Oz 4 sure

Hi Andrew. I think my experience was a little different because I was shipping from a different country. I suggest to ask someone with more closely related circumstances. I don't want to mislead you. However, I ended up with a similar cost (about $100 less). It was 2 years ago, things are getting more expensive overtime. I suspect the unpacking cost of $1,250 is not the delivery unpacking cost. It might be the cost of taking items out of container during the inspection at the seaport (customs clearance). I am not sure whether it is possible to do it yourself. I don't see a cost of delivery to your door. I had a cost of delivery to the door clearly listed. I asked to cancel the unpacking service at the home address because it is about nothing. Wish you luck. Cheers.

Congrats vin. Wish you luck with your plans. Hi IronMan2. Glad to know about your success and your joyful time in Melbourne. Melbourne is indeed a cheerful place to live in, I really enjoy it too. But I'm still in the process of settling the basic elements to start the new life. I agree with you about getting a job being a real challenge. I'm currently preparing a huge attack to advertise myself in the job market properly, and I appreciate if you can share the experience you went to succeed finding a job. How long did it take until you finally started to work? Did you have to get additional certificates during your journey to find a job? Which website or agent made you succeed and get connected with the job opportunity? Any advice mate you can offer is highly appreciated. All the best,

I felt curious whether some of the Vikings are taking the ride on the rollercoaster to Melbourne as I and my OH currently do. And thought that I have to pass by here after very long time being away. I'm currently in Melbourne. It's day 12. Every piece of furniture I have is in a container somewhere on the way to Melbourne, but it feels cheerful to rent my first long term accommodation yesterday. It was hard to turn my back to the life I had before the move, however I'm sure we will succeed to combine all the pieces together and have the life I and my OH dreamed of. My best wishes to the old Vikings with their plans. Cheers,

Thanks mate.

Thanks Oldmarried for the help. Really appreciate it mate. I currently reside in Kuwait as I used to be working here (A small rich country and a member in the GCC “The Gulf Co-operation Council”). And currently preparing the shipment from Kuwait city to Melbourne. the best price I received was from some shipping forwarder called “The Arab Italian Shipping” which will arrange with the agent of “ANL shipping line” in order to send the shipment. I contacted the agent of ANL in Kuwait and unfortunately they don’t offer a full service. They only offer the container and I will be having to hire other company for packing and so on. I asked one nice guy working in the agency of ANL about the price of the container in order to see how much did the shipping forwarder increase on it . The guy was really helpful and I knew that they only increased about USD 100 so it’s not that much to worry about. I’m satisfied with the price they offer for packing as well as the other charges “transfer, loading, port operations…etc”. Believe me mate, shipping containers by sea carrying personal effects is not that huge business in here. The majority of people are moving in or out of Kuwait within the boundaries of the GCC countries. And they actually send their furniture by trucks. I was contacting agents and shipping forwarders for 2 weeks and they are not familiar with the shipments of personal effects to Australia. They informed me about the cost of shipment as door to port within 1 day. But when I ask for a door to door service, they disappear for a long time until they arrange with someone in Melbourne to finalise the customs clearance and get me the price. They obviously don’t have any deals with any agencies in Melbourne to arrange for the Port to door service (Melbourne Port – Home address in Melbourne). I really appreciate your concern and hope everything is clear now mate. Cheers,

Hi oldmarried, in fact I didn’t choose to book door to port service, I’m actually forced to do so. I indeed prefer to have the service as door to door. I received 17 quotations from 17 shipping forwarder. All of them gave me the cost like the following: (Total cost excluding [delivery from Melbourne port to my home address] as “X” in AUD) + (Minimum of AUD “2X” delivery from the port of Melbourne to my home address ). That’s why I now believe I better book a door to port service as I have no other option. Obviously, these 17 shipping forwarder can’t arrange a reasonable price of customs clearance broker with delivery. I think I’ll get a better price if I’ll arrange with a broker for my customs clearance in Melbourne to finalise the job for me once I land there. I hope I’ll be able to find the competition between brokers in the market in Melbourne leading me to find more convenient prices. I don’t have a huge volume of furniture, and I don’t think the broker will cost me more than AUD 1750 which is the minimum price received by one of the 17 shipping forwarder I recently contacted. My furniture is almost new, clean and if something is made of wood, it is treated and suppose to have nothing which will make the quarantine inspection get that complicated. Today, I didn’t get the confirmation from the agent which was suppose to separate the customs clearance service from the delivery service. Therefore, I’m finally booking a door to port service. Brokers of Customs in Melbourne, get ready for my phone calls.:grumpy1 Thanks for your reply mate, Cheers,

