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Self Pack Container - too good to be true?


Taylors4

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Ok, so I have to say I find the shipping costs extortionate, so are looking at self pack - as I prefer to go through everything a room at a time and decide what I'm taking as I go. I will mark and number every box and create my inventory of items.

 

I've just googled a few freight forwarders and had a quote from a company and can't quite believe the quote, it seems too cheap at £2120.00 GBP Inc Documents handling, THC’s (customs brokerage) I'm assuming this is customs clearance. So obviously I will have to arrange my own insurance.

 

They will deliver the container and let us have it for the day (assuming it will still be on the truck) to pack.

 

I asked the company if this was a door to door quote from Cheshire to Mandurah WA, and yes they confirmed that it is, they have also said it will take 28 days on the sea (I thought it was more like 6-8 weeks) and will take 5/7 days to clear customs. It will then be delivered for us to unpack ourselves.

 

Is it me or does all this seem too good to be true? Must admit I'm tempted, anyone got any thoughts???

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That seems pretty good. Which company was that through?

 

We've just been quoted £2825 for self pack and self load of a 20 foot container (Sheffield to Brisbane) by Imove International. This includes UK container transport from the port to your residence and return to the port, Port handling fees, preparation of export documentation and bills of lading, ocean freight, port handling fees at destination (terminals) customs clearance, delivery (30 miles raduis from Brisbane port) and unload in to residence for you to unpack . It does not include AQIS fees or insurance.

 

If we want them to pack and load then this will be an additional £1100, so call it £4k if we went for the whole sha-bang.

 

We are also being told 30-35 days for transit time plus another 7-10 days for customs clearance. Like you I thought it's be at least double this.

 

We would also have the container for 3 hours only and any additional time required we would need to pay for.

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Just a quick thought - make sure you can get insurance if you decide to go self-pack. We are using Insure Your Move and I am sure they do not cover anything not packed by a professional shipping company. Good luck, we are in the throws of sorting and cleaning ready for our shippers next week. It is a massive job when you have 2 young kids too but we do have WAY too much stuff - 40Ft container for us.

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That seems pretty good. Which company was that through?

 

We've just been quoted £2825 for self pack and self load of a 20 foot container (Sheffield to Brisbane) by Imove International. This includes UK container transport from the port to your residence and return to the port, Port handling fees, preparation of export documentation and bills of lading, ocean freight, port handling fees at destination (terminals) customs clearance, delivery (30 miles raduis from Brisbane port) and unload in to residence for you to unpack . It does not include AQIS fees or insurance.

 

If we want them to pack and load then this will be an additional £1100, so call it £4k if we went for the whole sha-bang.

 

We are also being told 30-35 days for transit time plus another 7-10 days for customs clearance. Like you I thought it's be at least double this.

 

We would also have the container for 3 hours only and any additional time required we would need to pay for.

 

 

DFD Shipping and they will leave the container for the day!!

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Guest chris955
Just a quick thought - make sure you can get insurance if you decide to go self-pack. We are using Insure Your Move and I am sure they do not cover anything not packed by a professional shipping company. Good luck, we are in the throws of sorting and cleaning ready for our shippers next week. It is a massive job when you have 2 young kids too but we do have WAY too much stuff - 40Ft container for us.

 

You can insure against total loss but not breakages, to be honest with all the moves we have done over the years breakages wouldnt have cost more than 1 lot of insurance.

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You can insure against total loss but not breakages, to be honest with all the moves we have done over the years breakages wouldnt have cost more than 1 lot of insurance.

 

Yep, I was thinking this too - at the end of the day when you weigh up the cost difference and considering I'm not shipping expensive ornaments or antiques (my most expensive items are my Pampered Chef stoneware lol). If some of it does get broken, fair do's really. I think with this sort of shipping when you see them moving the containers by cranes - there's always a certain element of risk really, also I suppose water ingress/mildew to the container would be the other biggie, but if we insured against everything in life, we wouldn't have money left for the finer things in life, suppose its how much risk you are prepared to take really.

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I have just had a quote from Doree Bonner for 411 cubic feet as part of a shared container from Wakefield to Melbourne. This includes the dismantling of items in Wakefield, packing, recording inventory, shipping, delivery and reassembling in Melbourne. The exceptions are Aqis fees at Melbourne and insurance. The price all in was £2050. They said it would take between 8 and 12 weeks.

 

All we have to do is put the kettle on.

 

Daz

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We have just been quoted 8k for a 40ft container to Brisbane and again were being told that they had to pack etc, when i pointed out that one of the kids has approx 140 snowglobes all with boxes they said this was part of the price but in all honesty i believe i would be a lot more carefull packing items like these, to these people its just a job and that is why i am very interested in this post as i would much prefer to self pack.

