We used Santa Fe relocation company to ship our things from Scotland to Florida. We went with them because it was very straightforward and because they were sending it on a container that wouldn’t sail until it was full which would likely be 12 weeks. We are just now ready to have it delivered in Florida from where it arrived in S. Carolina. It was quite expensive (£1300 for 105 cubic feet) but we liked that we didn’t have to do anything apart from fill out forms.

I received an email today from the US handlers explaining that our shipment was randomly selected for a random customs x-ray. The email included an invoice for £55 that we are liable for.

Interestingly, when I read over the invoice it states that our total shipment was 60 cubic feet. We paid for 105 cubic feet based on Santa Fe telling me that’s the size we needed. I am awaiting clarification/proof from Santa Fe about our actual shipment size in case we have paid for almost 100% more than what we needed.

It may end up being a typo on the invoice, which is fine. I didn’t even think about questioning the size of our shipment because someone came to our apartment and looked at all of our things. I will update as and when I have more information in case others are interested.

It seems that it wouldn’t have mattered if I’d sent only 10 cubic feet, as it was a minimum size/ cost.