emelems

yep and me too...

Em x

PS we were told to go inside our container and shut the doors and check to see if you have any light... if its pitch dark then its water tight..

pootle26

i was told the same thing too

also if you felt in inadequte in any way insist you have another - we checked ours & there was no light coming in & looked like it was a new container - our stuff all arrived safe & sound but it is a worry
not sure what the best option is though - i would be devistated if i saw my precious memories floating by on TV!!!

suzanne7575

we were just planning on taking a few persoanl items with us, but as most of our photos are on hard drive anyway then they will just come on the plane, the only really sentimental photo thing i have is our wedding album and i might take scans of some of the photos and leave the actual album with my parents

asher

We lost all our belongings when moving to another country (not Oz) Quite a few years ago, the ship sank we were left with a suitcase each of clothes.

the ship was salvaged and we could look through our belongings most were ruined by acid diesel and salt water but one photo album was tightly packed and we got that back just damage around the edges of the photos.
the loss adjuster knocked almost half the value off our stuff so we got half our insurance money

we learnt some lessons
cost everything shoes and underwear and small things really add up when you have none.
Always get new for old insurance
Always insure for some amount
I'd rather lose belongings than people

my stuff for Oz got here ok just a few delays

Bix

Why bother to insure ?

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=397590

hopalong

Asher

Thank you very much for sharing that, it must have been really, really awful.

I think it will reflect on what I put in, I can always pick up more things, such as the odd photo album, when I come over on visits (hand luggage!). I think I may well scan the odd photo in, I have far too many to do all, but as my mother is dead, it would be nice to scan her wedding photo, the odd family photo etc, probably won't scan over 300 of African animals though . The problem is separating out the meaningful ones from the general backpacking photos. I guess I may also leave some of the very old family pictures.

Your words are wise words, whilst devastating, there is ultimately nothing you can do about it and you just have to say "better possessions than people". And I have written "new for old" on my list of questions for the removals people, thanks for the suggestion.

I am doing a shared container, so I will also as if I get to actually see the container and look inside it or not.

Poor poor you, glad your new possessions got to Australia OK, that must have been nerve racking.

RobertC

We have a shared container with Pickfords which is currently on its way to Brisbane, (we got an email recently with the actual ship name). One thing we did make sure off is having total loss insurance as it is apparently quite common for ships to loose containers in rough seas.

Then again, they do stack them high...

hopalong

Gosh that picture is depressing, surely the top ones on the edge must fall of in rough weather....and even the others are very exposed. Is that really how our prized possessions make it to the other side of the world?
I sail and certainly one of the big risks to sailors is containers that have fallen off ships, or just other debris, pallets etc. But difficult to gauge how much of this goes on, maybe it is because I have been told it is such a risk for sailors, especially as you can't often see it that I have it in my head that it is quite a common occurrence.
I will ask about total loss insurance, thanks for the tip.

cookiestar

That photo gives me The Fear.

RobertC

This picture should give you 'The Fear'

See if you can guess which way the ship tipped...



Mostly, the lost containers sink but sometimes they float and get washed up on the beach somewhere....

cookiestar

It's terrifying.

emelems

Suppose I need a quote from ABCDiamond.. how many of these tend to go astray tho? to put it into context? I am a terrible flyer, for instance... and can only get on a plane after watching umpteen amounts safely land and take off from the viewers platforms... then I know that "my plane" is probably likely to take off and land without a hitch

Em x

RobertC

Quote from a marine insurance website...


At any given time, between 5 million and 6 million boxes are in transit. The TT Club calculates that the total number lost over the side is probably less than 2,000 per year. This means that less than 0.005% of the containers shipped each year end afloat in the ocean.
Most dry cargo containers are steel boxes weighing between two tonnes and four tonnes, and are constructed to be weather-proof, rather than watertight. If empty they sink as a result of water ingress. If full, they may float for a while: air trapped in the cargo may hold a box on the surface until the cargo becomes waterlogged



Statistically, our containers should be OK but its still worth crossing fingers or touching wood or praying to the god of your choice, insurance is probably a good thing too.

RobertC

Found a great website for container ship accidents, have a look here:

http://www.containershipping.nl/casualties.html


Those with their precious belongings still in transit are advised not to look


Here's some example pictures from their archive:


fire


sinking



large waves


bad weather

northernbird

In almost 4 years of being a regular poster on this board I can't remember 1 single case of anyone losing their stuff overboard. Do you worry this much about everything, do you ever go out