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Hi there

 

I have done the Self load container from Perth to Belfast. I've hopefully posted the thread I wrote on another forum

 

 

Hope this helps

 

Thanks for that good thread, certainly looks doable then, cheers

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Hi Lara,

we also have two young kids and are looking to move towards the end of the year we also need a 40 foot container , what were u quoted on that ? Pss removals quoted me 7 grand !!! We r hoping on taking two cars in this container too . Anyone know much about importing cars ? As Australia cars to buy out there are super expensive we figure taking ours would be the better option .

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Hi Lara,

we also have two young kids and are looking to move towards the end of the year we also need a 40 foot container , what were u quoted on that ? Pss removals quoted me 7 grand !!! We r hoping on taking two cars in this container too . Anyone know much about importing cars ? As Australia cars to buy out there are super expensive we figure taking ours would be the better option .

 

There are many threads on shipping cars. Iron Chef has a couple going with all the ins and outs of car shipping and if its worth you shipping your make and model of car. Best bet is to read those and post and ask about shipping cars there.

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Hi Taylors4

I cant seem to find DFD shipping on line, is it perhaps under another name? We would like to pack our own 40 ft container but all the companies say that they have to pack it for us. Thanks

 

www.dfdshipping.co.uk/default.html

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Ok, so I have to say I find the shipping costs extortionate, so are looking at self pack - as I prefer to go through everything a room at a time and decide what I'm taking as I go. I will mark and number every box and create my inventory of items.

 

I've just googled a few freight forwarders and had a quote from a company and can't quite believe the quote, it seems too cheap at £2120.00 GBP Inc Documents handling, THC’s (customs brokerage) I'm assuming this is customs clearance. So obviously I will have to arrange my own insurance.

 

They will deliver the container and let us have it for the day (assuming it will still be on the truck) to pack.

 

I asked the company if this was a door to door quote from Cheshire to Mandurah WA, and yes they confirmed that it is, they have also said it will take 28 days on the sea (I thought it was more like 6-8 weeks) and will take 5/7 days to clear customs. It will then be delivered for us to unpack ourselves.

 

Is it me or does all this seem too good to be true? Must admit I'm tempted, anyone got any thoughts???

 

Hi!

 

Do you mind me asking who you got the quote off we are looking to go self pack and that does seem like a really good price. We are only in Chorley so hopefully the price wouldn't differ too much from yours.

 

Thanks

 

Kev

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Hi!

 

Do you mind me asking who you got the quote off we are looking to go self pack and that does seem like a really good price. We are only in Chorley so hopefully the price wouldn't differ too much from yours.

 

Thanks

 

Kev

 

I've posted the link in post 17, one before yours - let me know how you get on with getting a quote - cheers

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Ok, so I have to say I find the shipping costs extortionate, so are looking at self pack - as I prefer to go through everything a room at a time and decide what I'm taking as I go. I will mark and number every box and create my inventory of items.

 

I've just googled a few freight forwarders and had a quote from a company and can't quite believe the quote, it seems too cheap at £2120.00 GBP Inc Documents handling, THC’s (customs brokerage) I'm assuming this is customs clearance. So obviously I will have to arrange my own insurance.

 

They will deliver the container and let us have it for the day (assuming it will still be on the truck) to pack.

 

I asked the company if this was a door to door quote from Cheshire to Mandurah WA, and yes they confirmed that it is, they have also said it will take 28 days on the sea (I thought it was more like 6-8 weeks) and will take 5/7 days to clear customs. It will then be delivered for us to unpack ourselves.

 

Is it me or does all this seem too good to be true? Must admit I'm tempted, anyone got any thoughts???

 

Thanks for the link. I have just sent an email asking for a quote for our shipping. Their prices seem incredibly reasonable compared to other prices I have at the moment. I will post their reply, which might assist someone else.

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I've sent off for a quote too! 20ft container from Buckinghamshire to Far North Coast NSW. Will let you know what comes in.

I'm so stressed about what to take and what not too. If I can keep costs down with self shipping then I won't need to worry and take it all! I am not taking beds or large lounges etc. So think i should have plenty of space in 20ft.

The idea of a MOVECube scares me that it won't be enough but by the time you do two of those isn't it better to go for a 20ft container? I think I need to go back and look at dimensions of each :)

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The only real disadvantage of self pack is having to do all the packing yourselves. If you do self pack make sure you have most of your stuff packed up before your container arrives as it will take quite a while to get everything in. Personally I was happy to leave it to the shippers - far too much going on to do it ourselves. The other advantage is they do it all the time so can get everything packed in the container really quickly and will know the best way to load stuff in. And they are used to lugging heavy stuff through narrow door ways. But if you have time and the inclination self pack is one way to cut costs.

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Self packing is not as easy as you think if you are taking all your big furniture, and you have to factor in the cost of packing materials. You need an awful lot of bubble wrap etc for the big stuff.

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