Hi

Anyone know of a good company for container shipping, ideally 20"? I've had a quote from one company (which I'll post up details of, don't have them to hand at he moment) @ £1500 from UK to Montreal.

Wow, that sounds very very cheap! We've had quite a few quotes, mostly in the £4000 region UK to Ontario! Are you sure that is a sole use container?

The ones we were most impressed with were Robinsons, Doree Bonner and Anglo Pacific - not the cheapest but they seemed the more professional (IMO).

Good luck with it!

Yep. 20" was 3000 USD and 40" 4000 USD. Basically you have to load the container, you have 3 hours after which each hour is £40 (i think) and also look after customs at the other end.

Here's the mail

---------------------------------------



We have pleasure in confirming our quotation as detailed below and
hope this meets with your approval. Please quote our reference on
all correspondence.

Type of Equipment : 20' & 40' MIXED CONTAINERS - Spec as specified
Description of Goods : HOUSEHOLD GOODS

From : Home, kent
To : MONTREAL PORT

FREIGHT 3000.00 USD 20FT
INTERNAL DIMS : 5895MM X 2350MM X 2392MM (L X W X H)

FREIGHT 4000.00 USD 40FT
INTERNAL DIMS OF STANDARD : 12029MM X 2350MM X 2392MM
INTERNAL DIMS OF HIGH CUBE: 12029MM X 2350MM X 2697MM

INCLUDES CURRENT BAF OF USD 654 PER 20FT AND USD 1308 PER 40FT
THESE CAN CHANGE.

VALID END FEB 2008

YOU ARE ALLOWED 3 HOURS FREE FOR LOADING THE CONTAINER -
THE DRIVER WILL WAIT UNTIL IT IS LOADED
AFTER THE 3 HOURS IT IS GBP 40 PER HOUR

YOU WOULD NEED TO ARRANGE THE CLEARANCE OF THE CONTAINER
DIRECTLY WITH CUSTOMS IN CANADA.

FOR RELEASE AND COLLECTION OF THE CONTAINER YOU WILL NEED TO
LIAISE WITH THE CANADIAN AGENT.

YOU WILL NEED TO COMPLETE A PACKING LIST AND SEND A COPY TO US
AND KEEP A COPY FOR YOURSELF FOR CUSTOMS PURPOSES.

A COPY OF YOUR PASSPORT WILL ALSO BE REQUIRED.

SAILINGS ARE WEEKLY - TRANSIT APPROX 11 DAYS FROM SOUTHAMPTON PORT
TO MONTREAL PORT

This Quotation is current and subject to engagement. All Surcharges are
subject to change and/or implementation as appropriate.


Except when we operate as an NVOC and a Procon Express Lines Bill of Lading
is issued, all business is transacted in accordance with the British
International Freight Association (BIFA) Standard Trading Conditions - 2005
edition. A copy will be supplied on request. A copy of Procon Express Lines Bill
of Lading Terms and Conditions are also available on request.

Regards
Cargo Marketing Services Limited
Kirsty Matthews
Customer Services

Oh right, you're doing it all yourself. We decided it would be safer and easier to get someone who knows what they're doing and knows how to safely pack everything to do it for us! Will this company also provide you with the boxes and packing material or do you have to get that yourself?
Good luck with it, hope it goes well for you!

I'm almost certain that the packing material is not provided. Luckly I have a family member that works for Bishopsmove who can get it for free

There's a couple of others companies I'm trying....Hapag-Lloyd is one. I'll post up their when I get it.

What costs are involved in clearing it all through customs yourself? If you have no agent in Canada, could that be costly? I think bonded storage is steep.

Also, I think transporting the items from the port to your destination is quite expensive too...?

Do some research on the whole movers thing and make an informed choice.
Do a search and read up on other people's experience.
You could try start here or here.

Good luck with the move. We are so happy that we made the move.

Rob

Hi, we used a company to pack and ship (Under £4000 including insurance) and they were very good and very quick and still it took them more than 3 hours to load - so check your timings, it maybe better in the long run to get a company to do it.

We were told that pretty much all owner packed containers were searched which delayed delivery and added to the costs (customs charge you for their inspections!).

Also, less likely to have breakages with professional packers. Didn't ship anything particularly expensive but sentimental value was huge and it all got here in original condition!!

Bluefin, that looks like a good quote. Couple of comments from an experienced shipper.....

- Freight quote is from your door to Montreal port. So you need to add trucking to wherever your house is in Montreal or environs. Depending upon how far away this could be several hundred dollars or more.

- Customs clearance. As an individual customer (as opposed to a company importing many shipments) be prepared to pay maybe $300 for customs clearance.

- Think about access. A 40ft box on an articulated trailer is a big rig. Can you get it close to your house on each end?

- Think about access some more. The box will be 4ft off the ground. Is the shipping/trucking company providing a ramp for you to access the box? If not then you are going to have to sort out some way of doing this yourself. (Containers generally go from loading dock to loading dock)

- Don't undersestimate how long it could take you to load or unload the container. Those extra hours could mount up.

- Be ready to receive delivery as soon as it is cleared in Montreal. If you ask them to hang onto it for anytime you will likely be charged demurrage for the continued use of the container.

Not wanting to put you off but just want to make you aware of potential additional costs/hassles.

AX

We're paying £3300 to ship a 20ft container with Dorree Bonner next week from Glasgow to Calgary. This is for door-to-door service and includes packing and inventory of our items. Everythings been arranged over e-mail so far as we are already in Canada and the communication has been great up till now.

While the $3000us quote sounds cheap I would be slightly wary as there could be a lot of extraneous charges for customs, packing etc, not to mention the extra hassle of having to pack a full container yourselves within 3 hours. We've also heard that customs are much happier to deal with professionally packed containers as the above poster states.

Other quotes I had ranged from £3000 to £4500 for our own container, and from £2500 to £4500 for groupage or shared. So there is definately a lot of variation for the same service, but be sure you are comparing like for like as most quotes I got were for full service door-to-door.

Just my two cents.