KirstyLP

using a crated service (commonly known as LCL - less than container load) is much quicker than a shared service, usually similar timescales to exclusive containers except maybe a few days for consolidation and means you wont incur the delays I guess you are talking about with individual companies having to fill their own groupage containers? Current sailing time is around 40 days to Australia, normally we advise to add on 2 weeks to that to allow for collection, crating, consolidation, transport to port, sailing, customs clearance, de-consolidation and delivery so i'd say 6-8 weeks door to door? Airfreight is your other option, but for heavy or large items this can be quite alot more expensive, but on the plus side it will be there nice and quickly if your budget allows.

Great questions KT. Hopefully I can help: FIDI is the worlds largest professional association of removal companies, to be a member companies must hold FAIM accreditation. To achieve accreditation the company must pass a strict external audit by FIDI every 2 years which looks at over 200 defined quality standards including Financial stability, quality of resources (vehicles, packing materials, warehousing etc), knowledge and experience of staff, insurance claims, complaints and quality feedback, they audit the processes involved in international moving (For example booking processes, customer correspondence, freight management) and a whole host of other areas, basically their aim is to ensure that everything is in place to ensure a quality service is provided and that all loop holes are closed to reduce the risk of any problems occurring during a move. The company I work for for example choose to be FIDI FAIM accredited to provide you with evidence that they we a quality moving company, after all, we can all build a nice website and send out a great sales person, but how do you know who to trust? By moving with a company that is FIDI FAIM accredited you aren't eliminating entirely the chance of anything going wrong, because moving is a physical process and there are some elements outside of the movers control, however, the if a company meets the strict FIDI FAIM standards (And ensuring any partners they use do too) you get peace of mind that these risks are as far reduced as possible. FIDI also provide expert training services which we use to ensure our staff knowledge and skills are kept up to date and are the best in the industry. That being said, you don't HAVE to be FIDI FAIM accredited to perform international moving, it is the choice of the mover and there may be a good reason Crown are not. Why not have a chat with them about your concerns here and see what they say? BAR Overseas is also important as they provide something called the Advance payment guarantee. This means that should anything happen to the company you book with during your move (i.e. they get into financial difficulty and shut down) that your payment is protected and that the BAR will arrange for another BAR overseas member to complete your services without you incurring any additional costs. This is only important for the mover you sign your contract with and as a UK association it's usually only the UK moving company that will be a member and not their overseas agent. Hope that helps but if you want anything clarifying just let me know! good luck with your move!

Hi, all live plants are strictly prohibited by AQIS.... http://www.daff.gov.au/aqis/travel/entering-australia/moving-emigrating#prohibited

Current sailing times are at between 40 and 54 days depending on which shipping line your moving company uses, we normally advise 2 weeks on top of that for the maximum transit time door to door to allow for collection, transport to port, loading and departure and then customs clearance, AQIS clearance and delivery when it arrives, so 7-9 weeks is a good window to expect. July is peak season in the UK but once you get your dates booked in this wont affect speed of service, it's also low season in Australia so you shouldn't have any extra delays getting delivery once your belongings arrive. Hope that helps!

Recommendations are great for shortlisting, but it's really hard to get a good idea of who's best for you based on who was best for other people, as your location, volume, properties, special items and requirements will be different. I know it's time consuming having different companies out to visit you but it's definitely the best way to make sure you get the best mover for your money and your needs! good luck with everything!

Hi Adam, It's always worth getting at least 3 quotes from movers of similar standing (i.e. FIDI FAIM accredited) to allow you to compare a) the volume they've assessed to make sure this is accurate and then b) the costs to make sure you're getting a fair price. If one mover is particularly out on either then you can go back to them to discuss why. It may be they've included something the others haven't for example - make sure all your quotes are like for like before letting price decide. Hope that helps.

Hi Adam, Is this as a shared load (groupage) service? If so, yes, that's about average for your volume

this is a great question given the current economic climate. each company will work differently in terms of who they use in Australia, some will have own branches, some (like the company i work for) will be part of a long established network so use the same agents regularly, others will select from members of professional associations and others will simply go to the lowest bidder....There are a couple of things you can take into account in choosing your shipper which will greatly reduce the risk for you. Make sure your mover is FIDI FAIM certified in the UK AND that they are using a FIDI FAIM member in Australia. The FAIM accreditation includes examination and audit of a companies finances, so certain levels of financial stability have to be met in order to achieve accreditation. This doesn't completely eliminate the chance of financial difficulty but certainly reduces the risk. Secondly, use a member of the BAR Overseas group in the UK (as well as FIDI, not instead of!). This is who you are contracted with and BAR Overseas members offer the BAR advance payment guarantee. This means if your mover goes out of business then the BAR will arrange for another member to step in and complete the remainder of the service at no additional cost to you, so you wont have to sort all of this yourself and you wont be out of pocket as a result. Hope that helps!

Hi Ian, Yes we cover the whole of the UK so please let me know if you'd like any further details. We recommend contacting moving companies around 12 weeks before your move date. You can of course do this with shorter notice, but this sort of timescale gives you time to weigh up all your options and make your decisions as well as preparing for the move (i.e. sorting any belongings you aren't taking, complete any documentation you need etc). From door to door (including packing, loading, shipping, customs clearance and delivery) as an industry average we estimate around 7-9 weeks in total. Kirsty

A 20ft Container is about the size of a single garage and typically can fit the contents of your average 3 bedroom house, around 1050 cubic feet in volume. Containers come also in larger sizes too with 40ft and 45ft high cube options for those with large volumes. Best advice is to get three quotes so you can understand what you're options are, and to compare prices. What I would also add is it's really hard to estimate YOUR individual shipping costs based on everyone else. If I look at all the quotes our company has done for 20ft containers to Australia this year the variance can be quite high because everyone's needs are different. Things like access to properties at each end, timescales, special items requiring extra protection, dismantling etc will all affect your price - no move is a typical move, so, as any decent company will offer a free no obligation quotation this is the only way to really get a good idea of what you need to budget for shipping and to start making plans for what to take. Hope that helps!