To Ship or Not to Ship?

[Rease]

Hello! We are planning to emmigrate by Summer 2008, and I have been fascinated by the posts with regard to "what/what not to ship". One of my questions is, what are our other shipping options if we don't hire a large container? If we end up taking no large items, it's obvious that we won't be going the container route. So, what alternative methods of shipping are available, and what do they cost? Is it strictly priced by weight? As we plan a budget for this move, it's certain that the "shipping" line item will be a big one...but I currently have no way of estimating costs, and whether or not all shipping is based on weight, or container size, or both! Also, do you have any links to companies you've used that you liked for shipping??

So many questions, so little time. :-)

[Alison]

Hi Rease


We are not bringing over any big items, it is mostly personal possessions (books, dvds, sons toys etc), the largest item being our PC's but you still go the shipping route and ours was done on space taken (cubic metres I think it was) in a shared container, I cant remember the exact amount of space we took up but approximately just over half a container cost us approx GBP 1300.

Be aware though, the only problem with sharing containers is they have to fill the container up, which we where assured would only take a couple of weeks ...... putting it politely though BOLLOCKS!!! I phoned up 8 weeks after Whites had collected our goods expecting to be told they would be arriving in NZ shortly, only to find they hadnt even left the UK yet!!!! Because they hadnt been able to fill up the container yet Was not a happy bunny and after expressing my unhappiness (very politely of course) we are now due to receive our goods early October, 3 months after we arrived here. Makes me wonder what would have happened if I hadnt phoned up to enquire, whether they would have just been left there indefinately till the container eventually filled up

Rant over

Ali
x

[Ace]

I think the only way to reasonably avoid ocean freight is if you can bring all of your stuff on the plane with you -- possibly with an extra or overweight bag or two.

While air freight is an option, it's insanely expensive. Most airlines will no longer ship just your stuff if you aren't on the same plane with it, due to safety concerns / paranoia, so you would have to use a freight forwarding company.

Ocean freight is relatively cheap. It's done almost entirely by size, not weight. If you don't have enough to fill a whole container, you can just get a partial, as was mentioned in another post. In that case, try to pick a popular port (like Auckland), to have the best chance of it shipping sooner rather than later. Once in the country, smaller items can be trucked or re-shipped reasonably inexpensively.

[Rease]

Thanks for the tip with regard to having items shipped to Auckland, and then land-transported from there. I hadn't thought of that! It's worth looking into.

I recently read on the NZ Immigration website that there is a "Change To Household goods"....here's the info:

Change to household goods rules
Thursday, October 11, 2007
The rules around the duty-free entry of household goods will change from 15 November. People who hold long-term temporary visas (such as long-term business and work to residence visas) will not have to pay any Customs duty on their baggage and effects, including ships, aircraft, motor vehicles, and household effects.
The full list of people who do not have to pay Customs duty on their baggage and effects, including ships, aircraft, motor vehicles, and household effects includes people who hold:

a New Zealand passport
an Australian passport
a current New Zealand residence visa or permit, or current returning resident?s visa or permit
a current permanent residence visa (including a resident return visa) issued by the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia
a current work visa or work permit that was issued for a minimum of 12 months
a current work visa or work permit, issued under the Long Term Business Visa policy, that was issued for a minimum of 9 months
a current visitor?s visa or permit that was issued for a minimum of 3 years.

For more information go to the New Zealand Customs website.

[Burgundy21]

Hi Rease,
We have just arranged to have 40kg shipped by Singapore Airlines. The boxes will be packed by us and collected by them to go to ChCh. They are not going on the same plane so we can collect them when we have recovered from the trip. The cost is 350 euros door to door. We wont actually save money by taking our stuff but we won't have to immediately buy things which could be inferior quality.

Yes, I just checked it is an intermediate co. called Partnair ( Paris) .

[Ace]

Originally Posted by Burgundy21

Hi Rease,
We have just arranged to have 40kg shipped by Singapore Airlines. The boxes will be packed by us and collected by them to go to ChCh. They are not going on the same plane so we can collect them when we have recovered from the trip. The cost is 350 euros door to door. We wont actually save money by taking our stuff but we won't have to immediately buy things which could be inferior quality.

Yes, I just checked it is an intermediate co. called Partnair ( Paris) .

I think this kind of thing is much harder to do in the US than in Europe. In the US, the shipments are only allowed to go on freight-only planes, which now leave from a lot fewer airports than before 9/11. Air New Zealand, for example, only ships freight from Chicago (last time I checked), so air freight has to be trucked to Chicago first. There's some loophole with freight-forwarders who are well-known to the airlines, but when I looked into it, it was a very expensive option.

For just 40 kg, though, I would think you could probably get them on the same plane with you as extra luggage, with a moderate extra cost.

[Rease]

Wow! That's incredible! I'm going to look into it....though, as the next post mentions, that sort of thing is much harder to do from the US. But I'll see what I can find out. Thanks so much for the info!

[Rease]

I'm thinking that is probably what we're going to do -- look into what the cost for extra luggage is, per person. There are 5 of us, so maybe if we just pay the extra lugggage amount, we can get by with the bare essentials at first...and leave the larger items back here till we have a better understanding of where we'll be located and decide whether or not to ship at a later date.

I appreciate all of your input -- thank you very much! We can't wait to visit in November. :-)

[Ace]

Another idea that might work for you, once you've decided for sure that you're coming back to NZ in the reasonably near future:

When we flew to NZ to shop for a house, before making the final trip out a month or so later, was to bring as much as the airline would let us. Then we left most of it behind, in low-cost storage. It was cheaper to do it that way than to pay for excess luggage on the next flight.

Good luck!

[Dawn]

Hey Rease, we brought two pieces of extra luggage over with us (there are 5 of us as well) it cost us ?150 per bag.