Oz to UK - air freight vs sea shipping
Aug 30th 2015, 1:32 pm
#1
Concierge
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2013
Location: Western Australia
Posts: 21,139
Oz to UK - air freight vs sea shipping
Scouse and I are in that 'end stage' of our move - trying to juggle selling our house here in Perth, the purchase of one over there (Wirral, Merseyside), spouse visa, organizing the move for the pooch. No idea how it's all going to come together, but I do have a specific question.
We've given a lot of stuff away and aren't taking any furniture, so it looks like our total removals will consist of:
Do you think that air freight is an option for this sort of load? I believe that if we ship the stuff it could take ages, as with such a small load we'd have to share a container, and have to wait until the removal company had a full container?
We could easily pack the cartons ourselves, but would need a specialist remover to pack the other, fragile things. Is either air or sea a 'safer' way to send fragile items, or is the risk of breakage about the same?
I don't mind waiting for most of the clothing and all the fragile stuff, but I'd want about 4 packing cartons of linen and clothing within a few weeks. Maybe split the load, sending some by air freight and the rest by sea?
I really don't know where to start with this one. Removal companies I research seem to be mainly geared towards shipping full households. Ideally, I'd just like to send the lot air freight if possible. Any thoughts and/or pointers would be great. Thanks.
We've given a lot of stuff away and aren't taking any furniture, so it looks like our total removals will consist of:
- around 10 large packing cartons of clothing, linen, photos etc
- 3 large glass framed football jerseys
- one full dinner set of vintage china
- assorted crystal (glasses, vases)
Do you think that air freight is an option for this sort of load? I believe that if we ship the stuff it could take ages, as with such a small load we'd have to share a container, and have to wait until the removal company had a full container?
We could easily pack the cartons ourselves, but would need a specialist remover to pack the other, fragile things. Is either air or sea a 'safer' way to send fragile items, or is the risk of breakage about the same?
I don't mind waiting for most of the clothing and all the fragile stuff, but I'd want about 4 packing cartons of linen and clothing within a few weeks. Maybe split the load, sending some by air freight and the rest by sea?
I really don't know where to start with this one. Removal companies I research seem to be mainly geared towards shipping full households. Ideally, I'd just like to send the lot air freight if possible. Any thoughts and/or pointers would be great. Thanks.
Sep 1st 2015, 3:04 am
#2
Joined: Dec 2001
Location: Dixie, ex UK
Posts: 52,448
Re: Oz to UK - air freight vs sea shipping
I would say the primary risk of breakage is getting from your home to the (air)port, and from the (air)port to your new home. In other words I would say the risk of breakage is very similar.
I am fairly sure you will pay more for air shipping, but not a lot more. I shipped three fairly heavy trunks of tools and equipment a few years ago (UK->US) and while I didn't care how long it took, I was advised that the cost difference would be small, because there would be more handling of a surface shipment. I went with air shipping.
Ask three shipping agents for quotes and recommendations, they'll be quite happy to discuss your options with you.
If you were to get your things airfreighted to Manchester, you could rent a van and collect them from the airport yourself, because a remarkably large part of the cost of shipping is getting things to and from the port. The tools I shipped I not only collected from the airport myself, but I also did the customs paperwork, taking it from receiving shipper's office, to the customs office, then having got the "release" going to the bonded warehouse to collect my things.
I am fairly sure you will pay more for air shipping, but not a lot more. I shipped three fairly heavy trunks of tools and equipment a few years ago (UK->US) and while I didn't care how long it took, I was advised that the cost difference would be small, because there would be more handling of a surface shipment. I went with air shipping.
Ask three shipping agents for quotes and recommendations, they'll be quite happy to discuss your options with you.
If you were to get your things airfreighted to Manchester, you could rent a van and collect them from the airport yourself, because a remarkably large part of the cost of shipping is getting things to and from the port. The tools I shipped I not only collected from the airport myself, but I also did the customs paperwork, taking it from receiving shipper's office, to the customs office, then having got the "release" going to the bonded warehouse to collect my things.