Hi Vicky, Thank you for your post. actually, at the point i posted my initial post, I didn't have the option to separate the delivery service from the customs operations services in order to avoid the overpriced delivery service. and hope once the potential agent confirms that tomorrow, I'll be finally able to arrange a reasonable price of moving service after I finally land in Melbourne. That means I'll let the shipping line finalise the customs and the quarantine inspection then I'll arrange for a remover company service myself after landing in Melbourne. My concern was the cost of the delivery from the port of Melbourne to my home address in Melbourne. It is actually more expensive than the cost of Packing the furniture at my current home overseas, loading the container with my furniture, customs service at the country of origin, Port operations at the country of origin and the Freightcharges from overseas all the way to Melbourne all together. That can't beright :nah: and I wonder whether people really pay this much of expenses to finalise what suppose to be the easy part of the shipping process. I can't believe that the cost of 45 days processing of shipment is less than the cost of 1 day processing in Melbourne. Well, hope I get some good news from the agent tomorrow and get out of this Dilemma. :notworthy: Cheers,

Hi Oldmarried, Yes, I believe your explanation is totally reasonable. I actually spoke to many shipping agents and today I spoke to one agent who offered a reasonable solution (It is an agent of the Australian shipping line ANL so I assume they have good facilities in Melbourne). She will call me tomorrow to confirm the cost of everything and hope that will go fine for us. Initially, she offered AUD 2067.00 Delivery + AUD 480.00 Approximately as port operation + possible quarantine inspection fees of AUD 440.00. Then after sensing indications of my rejection, she informed me that they will be able to remove the delivery service while keeping the customs clearance service and the quarantine inspection service if applicable (Will be paid in Melbourne) and of course I’ll be paying approximately AUD 480.00 for port operations (The process you just mentioned). of course I’ll prepare for a truck to receive the furniture which will cost me maximum of AUD 300.00 (didn’t search for better rates yet). Anyways, we are crossing fingers here hoping for the confirmation of the shipping agent tomorrow. If that happens I’ll be feeling a huge relief as the deal will be satisfying already. Thanks mate for the post, Cheers,

Hi Uli, I’m glad to hear from you again and hope your plans are going well. Thank you for sharing the information. I’m actually confused now as one friend of mine told me that he finalised the custom clearance himself about 7 years ago in the port of Melbourne. Based on your information I assume that things have changed during the last 7 years. In fact, I posted my inquiry because 7 years is a long period of time and I better make sure about the current circumstances before making any decisions. Thank you Uli for the information it was so much of help to me and wish you all the best. Cheers,

Hello everyone, hope everything is going well. :hug: Sorry Uli for posting this in here as it has no relation to the topic. I know that so many companions participated in your thread and made it already to Victoria "The place to be" and as I'm currently shipping my furniture to the beautiful Melbourne I am in desperate need for help from the good people in here :notworthy: Please refer to my thread to understand my inquiry and thank you very much for all the help. http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/transport-shipping/136801-sea-port-melbourne-customs-quarantine-clearance.html#post1297769 I wish the best luck to all in this year. Cheers,

