Judeandandy

Hi there

We are hoping to move from Manchester to Calgary at the end of October. Can any of you already in Canada recommend any shipping companies you have used? We don't have a huge amount as we are not bringing any furniture. It will be mainly books, camping gear, paintings, tools and that sort of thing. We might even get away with doing it as a shipment of excess baggage rather than an international removal.

We don't need our belongings to arrive at the same time as us as we are staying with relatives when we first get there, so a 6 - 8 week delay is no problem.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Thanks.

Chippers

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...ipping+company

Give this a read. Hope it helps.

Surrey Expat

If you insure your goods in transit, a trap we fell into was that the 'marine insurance' works differently to house contents insurance in the UK. At least thats what they told as when we went to make a claim. The form asked for the number of items and a total value in each category.

The trap here is that the insurers in the event of a claim average the value. So hypothetically if you had 25 items in a tool box and value it at £150 the 25 items ranging in value from say £1 to £3 and the box itself at £100. If it still works like it did for us, the insurers consider each item to be valued at £6, so if the tool box is damaged and the contents are OK, they will pay out £6 for a £100 tool box. Saying that if they lose if completely they should payout the £150. Although on this basis if they damage a £2 item, you may get £6 for it?

A question worth asking before filling in the insurance form. In our experience things did get damaged and some were lost. Like you we did not ship furniture, so used a shared container, which the removers packed.

We also made a complete inventory of everything we packed and were bringing with us, item by item and kept it with us. This proved invaluable when checking off our belongings when they were delivered.

I would suggest taking pictures of any valuable or unique items as well.

bear-diesel

See my thread above
we moved from just north of Manchester to Edmonton and used Fox International who were brill
Nothing broken or damaged and the insurance was well explained before I filled out the forms. I just split things up and gave them each their own value. we didn't insure every last thing, just the stuff that was expensive or difficult to replace
jo

Danny B

I used http://www.doreebonner.co.uk and paid £4k for a sole use container to Kamloops.
I didn't bother with insurance as nothing was really that important to us, just beds & clothes etc. Out of the whole container one plate was broken. They did an excellent job of packing everything and I would recommend them.

Speak to Jo at their Dartford Office.

us3andthedog

We to will be Manchester to Calgary so make sure you keep us informed on how you get on with the move. I have been looking into shippers also and found some helpful info on the forum. Alot of people seem to use Whites & Co as they also do 8 weeks free storage in the UK.
Prices ive seen are in the range of £4000 - £4550 for a 20ft container (sole use)
Fingers crossed will be moving in May 08.
Where are you heading for?

burton bunch

Hi guys

My goods set sail on August 9th from Liverpool and arrived in Calgary on Friday Morning

Used GB Liners in Altrincham speak to Chris the international guy he was fab with us. Charged us 4500 GBP for sole use of a 20 ft container - all packing materials included.

Gaynor

cj36_ca

we are uusingthem but oh is in panic about what if something hhappens
i want to min coast so i think pack mon load tue we fly wed but he wants a day between just in case how did you find it with them we are mmovingnov tickets booked for the wed as oh booked wrong no big deal but i dont want to spend weekend in hotel as he wants fri pack mon ship
what your thought on it
cj

Judeandandy

Hi everyone
Thanks for all the suggestions, I am going to make a few phone calls today and will post rough costs when I get them.

We are hoping to move at the end of October and I don't think we'll need storage as we are leaving the furniture here and renting out the house, that is making life easier and hopefully cheaper! I don't think any of our furniture is worth shipping and I was very glad to hear that there are IKEA stores in Canada!

I'm going to sit down now and try and make an inventory of all our rubbish, oops I mean all our cherished items that we want to take with us...