HK to the US - shipping companies / options

[scorpionyc]

Hi all,
We're relocating from HK to Chicago late next month. I have so far contacted Allied Pickfords, Crown and Transword. No response from Transworld, Crown wants to do a survey and Allied Pickfords quoted me $85K (!!!) for a 20 foot container, about $25K for 100 cubic feet.

We have an 800 square foot apartment with some furniture and the usual clothes, pictures, etc, so do you think this would fit into an 100 cubic feet? I have seen posts here about working with the shipping companies directly to save money, but would they then be able to pack for us? We are too busy at the moment to really deal with the move and packing, picking up boxes, etc.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

[Trance Omega]

Goto FIDI.org and pick 3 companies to do a survey and give you a quote.
I am just about to write a further reply so watch this space.

[Trance Omega]

I would go with either Santa Fe, Asian Tigers or Unigroup. I personally know the main people in Santa Fe and Asian Tigers and have been to many conferences with them and seen the awards for quality they have won.
100 cubic ft doesnt sound much, it is only 2.8 cubic meters and a full 20ft container holds 33 cubic meters so there will be a big waste of space. To give you an idea, a standard front loading washing machine is .4 cubic meter.
If you value your belongings then you will want to get them to pack this themselves as then you will be able to insure it. Total loss insurance for PBOs (packed by owner) is not worth it as they will only pay up if the ship sinks.
Get them to make liftvans for your shipment and then send it LCL (shared container), will take longer to get there though but cheaper.
Also make sure that the company on the destination side is reputable. Again check fidi to see if the destination agent is registered. Ask the quoting company which agent they will use at destination.
Also haggle the price, most of the time they will come down in price but dont expect anything more than 10%.
Make sure all your paperwork, visas etc are current. If you are waiting on visas then the company generally wont ship till it is ready otherwise you can incur large demmurage or other storage charges.
If you have any valuable paintings then I would suggest you get it crated.
Most of their packing boxes will have rooms printed on them so you can tick the box to which room you want it delivered to when you arrive at your new home. Just saves time and hassle.
Expect to get some glassware or crockery broken as it is a regular occurrence.
Hope this helps but let me know if there is anything else.

[scorpionyc]

This is very helpful - thanks! I have emailed Santa Fe and Asian Tigers and will reach out to unigroup. What should I expect to pay for LCL for this amount of stuff? When we moved from NYC to HKG (same amount of items for the most part) it was around $5K USD, so the 85K HKD quote scared me. I'll ask about a shared container. We want to buy an apartment in the new place which might take a while, so we probably won't need our items for at least 10 weeks.

What are options for just shipping clothes/items (excess baggage?)? The new company claims we can't use our relo budget for furniture, but I think if I am able to show them that for example, it will cost $7K USD to ship our furniture vs say $2KUSD just to ship clothes/some books/momentos, that they might allow me to purchase new furniture in the US, which I would prefer. The stuff in our apartment now was shipped from NY and a bit damaged, I could care less about our kitchen items, and would prefer a new TV so this would be ideal. Just not sure if it would save that much money to just ship clothes/some items.

I definitely will have them pack for me...I have no time/patience to do it myself!!

[Trance Omega]

Not sure how your HR dept will go about that. I have just PM'd you 2 contact emails of the people I know in Santa Fe and Asian Tigers. Hope this will help further.

[scorpionyc]

Hi all,
Transworld, not on the FIDI.org list, has given me a quote of about $27K for 285 cu. ft, and Santa Fe has given us a 70K quote for 500 cu ft or 25K for 150 cu. ft (no furniture) with $135 for each extra cu ft.

I know the moving companies on the list are more reputible, but frankly, I have nothing really of too much value that I care about - we plan to ditch the furniture in the not too far away future anyway, so do you really think it would be a bad idea to take the cheapest quote? I understand going for the most reliable mover possible, but we have a lot of battered furniture from the first move and some items from ikea...valueable clothing/acessories i'll take on the plane.

[Trance Omega]

Right decision if you arent worried too much about your belongings. Just make sure it is put into liftvans. This will decrease the chance of boxes going 'missing' or mixed up with the other shared shipments in the container. Also make sure you check out the receiving agent.