Bandharu Clearing Agents Licensed clearing agents at the port and the airport
Clearing agents since 2009

Most clearance problems are settled before the ship arrives

We read the invoice, classify every line, tell you the duty in writing and file the declaration. By the time your cargo lands there is nothing left to discover.

Send an invoice for a duty opinion What we do

We are agents, not forwarders, and the difference matters to you

We do not book your freight, we do not own a boat and we have no reason to prefer one route over another. What we do is the declaration and everything around it: the classification, the valuation, the permits and the argument when there is one.

That means our advice about your shipment has nothing in it for us. When we tell you an item is better bought locally, or that a consignment should be split, or that a queried valuation is correct and you should pay it, there is no freight margin sitting behind the sentence.

We work alongside whichever forwarder or carrier you use, and most of our regular importers came to us through one.

What we do

Declarations, classification and the awkward cases

Six services for importers, and two for the cases where something has already gone wrong.

Import declarations at the port

The declaration filed, the duty paid on your behalf, the inspection attended and the cargo released.

Read more

Airport and courier clearance

Air cargo and courier consignments, including the small urgent ones nobody else wants to handle.

Read more

Tariff classification and duty opinions

Every line put under a heading, with the reasoning, before you commit to buying anything.

Read more

Permits and controlled goods

What needs a permission before it is ordered, and the application made in time to be useless to nobody.

Read more

Valuation queries and appeals

When a declared value is challenged: the evidence assembled, the response filed, and an honest view of your chances.

Read more

Export declarations

Outbound consignments, the certificates the destination will ask for, and goods going back under warranty.

Read more
See everything
How we work

Four things we put in writing

The duty figure, before the freight

Every line classified and priced, with the heading we intend to declare under written beside it.

Which lines will be queried

We say so at the start. A vague description or an unusual value is visible weeks before anybody looks at the cargo.

An answer the same working day

On anything with a deadline, within two hours. A declaration deadline is not a matter of opinion.

The same agent on your file

Four of us are licensed. You deal with one, and that one attends if your consignment is inspected.

Cases we have run

Three that were not routine

A classification argued and won, a project exemption for an island water plant, and an audit correction we raised ourselves.

A classification argued and won
Hirimaa Builders 2025

A classification argued and won

A concrete pump declared under one heading and challenged under another. Settled at the lower rate on the manufacturer's own description.
A water plant brought in under an exemption
Fenmaa Water Works 2025

A water plant brought in under an exemption

Plant, pipework and spares for an island water project, itemised to match the approval, with the records kept for the obligations afterwards.
An error we found in our own file
A grocery importer 2024

An error we found in our own file

A product line misclassified across fourteen months by us. Corrected voluntarily, the duty paid, and the invoice format fixed.
Read the detail
In their words

What importers say

They put together a bundle with the manufacturer's own description, the parts breakdown and two foreign rulings. It was released at the lower rate in eight days. Nobody argued anybody into anything.

A Ahmed Shifau Site manager, Hirimaa Builders

They held a shipment for four days because a supplier had substituted a pump that was not on the approval. I was annoyed at the time. Four shipments later nothing has been reassessed.

I Ismail Hafeez Engineer, Fenmaa Water Works

One small parcel with three separate permissions in it, cleared in three days. Their advice was simply to send the airway bill on the day of shipping, and we have done that ever since.

M Mohamed Ihsan Pharmacist, Farumaa Pharmacy
Before you import

The questions we answer every week

What do you need from me to start?

The commercial invoice and the packing list, plus the bill of lading or the airway bill when it exists.

Send them when you place the order rather than when the vessel is announced. We charge the same either way and the import costs you considerably less.

How long does clearance take?

On a complete file, two to four working days at the port. Air cargo with a clean file is often the same day it lands.

An incomplete file takes as long as the missing document takes, and we will tell you on day one which document it is.

What usually holds a consignment?

Three things, in order. A description too vague to classify, a value that cannot be reconciled with the payment records, and a missing permit.

All three are visible on the paperwork weeks earlier. None of them is visible in a container yard except as a delay.

Will somebody attend if my cargo is inspected?

Yes, and it will be the agent who prepared your declaration.

An inspector with a question and an agent who can answer it is ten minutes. The same question with nobody there is a note and another day.

Do you handle courier parcels?

Yes, at a fixed low fee. Small consignments are where importers get stuck, because the paperwork from the sender is usually poor and the value does not justify half a day of anybody's time.

Send us the airway bill and the invoice on the day it ships and the declaration will be ready before the parcel is.

Send us the invoice and the packing list

You will get the duty in writing, the headings we will declare under, and the list of anything that needs a permit.

Ask for a duty opinion Ring the declarations desk
Get in touch

Tell us what you are importing

An invoice is enough. If you are still choosing a supplier, send the quotation and we will price the duty on both.

We reply to every message. Leave a phone number if you would rather we called.

  • Where we are First floor, Fiyavathi Building
    Haveeree Hingun, Male 20095
    Maldives
  • Call us +960 331 2076
  • WhatsApp 9607732076
  • Email us declarations@bandharuclearing.mv
  • Opening hours Sunday to Thursday, 8am to 5pm Saturday, 9am to 1pm Closed Friday Airport desk covered on Saturday and public holidays