ballyhoo

Help.

I've read somewhere on this forum that even if you have a 20' container it is cheaper if you share it, rather than have sole use.

Does this mean that you share a 40' container with a panel in the middle, or does it mean that you have a few boxes of someone elses thrown in to yours, even though the removal company has told you that you will fill a container?

Can anyone explain this to me?

Thanks
Michele

Pollyana

Its cheaper cos you are only paying for the space you use; probably your stuff would share a container with three or four other people's stuff. Might take longer to be shipped as you wait for the container to be filled, thats the only drawback.
If you pay for sole use though, you get sole use.

TopCat3

Michele, I used to work in international freight. Work out your total volume of boxes in cubic metres. They call this LCL (less than full container load)Get a quote from your shipper per cubic metre. Don't be afraid to haggle. Compare it with the cost of a full container (FCL). It might be cheaper to have a 20ft FCL with a bit of space unfilled than pay an LCL rate. Don't forget you will have to wait for the container to be unpacked this end, could take some weeks. If you ship LCL, you will have to pay an unpacking fee on top of the seafreight and local cartage to your house. If you ship FCL you will have to pay haulage of the container to your house and unpack it yourself. However you'll get it just a few days after the ship docks. It will be sealed in UK and arrive here unsealed (unless customs/quarantine do random inspection) so there is greater security/less likelihood of anything going astray. Don't just compare seafreight rates when making your decision. The unpack fee plus local cartage of boxes on arrival might be more than the FCL haulage cost. "(Take into account these costs at your end too).So compare what they call "total landed cost. If there isn't much cost difference, if you're happy to do the pack/unpack, FCL is quicker/more secure. Hope this has been helpful. Wishing you plain sailing and safe trip.

TopCat3

I'm sorry I appear not to have fully addressed your question. Following on from my earlier post, if your shipper just puts one other person's freight in with yours, it can still ship as an FCL, and you share the cost of the seafreight and local Australian haulage with the person with whom you share. I believe from memory they do put a panel down between the two lots of freight, certainly if it's a 40 footer. I'm a bit rusty on those details! The container would stop at whoever's freight was on the back first, then onto the next person, and you avoid the unpack delay and fee and danger of lost boxes etc. A good option if your shipper can combine with someone going to roughly the same area in Oz as you. Hope that's clearer now. Blimey that's woken up some sleeping brain cell memory stuff from a few years back!

Jonahs_mummy

Hi Michele

We got some rough quotes for stuff...... it has been estimated that the stuff we want to take is 409 Sq Ft...... majority of the estimates we got were saying that 1000Sq Ft is basically a 20' Container so we would only need 1/2 of one.... so would be cheaper to share a container. The quotes we had were in the realms of £1500 for this or £3000 for sole use (plus any taxes/customs fees, etc)

Claire

ballyhoo

Thanks for all your answers. I shall delve into this a little further!!!

I'm also confused because we've been looking at both shipping ourselves and also through a removal company.

I think it was related to the removal company that someone mentioned it would be cheaper to do a shared container. However our removal company said that we would almost fill a container.

I'm very keen on the independent shipping, but also quite nervous that I miss something or that I forget to do something! I suppose I need to sit down and get all the facts together, then make a decision.

"Stop running before I can walk" springs to mind.

Michele

mr mover

. If you ship FCL you will have to pay haulage of the container to your house and unpack it yourself. However you'll get it just a few days after the ship docks. It will be sealed in UK and arrive here unsealed (unless customs/quarantine do random inspection) so there is greater security/less likelihood of anything going astray. Don't just compare seafreight rates when making your decision. Wishing you plain sailing and safe trip.[/QUOTE] T.c
ALL HHG [household goods] into aust have to be unloaded into a bonded warehouse, for AQIS inspection. On site inspection can be very expensive,and hard to arrange AQis charge about $130an hr ......... mm

spalen

T.c
ALL HHG [household goods] into aust have to be unloaded into a bonded warehouse, for AQIS inspection. On site inspection can be very expensive,and hard to arrange AQis charge about $130an hr ......... mm[/QUOTE]

So what Mr Mover is saying is that your container however it gets here WILL be unloaded by customs so you'll likely end up having it delivered as 'loose' rather than repacked into a containier. This means removal company picks up your boxesetc from the warehouse in the port and drives them to your house.

Unloading fee for a 20ft Ctr in brisbane was $500
Moving it from the Ship to the dockside was $280
Delivery in brisbane (30ks south) was $330 for the loose goods
Sounds like we had similar level of goods.
Exlcuding the fee $250 of our agent the rest of the cost here in brissie which are all unavoidable taxes, duties, and included a AQIS insepction which passed and had nothing to treat ,costs were $600$ (all of these include GST - aussie VAT)

So fi you do it yourself - budget for this level of whack at this end. AQIS is about 60$ or something to look over a few boxes, but if you are caught with something they need to treat then you get the option of paying a huge treatment bill or a huge destroy-it-bill , read the thread on lizard toy on here somewhere.

TopCat3

So what Mr Mover is saying is that your container however it gets here WILL be unloaded by customs so you'll likely end up having it delivered as 'loose' rather than repacked into a containier. This means removal company picks up your boxesetc from the warehouse in the port and drives them to your house.

Unloading fee for a 20ft Ctr in brisbane was $500
Moving it from the Ship to the dockside was $280
Delivery in brisbane (30ks south) was $330 for the loose goods
Sounds like we had similar level of goods.
Exlcuding the fee $250 of our agent the rest of the cost here in brissie which are all unavoidable taxes, duties, and included a AQIS insepction which passed and had nothing to treat ,costs were $600$ (all of these include GST - aussie VAT)

So fi you do it yourself - budget for this level of whack at this end. AQIS is about 60$ or something to look over a few boxes, but if you are caught with something they need to treat then you get the option of paying a huge treatment bill or a huge destroy-it-bill , read the thread on lizard toy on here somewhere.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for adding info I didn't know and correcting my post. It was my understanding back in the '80s, all HHG were fumigated offshore just inside OZ waters, maybe things have changed/tightened up since people-smuggling/drug smuggling/'terrorism' etc. I recall a case not so long ago of a load of ?Chinese? illegal immigrants I think they were, being found dead in a container somewhere on arrival!

mr mover

So what Mr Mover is saying is that your container however it gets here WILL be unloaded by customs so you'll likely end up having it delivered as 'loose' rather than repacked into a containier. This means removal company picks up your boxesetc from the warehouse in the port and drives them to your house.

Unloading fee for a 20ft Ctr in brisbane was $500
Moving it from the Ship to the dockside was $280
Delivery in brisbane (30ks south) was $330 for the loose goods
Sounds like we had similar level of goods.
Exlcuding the fee $250 of our agent the rest of the cost here in brissie which are all unavoidable taxes, duties, and included a AQIS insepction which passed and had nothing to treat ,costs were $600$ (all of these include GST - aussie VAT)

So fi you do it yourself - budget for this level of whack at this end. AQIS is about 60$ or something to look over a few boxes, but if you are caught with something they need to treat then you get the option of paying a huge treatment bill or a huge destroy-it-bill , read the thread on lizard toy on here somewhere.[/QUOTE]
Just a point to ponder,removal companies do get a cheaper rate to process your HHG due to the volume we put through AQIS, privateers tend to pay full tote odds. ......................... mm