Self pack self load container story

[Jimmy P]

Being super tight, and always taking the view of "Why pay someone else to do something if I can do it myself" we started researching the possibility of packing our possessions ourselves, and loading the container. Headline figures then. Shipping door to door with insurance a shade under £3000. AQIS clearance $520. Packaging £100 (shipping deal also included £100 materials from MacFarlane packaging) Luton van with tail lift (I'll explain later) £100. Mate to help load £0. Tip for wagon driver £20. I also reckon I will be able to recoup some of the packaging by selling on in Australia.

Timeline. Loaded container 18 June, container left UK 26 June, arrived in Brisbane 1 August, AQIS inspection 5 August delivered to property 13 August. 7 weeks door to door sole use 20' and we were told this was a week late.

 

We used a business trading as "shipit", also known as 1st Move International. Also out there was "Ewepack" which looked about the same. From first contact with Shipit I was impressed by speed of response by their team, and they were always able to answer my queries.

 

We had started packing bits and pieces months before, and storing it in the garage, and ebaying a load of stuff that we couldn't take or was coming to the end of its useful life. Buying the packaging materials in bulk is clearly the best value and I think we got through about 150 boxes, plus about 75 other packages. In terms of keeping track, I filled in the inventory sheets as we were going along, and each box has a sheet taped to it with exactly what's in it, for ease at the other end. I marked out dimensions (width) of container in lounge to give an idea of space.

 

As the date of the container got ever closer I made sure that everything was in place. Tessa (at Shipit) confirmed the time of arrival. I had requested 10 am, a mate was organised and we hoped for a fine day. You are given 3 hours to load the container before incurring a charge of £50 per hour, and this was my biggest concern. I had never done this and had no experience of anyone doing it. I knew that the wagon would just back into the drive and sit there until it was time to go. I started having a look at how big a 20' container is, and how high off the ground it is. How to get everything up to that height? This is where the Luton van with tail lift comes in... The evening before the container came I loaded all my standard size boxes into the van, arranged so that the heaviest went in first and lightest on the top. Everything else was arranged in the house in a rough order of how it could be loaded. I made a wooden ramp to get a sack barrow over the patio door threshold and we were good to go.

 

The day of the container arrived, and fortunately the weather was fine and dry. Arranged for 10 am, we took the children to school and went back expecting to wait a while for the wagon to arrive. Just settling into our cup of tea when a rumbling truck comes into view. Game on! We have a big drive, but live on quite a narrow lane, so the driver had a hell of a job getting in, but did so after a few minutes of skilful reversing. First thing I did was sweep out container, then hung up my "Bone Dry" damp absorbers. Basically large silica gel packs that suck moisture out the air. Backed up the van and started loading boxes nice and tight. We were lucky, as the driver also offered to help, so that extra muscle helped. My mate who helped was really good at using all the space, making sure everything was good and secure. I bought a load of ratchet straps off amazon, but did not use them all.

 

We easily had it filled in the 3 hours, I had to complete a shipping note with the number of packages and the seal number. Countersigned by the driver and off it went. I scanned this document and sent it with the inventory to Shipit, and that was that! Container got taken from Preston to Manchester, put on a train to Southampton, and left there on 26th June. I can track what has happened to it via the shipping company website, and track the position of the ship on AIS.

 

I have had good contact from the people sorting it this end (Conroy Removals) and they have let me know when customs forms needed filling in. I did ask if I could be around for the AQIS inspection, but was told this is not really encouraged. Probably a good job as I would have probably got in the way and into discussions about the contents!

 

Container arrived as promised. Contents of our container had been completely unloaded and repacked into a different one. About one third of the contents had been inspected. Anything with wood in it (lots of IKEA furniture, some carvings etc) anything that had been outdoors (shoes boots etc cleaned and polished, no Jeyes fluid used) and random assorted boxes. Also declared some new bits of furniture, used Dyson and some camping chairs. No worries from AQIS. All seems undamaged so far. Candles have obviously softened in transit, but not melted. Fridge freezers fine, I put some silica damp things in so no mould etc. Overall, don't get worked up about it, but assume any box may be opened.

 

Overall, it all went far more smoothly than I anticipated and a lot less stress at this end than I thought. It has saved some money, and because we had listed on every box what is in it, unpacking has been relatively straightforward.

[Keith and Linda]

Well done, have you got Yorkshire parents?