leofric Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 So leaving aside the current political/security problems, I am wondering what experience or advice any of you might have of moving a show between Egypt and Israel The idea is being knocked about by our office. The show would pick up local production gear in each territory and we would supply two different stage sets, one to each territory. What would most likely be airfreighted are the costumes and backline between the two shows. Now obviously I realize that direct movement of people and goods between each is not going to happen but what routes have people used and what hassles or complications have they had to overcome. As I say, please leave aside any comments on the wisdom of such a routing in the present climate (or at all!), I am interested in the practicalities and how these things have been achieved in the past. Cheers Leo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 The British Foreign Office, the Israeli embassy and the Egyptian embassy would IMO be the best starting points. Here's hoping that all the people moving can get visas for both places. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kerry davies Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 Direct movement is possible by road through Raba/Eilat and flights can be booked direct even though the cheapest ones go via Amman and cost as much as Gatwick to Cairo. My first call, even before the FCO, would be to insurers. That could be the showstopper if the sheer travel cost isn't. The FCO currently have warnings about certain routes and places in Israel and about the fact that an Israeli border stamp will see the holder automatically excluded from some Arab states. Gaza is an entirely other kettle of fish! One thing I would bear in mind is that however conscientious any planner might be, the risk of the whole shooting match being cancelled on the day is high and the costs of the whole tour need to be considered a write-off in advance ...... just in case. Good luck and let us know how the project goes. I would be especially interested about local standards of H&S as neither have a very good reputation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smalljoshua Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 Someone I know who is a regular in the region has two passports for just this reason. Foreign Office is likely a good start! Josh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 Ultimately you will have to get everyone involved passports and visas for all the possible journeys, and get the insurance to cover everything. I suppose it depends on whether both countries want the show to tour there sufficiently for them to facilitate the journeys and paperwork and pay the costs. Think of your task as juggling with hand grenades -something could go wrong at any moment, right up to the last person crossing the last border. I sincerely hope that all of your company have UK passports, it will get even harder if you have a few other in the mix. Assume that you may have to pay for some company members to have a reissued passport to facilitate their continued ability to work in other countries on later jobs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImagineerTom Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 We get asked to do tent / circus based stuff out there at least once every year and so do go through the process... and have never yet found it to work out. There's no direct routes for freight, there's only a handful of companies who will take care of the (highly specialist) logistics and who charge a fortune for their highly specialist services - we actually worked out it was cheaper to ship a tent/seating from the uk to each country directly rather than try to cross from one troublesome country to the next and that was all long before the tricky issue of visas, work permits and passports was looked in to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leofric Posted January 7, 2016 Author Share Posted January 7, 2016 Thanks for the input guys, it's going to be an interesting one, there is going to be all the right sort of support behind this including one of the reputable entertainment freight agencies. I can forsee a senario where the airfreight comes back to the UK between venues but this still gives me worries about the amount of time it will take to clear customs at each end. I am still quite sceptical if this will go ahead with the political situation as it is at the moment. Cheers Leo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 Round there things can change while the freight is in transit, can you afford total loss of one set of kit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leofric Posted May 30, 2016 Author Share Posted May 30, 2016 Well we have managed to get back safe and well, although we did fly an Egypt Air. In the end it fell out that we needed very little of the same kit in both territories. Costumes and a few pieces of sound kit travelled between both places all going excess baggage with the main party who flew back to London between engagements. This was covered by carnet going into Israel, the arrangement going into Egypt were a little less formal much to our dismay and not of our choosing. The other kit we either had duplicates off or was not needed in both territories as substitutes were available and so these were freighted from the UK as normal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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