Recommendation Flowchart #
Please note that any full container shipment will have a number of hidden fees that you will be likely liable for such as demurrage
flowchart TD
A["Do not ship a container"] -- If you are shipping a car --> B["Find service that lets you fill your car and just ship that"]
A --> H["Just use additional airline baggage"]
B --> n1@{ label: "A 'ro-ro' is going to be the cheapest option for a car shipment if you don't have other things to send" }
n1 --> n2["Depending on car size a 20ft container may have clearance for a few items as well"]
n2 --> n3["40ft container gives you around 20ft of room for household goods"]
H --> G["Ship as little as possible, a sealed crate or two or use a self packed shipping crate"]
G --> n4["If you need more than 3 crates or liftgates then it usually becomes more cost effective to just get a 20ft container."]
n4 --> n5@{ label: "If you're just shipping household goods and you're looking at a 40ft container, you are likely doing something wrong" }
B@{ shape: rect}
n1@{ shape: rect}
G@{ shape: rect}
n5@{ shape: rect}
#
TLDR version; It’s still incredibly long though #
Everyone tells you to just sell everything and repurchase it on the other end. #
Everyone tells you that for good reason. If you are able to, we recommend doing just that too. Some reasons:
- Even if you use a full service shipper (which we recommend if you have to ship) the process is still incredibly stressful, convoluted, and ‘icky’ especially when having to deal with insuring your shipment. For that reason alone if you must send items I highly, highly recommend you send only the absolute essentials and do an itemized and valued list in such a way as to be able to know exactly what is in every box, exactly how many boxes there are, and to identify them and everything on both sides.
- Even if you decide to ship via container, the most sensitive things are never covered by insurance (all electronics, etc). So what we did and I recommend is to buy pelican cases or any other rugged hard shell travel cases that meet all airline requirements and you are able to pad, etc, and put your more sensitive things in there. I broke down our computers and other electronics (that didn’t contain batteries or could remove them) and secured them in padded pelican cases with cheap foam intended for couches that I cut down to size. I shipped the components for three entire computers that way and reassembled them on the other end without issue. We shipped our empty PC cases in a container but if you can avoid a container you can always just purchase new cases on the other side.
- It’s often a lot cheaper to buy additional checked luggage than it is to ship items through postal services or other means. So when booking a flight, look into airlines and ticketing options with that in mind and you might find that simply adding 10 extra checked luggage (provided the airline allows it) removes a lot of the need of an overseas container shipment.
- The majority of the things you may want to take on an impulse likely will not function overseas depending on the location and their power voltage (and especially frequency) requirements. Dealing with transformers is not a great long term solution and the majority don’t modify frequency so if that’s different you are out of luck either way. Anything with a lithium battery or any battery that cannot be removed is not allowed in the shipment
- Containers are subjected to huge temperature changes for extended periods of time. Internal shipping container temperatures can easily reach the threshold to cause lithium batteries to start a thermal runaway which would likely burn everything in your shipment and cause you to be liable for significant damage to the ship and cargo. So be mindful of everything that has one especially for devices you don’t normally consider like mice, headsets, etc. But yeah, the environment within a shipping container can be pretty rough so consider the time things will ship if you have stuff on the delicate side.
Understand Airline rules and book tickets specifically with rules in mind #
- Knowing the limits on how many lithium batteries you can travel with and at what capacity will be important. We removed the batteries from a large number of devices since they cannot be checked if they’re above a certain capacity. I had an entire carry on filled with batteries as the airline allowed up to 20 batteries below a certain threshold per carry on. I cannot overstate how suspicious you feel going through security with an entire bag full of lithium batteries lol.
- Knowing limits and costs surrounding additional checked luggage is important as well, and any discounts that may result from a different type of ticket for additional luggage, as you may end up saving money once you get to a certain number giving you a free upgrade.
