Man what a week !! I thought I had pretty much everything sorted. So this week I started down the track of organising the ATA Carnet.
In the process I needed to get the contact details of the agent in the USA so I contacted my shipper (new one now since the original one was not particularly helpful) and he said they don't usually accept a Carnet in the USA. Added to this.. the bank won't secure enough deposit since our house is worth too much !! (WTF?).
As I look further into this it looks like the way to do it is with a TIB (temporary import bond) in the USA. It will work out better since the bond will only be for a shorter time period but it needs confirming.
So now I wait to hear from the shipper.
All this was brought about by the first shipper who, now it seems, didn't know what he was doing and wasnt really interested.
I'll be glad to get through this bit. The clock is ticking.