The container to Curaçao: what the crossing costs, and how the exemption works
Your household contents cross the ocean by sea container — count on weeks of sailing time and thousands of euros. Customs grants an exemption from import taxes for used household goods, but only whoever knows the conditions (six months of ownership, an inventory list with values, declaration within six months) benefits from it.
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Yes, your household contents can go to Curaçao tax-free, but not by themselves. On request you get an exemption from all import taxes: import duties, excise and turnover tax. What is a lorry for Spain or France is a sea container here: weeks on the water, and a customs service on the other side.
Two conditions stand out:
- Your used things belonged to your household for at least six months.
- You make the declaration within six months of your move.
The find in the brochure is the definition of moving. You transfer your "normal place of residence": the place where you have your personal and professional ties for at least 183 days a year. Customs judges that case by case, from your registration, your family and your work.
The pitfall is the file. Without a signed inventory list with values, an original proof of deregistration and the extract of your Kranshi registration (your entry in the population register) there is no permit. And without a permit you pay the full rate.
What does the crossing cost, and how long does it take?
The sea leg Rotterdam–Willemstad takes roughly two to three weeks. Door to door, with loading, customs and delivery included, count on four to six weeks for a container of your own. Groupage, where your things share a container with other people's, takes longer. Plan your temporary accommodation on that: you sleep the first weeks without your things, and that's how it is.
The costs are steep and vary per provider. The cost indication for Curaçao reckons (2026) with:
- a 20-foot container from port to port from around € 3,000;
- fully handled from door to door more like € 6,000 to € 9,500;
- a 40-footer above that;
- a groupage load around € 225 to 350 per cubic metre.
Ask for three quotes for the same inventory. And ask explicitly what is not included: the insurance and the local costs on Curaçao are the items the bill overruns on.
When do I get the exemption?
Customs grants on request an exemption from all import taxes for removal goods. The conditions come straight from the official brochure:
- It concerns used, personal goods that have been part of your household contents for at least six months. Customs may ask for a purchase receipt or warranty for things that look new. New goods may come along, but on a separate declaration, with import duties.
- You transfer your normal place of residence to Curaçao. The moment of that in principle coincides with your arrival on the island, and that is the reference point for the six months of ownership.
- You submit a signed, complete inventory list with values stated. Make that list while packing, per box.
- You make the import declaration within six months of transferring your residence. If special circumstances prevent that, the Inspector can extend; you submit that request at least a month before expiry.
- After the exemption you may not lend, pledge, let or transfer the goods for twelve months without permission. That period starts on the day customs accepts the declaration.
| Item | Deadline or requirement |
|---|---|
| Normal place of residence | personal and professional ties for at least 183 days a year |
| Ownership of the goods | at least 6 months before transferring residence |
| Import declaration | within 6 months of arrival; request extension at least 1 month before expiry |
| No-disposal period | 12 months from acceptance of the declaration |
| Extract of Kranshi registration (BB-10) | NAF 10; Kranshi registers you within 5 days of settling |
| Objection to (partial) refusal | within 6 weeks |
| Pet landing before the permit | deposit, reclaimable as soon as the permit is there |
What goes in the file?
You apply for the permit on arrival of the goods. That is done with a Single Document (the standard form) for the import declaration; a forwarding agent helps with that for a fee. These supporting documents go with it:
- copies of the passports of you and your moving partner, including the page with the admissions organisation's stamp (the immigration service);
- the original extract of your registration at Kranshi (the BB-10, NAF 10) or a work permit;
- the original proof of deregistration from the Netherlands;
- the signed inventory list with values;
- the application form.
Whoever cannot show a deregistration proof provides other documents showing that the normal residence was abroad.
For goods you forward later, customs wants the passport copies, your travel document (ticket and boarding pass) and a signed list of the forwarded goods. If the exemption is refused wholly or partly, you have six weeks to object.
Drink above a normal household stock, tobacco, pleasure craft and sports or hobby vehicles fall outside the exemption. And the car is a story of its own with a stricter ownership requirement of twelve months; it has its own article, as does the pet, which counts as removal goods but usually lands before the permit and then costs a deposit.
What is the pitfall?
The order. Customs wants the extract of your Kranshi registration, and Kranshi first wants to see your declaration by operation of law (your residence document as a Dutch national) and your deregistration proof. Whoever lets the container sail before the chain on the island is running sees it waiting in the harbour for papers that are in the Netherlands.
A mover who sails the route often usually clears customs in days once the papers are right. So the critical path is you:
- the inventory list;
- the proof of deregistration;
- the Kranshi registration.
With those three in order you pay not a cent of tax on your entire household contents.
In Vertrekklaar this is phase 3 of 5 of the journey, step 3.2: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Curaçao or go straight to step 3.2 in the open plan.
What this rests on
The facts in this article come from these official pages. Rules change. When in doubt, go by the source, not this article.
- Customs Curaçao — exemption for removal goods; the application, the supporting documents and the objection within six weeks — douane.cw
- Customs Curaçao — the brochure with all conditions (PDF); 183 days, six and twelve months, forwarded goods — douane.cw
- Customs Curaçao — a pet as removal goods; deposit until the permit is there — douane.cw
- Digital desk Curaçao — registering at Kranshi, the extract customs wants to see — loketdigital.gobiernu.cw
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