I have been a relocation consultant for 30 years. Over the years I’ve discovered that most people who are going to move overseas know very little about how to proceed with an international move, or how to go about shopping for a moving cost estimate. I’m going to explain some of the terms and how it works.
Let’s say for example you are getting ready to move to Singapore and you need to get some prices for shipping your household goods. You can start out by calling some moving companies, or some freight forwarders and get very frustrated.
To begin with, you should know that "used household goods" is considered a "commodity", or a commodity description. It is what you are shipping. The rates you get from steamship lines or airlines are quoted according to commodity (and locations). I am assuming you are shipping used household goods. New household goods is considered merchandise, or "for resale". It is priced differently. You should know that most countries consider your household goods "new" if they are less than 6 months old, even if you have used them. Some countries use a "one year" rule. If you ship new household goods to most countries, you will be charged taxes and duty on what you ship by the destination country. Every country has different rates for taxes and duties. If you try to pass your new household goods off as being used, the foreign customs authorities will determine the value of your shipment and charge you fees and penalties as well as taxes and duties. Some countries, will just confiscate everything in your shipment that they determine is new. If you have just a few new items in your shipment, be sure to keep your receipts and tell your shipping company so they can check on any problems or possible ramifications.
There are many ways to go about planning your move. How much you want to ship, how much you want to pay, how much service you want, how fast you want it to get there, will all help to determine who you should call.
If you will only be shipping a few boxes and you plan to pack them up yourself, here are some suggestions:
#1 Try to keep the sizes of your boxes all the same, it will be easier to get prices for shipping.
#2 Once they are packed, and secure, put them on your bathroom scale to get an idea of the total weight
#3 Cube out the total size (length X width X length) of each box
For example: 18 inches x 18 inches x 18 inches = 5832 cubic inches
Divide 5832 by 1728 to get 3.375 cubic feet
If you have 5 boxes, multiply 5 times 3.375 = 16.875 cubic feet
When you have the total weight and size of your shipment, you can start shopping.
Suggest you start with the U.S. Postal Service, this is usually the most cost effective for small amounts. Be sure to check their weight and size limits to make sure you can use them. They have both air freight and surface or sea freight options.
If that won’t work for you, check UPS. You can call them, or use their cost calculator at UPS.com. Most of their service is by air, 'though they do have some sea freight service, and you will have to drop off your shipment at a UPS approved site. Again, there are strict size and weight limits on your shipment.
My next choice would be DHL or FedEx. Call or shop online for prices.
If your shipment is bigger, say more than 10 boxes, but you don’t need a full service moving company, you might want to call a freight forwarder or consolidator. Most freight forwarders don’t handle used household goods and most consolidators don’t deal with the general public, so this can be frustrating. There are some freight forwarders that will move household goods and you can start by looking in the yellow pages under freight forwarders. Most of them will be domestic (within the U.S.) forwarders. You need an international freight forwarder that handles used household goods or personal effects. Personal effects usually refer to smaller shipments or air shipments. Freight forwarders will generally let you do some of the service yourself, such as the packing, crating and the destination service of customs clearance and delivery.
If you have a larger shipment and you can afford to spend more for service, you can call an international moving company. A moving company will have more service to offer than a freight forwarder, such as packing, pickup, customs clearance, and delivery. Of course these services cost a lot more too.
Air freight shipments move a lot faster than sea freight shipments. Generally an air freight shipment will move from door to door, or residence to residence in about 2 to 3 weeks, depending on the destination country. A sea freight shipment will take anywhere from 4 to 12 weeks and could be longer if you are moving to Africa or the Middle East.
Air freight shipping will generally cost at least twice as much as sea freight unless your shipment is very small. There are some rather large minimum charges on sea freight shipments which can make them more expensive for small shipments.
Following are some terms you need to be aware of:
If you are shipping by air freight, you will be charged by a calculated weight based on the space your shipment takes up, rather than on the actual weight. This is called the chargeable weight.
A sea freight (or ocean freight) shipment usually will become one of the following:
A "less than container load" shipment (LCL), which will need to be put in liftvans or wooden crates for shipping
A 20 foot steamship container
A 40 foot steamship container
The prices for the air freight or sea freight will be included in a door to door shipment. A door to door shipment usually consists of the following costs:
Origin services (packing, wrapping, pickup, delivery to the airport/port)
Air or sea freight
Destination service (customs clearance, pickup at the airport/port and delivery to residence)
A door to port shipment will ship to the destination airport/port, for you to arrange customs clearance, pickup and delivery yourself.
Even on a door to door move, there is the possibility of additional charges which are not included in your quote. Some of these are: customs duty, taxes, appliance disconnect, appliance reconnect, custom crating for high value items, demurrage or storage at the airport/port, long carries, flight charges, elevator charges, hoisting, parking permits, warehouse unloading and warehouse storage, and insurance. If there are delays due to weather, laws, strikes, port congestion, or political uprisings, you will be required to pay. The owner of the goods (the shipper) normally pays for anything unusual or unforseen.
One more thing, be sure to check out customs requirements for the country you are moving to. Every country is different and you need to be prepared, even if you are a resident of that country. If you are using a moving company, they will be able to check it for you, but I would suggest that you also check out the web site for the country you are moving to or at least go into: http://www.travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1765.html It is most important that you can meet their requirements. Happy moving!
