I know previously people have asked for advice on shipping. I can highly recommend the guys I used:

www.express-exports.co.uk

Most people quoted me around £2K for my stuff based on volume (which is damn hard to work out).

John @ EE charged me £950 for a 20ft container plus £395 for two people to load up. Plus insurance of 3% of the value of goods. In addition I will have to pay around £200 for Jeddah costs.

All other shippers I found were going to give me a part container, which means it will not be shipped until the container was filled with someone elses stuff. In contrast my stuff was picked up on Wed 2nd Jan, was at Southampton that night, loaded on the ship on Thursday and set sail on Thursday night. My stuff should land in Jeddah in about 10 days. Amazing service and the guys who loaded were excellent.

Like I said I can recommend highly.

Hi,

Great post by the way. 1 question you maybe able to answer the £200 did that include port to your home? I just wanted to find out home much it costs the other end.

Thanks

Off topic, but did you used to work at Egham? I worked for Inchcape too and nearly went to work there a while ago.

OK i got shafted big time in saudi. I was charged the following over here:
Prices in SAR.
Port Dues 1450
Delivery 200
Duty (wtf) 1821
Labour 400
Container penalty (late fees) 950
Other late fees (1500)

Total I got charged was about 6300 SAR! :curse::curse: about £900.

My advice is go with a company that delivers door to door, and not door to port. It would have cost about the same and would have been a lot less hassle!

Hi

No i didnt work there but I bought a few cars from them in the past. Im a massive Ferrari enthusiast.

As mentioned in another thread- I used to work for a relo company and one of the biggest ways in which shippers get to a reduced cost is by not including the things you don't know about- ergo- the reason you employed them in the first place.
In the relo business there are two costs for them- theirs and the shippers. A shipping company charges the same to everyone for a container so a relo company cannot discount that. Costs at either end, such as paperwork, offloading etc are also non-negotioable. All that is left is their packer and admin costs. If any relo company is offering you a huge discount on what another one is then you had better get ready to get shafted.
Always get at least 3 quotes and make them guarantee that the total cost will not exceed 10% on top of what they have quoted. They'll never do it but it will make them sit up and think and you'll know straight away if they're going to shaft you.