A Balikbayan box refers to a package of personal effects or “pasalubong” sent by Filipinos working or residing abroad to their families, relatives or friends in the Philippines. Balikbayan boxes enhance the Philippine culture and tradition of promoting and preserving strong family ties through caring and love expressed in gift-giving.

Bm Express International Services Pty. Ltd. complies with the requirements of the Philippine Bureau of Customs. According to the Philippine Bureau of Customs, items that are allowed to be shipped inside balikbayan boxes are non-commercial goods or items that are strictly for personal use only and not in commercial quantity. These items may include clothing, grocery items and canned goods, and apparel: the value of which should not exceed the amount of 500USD (US dollars).

BM Express Balikbayan boxes are available in two (2) sizes: the standard (17.5 inches x 21 inches x 23 inches) and the jumbo (26 inches x 21 inches x 23 inches). For air cargo, you can use any kind of box, as long as it is thick and sturdy enough to handle the weight of the items inside. You can even use TV boxes or computer boxes for air cargo shipment.

BM Express ships weekly for air and sea cargo. The plane departs every Tuesday from Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney. The sea cargo vessel normally departs every Thursday but the cut off pick up day is every Saturdays.

You can arrange for us to pick up your balikbayan boxes from Wednesday to Sunday.

For air cargo, the minimum shipment weight is 20 kilograms. There is no weight limit for sea cargo.

BM Express International Services Pty. Ltd. also complies with the requirements of the Department of Trade and Industry’s Philippine Shipper’s Bureau (for sea cargo) and of the Civil Aeronautics Authority of the Philippines or CAAP (for air cargo) and hence, we would like to remind our customers of the things that are not allowed to be included in balikbayan boxes:
1.  currencies, checks, money orders and travelers checks
2.  pieces of jewelry
3.  firearms, ammunitions and explosives
4.  prohibited drugs and substances
5.  pornographic materials, gambling cards and toy guns
6.  pirated products i.e. cd, tapes, etc

Aside from the above list of items prohibited by the authorities, BM Express also restricts some items for security measures:

FOR SEA CARGO: perishable items, liquid items
FOR AIR CARGO: food, medicine, valuable items, electronic items

You can send anything except the things that are listed in the restricted items above. For sea cargo services, we can ship household items such as beds, lounge, fridge, and LCD televisions for special shipping rates. If you are interested in sending items like the aforementioned, please send us an email or call us to inquire about the rates.

As much as BM Express International Services Pty. Ltd. would like to deliver your parcels or balikbayan boxes to the Philippines in time, there are some situations beyond the company’s control that may cause the delay in delivery to the ultimate consignees.
Below are some of the factors that can cause delays or non-delivery of the balikbayan boxes and other parcels to the consignees in the Philippines:

1. Unforeseen circumstances or/and natural calamity such as earthquake or typhoon that sets back the arrival of the cargo carrying vessels;
2. The consolidated shipment is tainted by:
• Mis-declared or undeclared goods/items;
• Regulated or banned cargoes such as prohibited drugs, ammunitions and firearms, gambling materials or apparatus, pornographic materials and pirated products.
• Products that are in commercial quantity.
• Consolidated shipments that are abandoned by the Philippine representative, agent or broker for reasons of non-remittance of funds by the foreign freight forwarding entity/ consolidator.
• Wrong address and contact details of the consignee/ recipient in the Philippines
• Hard to find consignee/recipient address
• The recipient/consignee lives in very remote area or a place where the BM Express team needs to cross a river.
• The recipient lives in war-torn or potentially dangerous areas such as Basilan.