The Real Guide to Shipping Stone Statues Bali to USA: Safety, Crates, and Customs – You found the perfect statue in a workshop in Batubulan. It is massive, carved from volcanic stone, and looks ancient. Now you face the hard part. Shipping stone statues Bali to USA is not like mailing a postcard or sending a box of clothes. It involves moving a heavy, brittle object halfway across the world without a scratch.
Understanding the Risks of Shipping Stone Statues Bali to USA
The first step is understanding what you bought. Balinese artisans typically use two main types of stone. The first is Paras stone, which is solidified volcanic ash. It is creamy, soft, and easy to carve. It is also very porous. It acts like a hard sponge. If it gets wet, it stays wet. The second type is Lavastone or river stone. This is dense, hard, and incredibly heavy.
Both types present different problems for shipping stone statues Bali to USA. Paras stone is brittle. If a truck hits a pothole and the crate isn’t built right, the vibration can snap a statue’s neck or wrist. Lavastone is tough, but its weight is a nightmare for logistics. A medium-sized Buddha statue can weigh 500 kilograms (1,100 lbs). If that weight shifts inside a container, it can crush everything else around it.
This brings us to the concept of heavy cargo shipping. It is not just about lifting the item; it is about stopping it from moving. We have to calculate the center of gravity and build a structure that holds the stone in place, regardless of how the ship moves.
The “Cleanliness” Rule You Cannot Ignore
Before we even talk about crates, we have to talk about dirt. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has a zero-tolerance policy for soil. This is serious.
Most statues in Bali sit outside in workshops or gardens before they are sold. They accumulate moss, algae, and tiny bits of earth in the crevices. If US Customs finds a single patch of moss or a clump of dry mud on your statue, they can reject the entire shipment. They view it as a biological threat to American agriculture.
We spend hours cleaning these items. We use wire brushes and pressure washers to remove every speck of organic matter. It must be clinically clean. If you skip this step, you risk having your shipment returned to Indonesia at your expense or destroyed at the port.
The Art of Fragile Packing Bali
Once the stone is clean and dry, we build the crate. You cannot use a standard pallet for this. We build custom crates around the specific shape of the statue.
We use the term fragile packing Bali to describe a very specific method. We do not just stuff the box with paper. We build a wooden skeleton inside the crate. We use timber braces to lock the statue’s shoulders and base to the crate walls. This transfers the energy of any impact to the wood, not the stone.
We also have to wrap the stone carefully. We use foam and cushioning at the contact points. But here is a trick: we have to be careful with plastic. If we seal a damp Paras stone statue in plastic, the moisture gets trapped. We often use moisture-absorbing desiccant bags inside the wrapping to keep the air dry.
The wood we use for the crate matters too. International regulations (ISPM 15) require all wood packaging entering the USA to be heat-treated and stamped. This kills any wood-boring bugs. If your crate does not have the official stamp, US Customs will stop it. We ensure every piece of timber used in our fragile packing Bali process is compliant and stamped.
Sea Freight and Weight Limits
Air freight is almost never an option for stone. The cost is calculated by weight, and stone is just too heavy. It would cost five to ten times the value of the statue to fly it. Sea freight is the only logical choice.
However, heavy cargo shipping by sea has its own limits. A standard 20-foot shipping container can hold about 28,000 kilograms. But you cannot always load it that full. In the USA, road weight limits are stricter than in Asia. A truck carrying a container from the port to your house might have a legal limit of around 18,000 to 20,000 kilograms depending on the state and the chassis type.
This means we often cannot fill a container to the roof with stone. We hit the weight limit when the container is only half full. We have to plan the load carefully to distribute the weight evenly. If the container is too heavy on one side, the crane at the port cannot lift it safely.
Customs and Duties
There is a big difference between “original art” and “commercial stone products.” If you bought a one-of-a-kind sculpture from a famous artist, it might enter duty-free under Chapter 97 of the tariff schedule. But most garden statues, even if hand-carved, are considered decorative stone under Chapter 68. These usually attract a duty rate of around 6% to 6.5%.
You also need to file an “Importer Security Filing” (ISF), also known as 10+2. This must be done 24 hours before the ship leaves Bali. If you miss this deadline, US Customs can fine you $5,000. As an experienced exportir Bali service, Sejati Cargo make sure this data is accurate and sent on time so you don’t get hit with penalties.
How Sejati Cargo Helps You
We know this sounds like a lot of work. That is because it is. But you do not have to do it yourself. At Sejati Cargo, we handle the entire process. We are a licensed exportir Bali company that specializes in difficult shipments.
We start by picking up the statue from the art shop or villa. We bring it to our warehouse, where we inspect it for cracks and dirt. We handle the cleaning. We build the ISPM 15 certified crate. We brace it, wrap it, and load it.
We also handle the documents. We generate the packing list, the commercial invoice, and the certificate of origin. We work with the shipping lines to get your booking. We don’t just drop the crate at the port; we manage the logistics until it is on the water and on its way to you.
If you are buying just one or two statues, you don’t need to rent a whole container. We offer LCL (Less than Container Load) services. We can combine your crate with other shipments to share the cost. This makes shipping stone statues Bali to USA affordable for homeowners, not just big businesses.
Let us handle the heavy lifting, the paperwork, and the cleaning. You just focus on where you want to put that statue in your garden. Reach out to Sejati Cargo today for your shipping stone statues Bali to USA needs.