona

Chemicals and dangerous goods: customs clearance that admits no improvisation

A drum of solvent, a pallet of paint or a container of industrial cleaning product are not "general cargo". They carry IMDG classification for sea transport, safety data sheet, labeling, shipper's declaration and, in the DUA, a tariff item that must be consistent with all of the above.

When it is not, the usual doesn't happen—an extra day at the terminal—: the shipping line refuses the shipment, and rightly so. That's why in this port the file is prepared in reverse from elsewhere: first we determine exactly what the goods are and how they travel, and then the DUA and B/L are drafted. If your shipment to the Canary Islands contains any chemical product, however domestic it may seem, tell us when you request a quote: it changes the stowage, the timeline and the price.

Everything else that moves through here

• Bulk agri-food products: cereals, animal feed, oils. International traffic with health inspection in addition to DUA.
• Wine, oil and preserves from Priorat, Terra Alta and the Ebro region, with their labeling, their designation and, in export, their own documentation.
• Paper, plastic and construction materials, where the tariff item determines the AIEM upon entry to the Canary Islands.
• Removals and personal effects, with exemption for verified change of residence: sworn declaration, inventory valued at customs value and proof of address.
• Vehicles, in containers or loose, with their DUA and island registration procedures.

Why the Canary Islands require a DUA even though it's Spain

The Canary Islands are within the EU customs territory but outside the common VAT territory. A Tarragona-Canary Islands shipment does not pay tariffs, but crosses a fiscal border: export DUA at the port of shipment, import DUA upon arrival, VAT exemption at origin and IGIC settlement—plus AIEM if the item carries it—at destination.

In chemical and industrial goods, that AIEM is precisely what brings surprises, because it is calculated on the customs value and affects items that compete with Canary Islands production. We identify it before shipping and provide it separately from the customs clearance fee. The complete framework is in our customs guide between the Canary Islands and the mainland.

Where we pick up from and where it departs

We provide collection in Tarragona, Reus and the Camp de Tarragona area—Cambrils, Salou, Valls, El Vendrell—, the Terres de l'Ebre (Tortosa, Amposta) and, by road, Lleida and southern Aragon. The cargo is consolidated and shipped from the Port of Barcelona, with 7 days transit to Tenerife and Gran Canaria.

For a complete household, a dedicated container is worth it, with a fixed date and less handling. For medium volume, consolidated groupage is cheaper because you only pay for what you occupy. With dangerous goods, groupage is sometimes not possible: it depends on what else is in the container, and we decide that, not the customer.

Transits from Tarragona (shipped via Barcelona) to each island

Port-to-port transits, to which must be added collection, the leg to Barcelona, customs clearance and delivery:

With dangerous goods, transit times may be extended: not all vessels accept all IMDG classes and sometimes we have to wait for a sailing that does. We state this when quoting.