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[disambiguate]

I am preparing for a big international move in service of a new TT job.  Yay for that.

We have moved many times of course, but this will be the first time moving overseas, and I'm hoping some more seasoned international scholars can help me out. 

Fortunately NewU is providing a completely furnished and stocked apartment, so no need for any furniture or anything.  We will mostly be shipping books plus a few pieces of sentimental art and other odds and ends.  The moving allowance is about $5k and will be partially used to move our pets. 

It looks like mail or standard commercial shipping of the books will be exorbitant, so now we're considering a container move.  Problem is that I don't really know how to do that or what to expect.

Any advice on good companies, pricing and timing expectations, tips, or even other strategies for getting to point B would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

[stickball]

To and from where are you moving?  When? 

[monsterx]

We did a international move once, back in grad school days, and looked into containers, but we didn't have enough to fill a whole container.  There were various door-to-door options, but we didn't go with those - partially because of the price, but mostly because a friend had been recently cheated by one.  I looked into it, and found that in the States, getting cheated by movers is a pretty common occurance, and if you ship internationally door-to-door, the first leg will be with a dodgy American moving company. 

So we contacted a freight forwarder, and drove our stuff to the port in a rented van.  We had to stack it on a pallet, and wrap it all up in celophane.  Our stuff fit on one pallet, and they measured its dimensions, because they changed by bulk.  I  think it cost about 1200$, though I could be misremembering, for trans-atlantic shipping (add to that the cost of the van on both ends). Some guy with a forklift met us on the loading dock and drove it away.  4 weeks later, on the other end, we had to do the same thing in reverse.

[totoro]

I've done a lot of intercontinental moves. What you are looking at is sometimes called a "van-lift". It's a huge wooden crate that they stick your stuff in. Then they put several of those into a shipping container. I've usually done door to door. In my last move to Australia from the US I worked with a local agent of a company called Intermove. They were good. I got a couple of quotes first (highly recommended). Also it is worth considering doing an express courier box with some stuff you might need quickly (e.g. teaching materials) but is too much for the luggage you are taking on the plane. Last time I ended up mailing a couple of boxes with such documents with US Post. Again, shop around the usual suspects.

[disambiguate]

Thanks everybody!

The move is US to central Asia.  I think a pallet stacked six to eight feet high will be more than enough space for all of our stuff, so I'll look into the van lift.  I don't mind taking my stuff to a port on this end, but at the other end I think delivery to my apartment would be very helpful so I don't have to figure out van rental etc in a new place.  If I can do it for around the $1200 that MonsterX mentioned, or even double that, I should be able to stay within my moving allowance even with shipping dogs and a couple of postal packages. 

We've already got a first week box ready and I think we'll be able to include it in our airline luggage on the way out.  I won't need much in the way of teaching materials besides what NewU is providing so that isn't an issue.

Thanks for all the help so far!

[87735501111]

Remember that shipping will take weeks. So if you need more stuff quickly, some of the luggage expediting services are pretty good value. Basically, they check your ticket, you do a customs form, and then they both pick up the stuff from your origin and deliver to your new address in new country. This can certainly be better than taking 8 suitcases to the airport, both in cost and hassle factor, esp. when you think about clearing customs.

Check difference between extra bags on your airline vs. a large trunk or 32kg suitcase. I have used this with books/papers with good results in the past. It's not such a great value on lighter stuff like clothes, but for heavy suitcases full of books it was good.

[disambiguate]

Replying to my own thread with an update for anybody who stumbles upon this with a search in the future.

Shipping to Central Asia was nearly impossible with a moving company from the US.  It might have been possible with an entire container, but nobody would handle a single liftvan for that move.

We went with USPS as per advice in this thread, relatively inexpensive even for express shipping.  FYI The MBag is now nearly as expensive as Express since they no longer do surface shipping abroad.

BUT customs has been a hassle.

We are using a customs brokerage company to shepherd our boxes through the red tape.  Anybody doing a similar move would be advised to contact such a company.  The one we're using will even do the shipping, but it's too late for that now.

I hate to sound like spam, so Mods feel free to redact this, but the company we are using is called Globalink and they seem very good.

[marecek21]

I have worked abroad for several universities, and my basic response to your request is essentially to advise you wait and see whether there is a point to ship lots of stuff to Central Asia. How long is your contract? Do you feel confident that you will want to stay there for a longer period, justifying moving things? I would really consider those issues before going to all that trouble.