Industries · Solar and energy
Panels, inverters and batteries clear on three different tracks.
Shafiq Traders · Updated 13 September 2026
A solar shipment is not one import. Panels and inverters go through the same quality-standard route before they ever reach the port. Batteries do not, and instead sit under a valuation ruling written specifically because of under-invoicing found in that trade. Treating all three as one line, because they left the same factory in the same container, is how a shipment ends up held for the wrong reason.
One container, three different imports
A solar shipment usually arrives as one consignment and becomes three imports once it reaches the file: panels, inverters and batteries. Each sits under its own heading in the tariff, and each is watched by customs for a different reason.
Solar is one of the specialities this office has built up over years of clearing it, and the mistake we see most often is a team treating the whole shipment as a single product because it left the same factory in the same container.
What each part goes through
| Part of the shipment | What it is checked against | Where it gets held up |
|---|---|---|
| Panels | A quality-standards regime run with the Alternative Energy Development Board | A pre-shipment inspection certificate that was never arranged, or does not match what arrives |
| Inverters | The same quality-standards route as panels, but assessed on their own line | A certificate or invoice written for the panels and not naming the inverter |
| Batteries | A valuation ruling written after stakeholders reported declared values well under the market | A declared value the ruling does not support |
Panels and inverters: the certificate comes before the port
The Alternative Energy Development Board worked out a process for solar PV equipment together with customs, and the accredited inspection inside it happens before the goods ship, not after they arrive. A container that turns up without it is not waiting on an assessment. It is waiting on a certificate that should have been arranged weeks earlier.
Inverters travel under the same regime but classify separately from the panels sitting next to them in the container. A certificate or invoice that only describes the panels leaves the inverter unaccounted for, and that is enough to stop the whole line, not just the inverter.
Batteries are watched for the value, not the certificate
Lithium-ion batteries carry no equivalent pre-shipment inspection regime. What they carry is a valuation ruling, issued after the Directorate General of Customs Valuation heard representations that declared values on the category were running well under the market, and worked through the invoice, comparable imports and a market inquiry before settling a figure.
That means a battery consignment is not assessed on the invoice your supplier gave you. It is checked against the ruling, and a declared value the ruling does not support is where that file stops.
Companies we have cleared for in solar and energy
Distributors, EPC contractors and manufacturers on our register. Some brought in a single container; others are accounts we have run for years.
E-Tachi Solar Solutions · Enerquip · Ecosolar Solutions · Gallian & Co · Pak China Tradeway · Petro Wawasan Jaya · Petroflo Trading Company · U Energy
A pre-shipment inspection certificate that was never arranged is not something we can produce once the container is at the terminal. If the paperwork is missing, the fix is arranging it, which takes as long as it takes, and no agent standing at the port can shorten that by being good at the job.
Questions
What solar importers ask us
Contact
Tell us what is coming.
Give us the product, the port and roughly when the vessel is due, and we will tell you what the clearance involves and what it will cost.