Container Move US to Australia

[Sina]

Hi all, we will be moving from North Carolina (USA) to Airlie Beach (QLD) and I need to organize the shipment of our household. I got various quotes but they are tell me I need to take a full-service agency as international shipments are not allowed to be packed by owner because of customs requirements and such. Naturally that's really expensive. Does anyone know whether that's true?
I would like to pack myself to save some money.

Thanks.

Sina

[Bevdeforges]

I don't know about the legality of packing yourself, but I do know that you will need a full inventory of what you are shipping, both for customs purposes and for insurance on the shipment.

Don't even consider saving money by foregoing insurance on the shipment - it's a LONG voyage from NC to Oz, through the Panama Canal and lots of things can go wrong. Containers fall overboard or just get soaked in a bad storm. (Happened to a cousin of mine moving from Switzerland to the US.)

There are also shippers who won't let you pack your own load simply because then they can't insure the contents if they haven't packed it their way and prepared their own listing. Who is to say that box actually contained your priceless collection of toenail clippers if you packed it yourself and just handed the list to the shipper? If that box is selected for control by the Customs people and winds up containing a kg of coke or some food item that is now a writhing mass of bugs, it's the shipper who has to explain it all to customs.

International moves are much "touchier" than moving within the US. And if something goes wrong, it can be far more difficult to sort out the damage.
Cheers,
Bev

[kaz101]

Hi Sina,

We moved form the UK to Oz last year and were told that any goods packed by ourselves would not be covered by the movers insurance. By the way in the UK you don't have to take the movers insurance but you can buy another insurance and still be covered - not sure if it's the same in the USA.

The only goods that were damaged were ones that I'd packed myself, even though I'd thought I'd done a good job and it was just a few bits.

As Bev mentions do take out insurance since I have heard of rare occasions where either containers themselves have not been secure, or the ship itself has had problems.

As for Oz customs they are very strict and a full inventory is needed as well as AQIS custom forms.

Good luck with the move and congratulations on getting visas.

Karen

[Tiffani]

HI Sina,

We actually moved from North Carolina to Melbourne in January, and our stuff just arrived a few weeks ago. Our total cost was about $5000 for most of a two-bedroom house. The only thing that made us really unhappy was that we were quoted an arrival date of mid-March, and it didn't arrive until mid-May. So don't believe all that crap about it'll only take six weeks. It'll take four months.

The one good thing about our company though, was that they gave us a binding estimate and as long as the weight of our shipment didn't exceed the estimated weight, we couldn't be charged more than what we were. We were a little surprised to find that we had to pay about $500 on top of that to Customs and Quarantine as a standard fee. I don't know why that wasn't included in the quote. But everything else was.

We packed everything ourselves but we didn't have an exhaustive inventory, something I later regretted (we didn't know). You can pack the boxes yourself but whatever you pack won't likely be covered by the insurance that the company offers, so make sure you take out extra insurance if there are valuables you want to cover. I would recommend putting a sheet on the outside of each box detailing what's inside.

Australia quarantine is particularly picky but they do work well and fast. They unfortunately had to destroy a small jewelry box I had brought over (which was inside a box inside another box) because it was made of banana leaves. I had bought it at "One World Market" if you know the store. The leaves had obviously been treated and weren't raw because they were made into a box, but Australia won't import anything banana. So just keep in mind that anything exotic may have to be treated (at your expense) by quarantine.

[northern mover]

Hello all.
We have just had a quote; £3,500 including insurance, from Liverpool to Adelaide. A 9 week timescale was hinted at, which i thought was pretty good, that even included AQI time!!!
I agree with others that the cost outways the disadvantages; why take the risk?
Good Luck with your move, dear
Jane

[stevemarks]

Hi Sina,

I currently live in Airlie Beach and have for the last 10 years, it is a beautiful part of the world.

I am a real estate agent here, if you need any assistance in buying or renting a property when you get here please let me know.

Hope you enjoy it here.

Steve