Thanks @kaju. I appreciate the prompt and comprehensive reply. Just the information I was looking for. I guess you are ahead of us in looking into this and I will appreciate any updates and experience you go through.
We intend to sell the house and get rid of all the furniture, tools, electrical equipment etc. We will be left with personal effects such as clothing, books, documents, sporting gear and some pots, pans etc. I estimate it to be in the vicinity of 6m3.
I saw the moveCube, but the quote was AU$4,500.
I intend to look at where can I save some money. For example, would I best look for a used crate, pack it and bring it to a freight forwarder myself on a trailer etc. Would I save money if I pack a pallet myself?
At the other end we can have things delivered to my wife's parents for short term storage, whilst we get ourselves set up.
Not sure whether crating is worth the effort. Good crates can be found, but you still need to pay for them. You can certainly get one (or more), have it delivered, pack it, take it to a shipper's depot.
That will save you a few hundred dollars, but that's about all - my quote was for $320 to pick up 9m3 and take to the depot 40km away. So it's not a big saving, especially if you need to buy a crate, pick it up, and then take it yourself.
I have a couple of things bigger than standard packing boxes, they will just get very well wrapped in bubble wrap, then a few layers of cardboard boxes wrapped and taped around them. They can still be palletised along with regular packing boxes by the shipping company.
Palletising was quoted at $75 per pallet, they have to ship your boxes anyway, all they do is take the boxes and stack them on a wooden pallet, and wrap plastic around them a few times - takes just a few minutes at most. I'm guessing a pallet might take perhaps 1.5m3 of boxes, so that might cost $300 or so for me, a bit less for you perhaps.
For me, the only other costs for 9m3 as quoted was transport to the depot $320, weight verification $65, export documents $120, export clearance $65, EU manifest fee $30, actual freight cost Fremantle-Bremen $260/m3 = $2340. So about $3300 all up for me for 9m3 to Bremen or Hamburg.
The only extra cost would be insurance, I'm guessing a couple of hundred at most for that.
Your costs for 6m3 would likely be similar at a guess, as it may cost a shade more given Fremantle is a little closer, and you'd need delivery in Germany. I suspect the MoveCube price is going to be about $1000 more than a shipper.
The MoveCube would feel convenient - you'd still need to pack stuff in boxes first, but at least you could simply load the cube at your house and unload it at the other end. The concept is somehow tempting, for me anyway, but then again I think "Well, what's the difference between me loading boxes into a cube, and those same boxes simply being picked up from my house by a shipper anyway?"
So my prospective 9m3 cost would be say $3500 from Fremantle to Bremen. Add a few hundred for transport in Germany, call it $4000. And I was quoted $4000 delivered (to the middle of Germany) for the MoveCube. But that was for 6m3 compared to 9m3 and the expected delivery time is longer too. So the MoveCube does cost a bit more. I'd guess if your MoveCube quote is $4500 for 6m3, a regular shipping agent would charge maybe $500 less all up, (including palletising and insurance, which may already be included in your MoveCube quote). So overall, there may not be a big difference in price.
If you get a crate you don't have palletising costs, but you'll still have to deliver it, and you can't manhandle a big crate, you'll maybe need a truck lift or crane. To my mind, it's much easier and still good value to pay a few hundred for pick up by the shipper.
I'll have them palletise mine, just using regular packing boxes. I'd guess for your 6m3, pick up and palletise might be $5-600 all up, but you'd need to check.
Either way you still have the cost of the crate or cardboard boxes, you should hopefully see people selling both of these on Gumtree.
