suzeandmatt

Hi folks,

Mid November we're moving to Calgary from UK. We may only be there a year or 2 but could be for longer. We're obviously packing our home up here at the moment; we only rent here so that parts easy! & most of our furniture we're getting rid of as none of it is particularly valuable & we wouldn't care about having it shipped over. We'll just buy things out there.
But we do have a few smaller peices of furniture we want to keep, a lot of artwork and a lot of books. We're going to store those things here until if/when we're ready for them to be sent over, and will just take the bare essentials really.
We want to package them up here in a way that they can literally just be couriered over when we want them. (Organised by a friend).
My question really is, is there a certain way things have to be packaged up? For example- for our artwork- could my husband make a few wooden crates and they can be sent over that way? Or is that not suitable?
And has anyone used a reliable/cost effective international courier for medium sized boxes? I'm talking sort of 60litres in size up to the size of sort of an under counter fridge. (Nearest size I could think of!) obviously for books the boxes are very heavy!!

Thanks folks! :-)

Former Lancastrian

Customs could get sticky about wooden crates if not sure where the wood is sourced from.
Wood Packaging Material Import Requirements

suzeandmatt

Ah yeah that's true. I didn't think of that. Just trying to think of a way to essentially have custom sized boxes due to what we want to take. :-/ May have to buy plastic ones after all. Though some of our paintings are quite big. ARRGG. Will look on that link, thank you.

scilly

I should be exceedingly careful about how you do the artwork, paintings especially.

Most carriers will not insure packages that they have not themselves packed, and artwork is I think more expensive to insure.

I would be very tempted to find a company now, and have them package up the artwork ................. we have moved with paintings and art work, as well as have art work shipped to us, and have always done it that way.

There's being cost effective, and cost foolish when it comes to shipping items that you love and do not want damaged.

suzeandmatt

Hmm that's incredibly annoying isn't it? I'm an artist myself so have packaged & posted many a piece of artwork over the years so that's very frustrating that I'd more than likely have to get someone else to do that.
We definitely don't want to get a company to do it right away, as for all we know we might just be in Canada for a year or 2 and won't need them shipped over at all. So I think in terms of the artwork I'll just package them up to store here, then if we do want them shipped over at some point I'll either just organise it from there & get someone to help me out on this side of the water, or I'll fly back over to sort it all.

Hopefully then it should be easier for books & a box or few of just general nik-naks and some smaller items of furniture.
Thanks for your reply!! It's a bit of a mine field isn't it?! Haha

Siouxie

Air freight, perhaps? The insurance is a lot cheaper as well..

I've not had any issue with getting insurance from shippers for items self packed, but then I didn't use their insurance - I went through an independant company for that.

This is a great post about shipping paintings - it's worth reading through the (many) comments as she gives advice on how to multi-pack several paintings as well as alternative ways to send. There are also some shipping companies listed that deal with artwork. Fool Proof method for shipping Art

If you are going to become permanent residents, please make sure you add your paintings to your 'goods to follow' lists!

suzeandmatt

Thanks for that! Using an alternative insurance provider could be a good idea! And I'll have a read of that link today. Much appreciated. :-)

kirstyp

You could contact an international moving company who can pack them up as they would for international shipping (so with the right level of protection and the heat treated wood for the crates which they can custom build for you) and then put them in storage at their own facility until you're ready for them to be shipped. They could then send them as a part load shipment when you're ready, or if you prefer to use a courier instead they could collect from the storage facility?

suzeandmatt

Thanks for that info! I'm just very aware that international removal companies are incredibly expensive- which I feel would be slightly more worth it if we were wanting to move the whole contents of our home over but we aren't...and may not be there long enough to make shipping everything over worth it anyway. It all depends on my husbands job which is in academia so can be a few years in one place and a few in another and so on. Thanks for the info though, I will have a look into it. :-)

Caribou Jones

I'm asking the same questions

I just spoke to Jeff at Glennfreight on 01293 437770 and he sent me an estimate in minutes for "door to YYC" delivery. No idea how this will pan out, but my first impression was a positive one.

suzeandmatt

Ah okay thanks for that. Were you happy with the price quoted? Did it seem reasonable compared to others you may have looked at?

Caribou Jones

Yes actually. I've only been looking at clothes, books, sports goods etc and I've had (estimates only) at £795 at best as sea cargo and then £390 from Glennfreight for something more specific size-wise.

The £390 price compared to the UPS air freight is almost identical. What you could do is login to UPS and use their "get a quote" in the air freight section by choosing your box weights/sizes/numbers to start with and if that price seems reasonable, contact Glennfreight with the same data. Worth a try!

suzeandmatt

Thanks! I will do because those prices are insane really for what you'd be shipping over. You could buy them all again there for much less! At this rate I might have to do things in dribs and drabs every time we go backwards and forwards or have people come and visit us. Haha. Thanks for that though! Really helpful! :-)