I’m not sure whether my inquiry was posted before and wish if someone who experienced customs clearance procedures in the sea-port of Melbourne to help us see through the fog upon us. We are currently searching for a freight forwarder to ship our house effects to Melbourne with a good price. We were looking for a door to door service but we noticed that the cost of customs clearance and delivery is making the whole price way too high. The best price I received for customs/quarantine clearance in the port of Melbourne including delivery is AUD 1750.00 excluding “Quarantine Inspection” which will cost about AUD 440.00. This will be for a 20 feet container – 25 CBM (Cubic Meters). Therefore, I’m planning to finalise the Customs/Quarantine clearance myself then arrange with a moving company in order to save the money. I was hoping to find someone who has experienced the same process I’m going through while moving to Melbourne. I appreciate if someone can explain the steps and mention the cost if possible starting from the phone call received by the customs in Melbourne’s sea-port until enjoying your own lovely bed again at your home address. Before the container arrival, do we have to make any preparations else than the arrangement with the moving company? What are the documents to take when the container arrives to the sea-port? Does it require moving to different locations while going through the process and is it better to rent a car? How much did you pay for Customs/Quarantine clearance? And was it finalised the same day? Did you pay any charges for the sea-port operations during the Customs/Quarantine clearance? I’ll be so thankful if someone can help us understand what we will be going through.:wubclub: Cheers,

Thank you good friend wish a very happy new year and happier Xmas good man. I am alright thanks for asking. And I'm now going to start packing things for shipping also I'm offering my car for sale in few weeks. It will not take long to get sold. I'm suffering my post resignation notice period with my current employer and days passing so slow. No job offers for me yet in Melbourne but I'm planning to fly there again permanently end of next month. I'm happy to know that you have made it and things are good with you Keep in touch Mate. Cheers.

That is fantastic BBob so happy to hear your great news. I wish you all the best

You are most welcome Uli. And thanks for your advice i know It's difficult to make this move. I was also confused about the decision as I found my current employer making me amazing offers in attempts to make me stay. Wish you finalise your preparations smoothly and wish you luck with all your plans. Cheers,

Yes Uli it is exactly the same email. So I think I just received it after arrival and it has no relation to validating the visa. We are really excited about living in Melbourne. Thanks for asking Uli. We felt home once we went out for the first time in Melbourne. People are so nice and so lovely. We really enjoy walking in parks and watching the beautiful birds and nature. Too many things to do there and the state is huge. Never felt bored of it. Before I answer your question about the employment I just need to say that I went back to Kuwait 2 weeks ago and I resigned at work once I entered the company. I didn't succeed finding a job during the one month stay in Melbourne. I noticed that agents and employers need an immediate start. I mentioned in my resume that I'll be available in 3 months and maybe its the reason for not succeeding in catching an offer. I joined too many groups and read too many comments in too many social or employment websites. People say they can spend 1 to 3 months until they succeed and start working. However, I can't confirm the accuracy of that. I will get back soon after I get released from my duties at work-that will be in January-yes I have to work for 3 months after the resignation notice. And I well see if there will be any difference when I will be available immediately for employment. Anyway it will take us sometime until we setup our home again. Furniture will take a month until it arrives to Melbourne. I will give my job hunting task my full attention once we arrive back to Melbourne and I'm studying to get some certificates to support my CV and prove a professional skillful employee. In conclusion, we found our dream life when we were in Melbourne and we are willing to take the risk until we stand on feat again. The employment will get to us sooner or later as long we work on it seriously. The important question here is: do we really love the place which we are going to move to? And actually that was the reason of our visit to Melbourne before the actual move. It was going to be prefect of course if we succeeded to hunt a job offer before the move. Unfortunately I couldn't. I found too many advertised job opportunities which match my experience. And that gives me confidence that finding a job once availability will be possible in a reasonable time. Unfortunately, that's all what I can say for the time being. I think someone who is already settled in Melbourne can be more help for us. I appreciate if someone here can spot lights on his/her experience hunting a job opportunity in Melbourne after the move. Hope I could give a specific answer for your question Uli. I notice good job opportunities on websites, but my one month stay in Melbourne was not enough to understand the job market. However, the life there as we found it worth the effort and the adventure which we will live. I resigned and I have no regrets. My friends think it's a stupid thing to do before securing a job there, but I really feel a relief and confidence that it will not be difficult to start in Melbourne. For my case, I'm just lucky to have enough funds to support our start in Melbourne. Hope I could be more help Uli. Please let me know about your preparations mate did you make any arrangements yet for your immigration plans? If you plan to go soon please let me know if I can give you any advice or answer any question. Accommodation, mobile phone services, car hire...etc Cheers