Last edited by Pulaski; Sep 1st 2015 at 3:11 am.
Sep 1st 2015, 4:16 am
#3
Concierge
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2013
Location: Western Australia
Posts: 21,139
Re: Oz to UK - air freight vs sea shipping
I would say the primary risk of breakage is getting from your home to the (air)port, and from the (air)port to your new home. In other words I would say the risk of breakage is very similar.
I am fairly sure you will pay more for air shipping, but not a lot more. I shipped three fairly heavy trunks of tools and equipment a few years ago (UK->US) and while I didn't care how long it took, I was advised that the cost difference would be small, because there would be more handling of a surface shipment. I went with air shipping.
Ask three shipping agents for quotes and recommendations, they'll be quite happy to discuss your options with you.
If you were to get your things airfreighted to Manchester, you could rent a van and collect them from the airport yourself, because a remarkably large part of the cost of shipping is getting things to and from the port. The tools I shipped I not only collected from the airport myself, but I also did the customs paperwork, taking it from receiving shipper's office, to the customs office, then having got the "release" going to the bonded warehouse to collect my things.
I am fairly sure you will pay more for air shipping, but not a lot more. I shipped three fairly heavy trunks of tools and equipment a few years ago (UK->US) and while I didn't care how long it took, I was advised that the cost difference would be small, because there would be more handling of a surface shipment. I went with air shipping.
Ask three shipping agents for quotes and recommendations, they'll be quite happy to discuss your options with you.
If you were to get your things airfreighted to Manchester, you could rent a van and collect them from the airport yourself, because a remarkably large part of the cost of shipping is getting things to and from the port. The tools I shipped I not only collected from the airport myself, but I also did the customs paperwork, taking it from receiving shipper's office, to the customs office, then having got the "release" going to the bonded warehouse to collect my things.
Sep 7th 2015, 2:35 am
#4
Concierge
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2013
Location: Western Australia
Posts: 21,139
Re: Oz to UK - air freight vs sea shipping
After searching through BE for recommendations for small shipments, I've contacted Pack and Send, they're coming out this week to quote.
Something I've discovered (after ringing a few companies) - none of them do home visit free quotes for small shipments. You can get a quote online but when you have a lot of fragile bits and pieces that need to be professionally packed, plus a few boxes of stuff you can pack yourself, it becomes very complicated.
The quote for the quote
is $45 - it's not a lot so I'm pretty happy with that. They're going to give us 2 quotes, one for air and one for sea. At least I'll have an idea of what we're up for!
I'll post the quotes on this thread, in case anyone's searching for similar info in the future.
Something I've discovered (after ringing a few companies) - none of them do home visit free quotes for small shipments. You can get a quote online but when you have a lot of fragile bits and pieces that need to be professionally packed, plus a few boxes of stuff you can pack yourself, it becomes very complicated.
The quote for the quote
is $45 - it's not a lot so I'm pretty happy with that. They're going to give us 2 quotes, one for air and one for sea. At least I'll have an idea of what we're up for!I'll post the quotes on this thread, in case anyone's searching for similar info in the future.
Sep 7th 2015, 10:34 pm
#5
Dichotomus tinker
Joined: Aug 2013
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 6,678
Re: Oz to UK - air freight vs sea shipping
Oct 13th 2015, 12:02 am
#6
Concierge
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2013
Location: Western Australia
Posts: 21,139
Re: Oz to UK - air freight vs sea shipping
Update for those searching for this subject in the future.
We went with Pack and Send, air freight.
AU$3,900, including pick up from our Oz address, all customs documentation and delivery to our Liverpool address. We're pretty happy with that, didn't fancy waiting months for sea freight.
We went with Pack and Send, air freight.
- 12 tea chests and 7 book boxes, all packed by us
- 3 glass framed football jerseys, packed by them
- 5 boxes of crystal, packed by them
- Large (heavy!) tool box
AU$3,900, including pick up from our Oz address, all customs documentation and delivery to our Liverpool address. We're pretty happy with that, didn't fancy waiting months for sea freight.
