Shipping
There are a number of companies out there that can ship out your personal belongings. Shipping
your personal belongings by sea is the most cost effective way of getting everything
to Australia, but it is the slowest. Shipping companies can ship almost
any amount from a small pallet upto a 40 foot container. Prices should
only vary slightly between companies, so probably the best advise we can give is
to go with a company most local to your pickup point as this will be quickest and
cheapest. Some companies such as S & A Removals & Storage are intermediaries
and as such they will find you the cheapest price by using trade channels instead. Others
tempt you with free packaging materials and many other things.
Please be aware though that generally insurance is not included as standard and
must be added on. Get an idea of the replace cost of your shipment and
give that figure to the shipping companies to include in your quote.
PACK THE SHIPMENT YOURSELF is probably the single best piece of advice anyone
can give. You and only you will give the due care and attention to your
prized possessions and pack them safetly
Costs
As a guide, here is a sample quote:
Collection from Midlands, UK to Brisbane, Australia
1 cubic metre £220
2 cubic metre £340
3 cubic metre £440
Handling fees in Australia are approximately £35 per cubic metre.
Customs clearance approx £60 if the shipping company completes on your behalf, however,
if you deal with Customs yourself, it is normally free of charge
If it is a container that you require, costs for this can be upto £5000 all in for
a 40 foot container.
Insurance
Please, please, please take out insurance. Any number of different companies
will come into contact with you possessions and they will not care one bit what
happens to it, so insurance is a must and to be honest it is not an expensive add
on to you shipment. When you take out the insurance make sure you have
a complete and accurate manifest for the shipment and the cost that you wish to
insure it for
Quarantine
Now this is part of the process that is usually NOT included in your shipping
costs. The amount that you get charge will be based on a number of key
factors namely how long your shipment stays in storage before AQIS comes to check over it and also what items they deem dangerous
to Australia. If AQIS
are delayed for any reason, then this will obviously delay the quarantine process
for you and the shipping company will charge you for the priviledge. When
AQIS do finally find the
time to look over your possessions, if they find anything that they won't accept
into Australia they give you 2 options
Now the costs involved in either of these processess seem to be simple blanket costs. In
other words, the cost will be the same to fumigate of destroy a bed frame as it
would to do the same to a wooden ornament for example. We had a charge
of either $340 for fumigation, or $110 for destruction of a bunch of cinnamon sticks
that were a table ornament. This is simply disgusting as all they would
do would be to throw them into a furnace! The thing to remember is to
be carful with what you pack and BE CAREFUL or they will gladly charge you extortionate
amounts of money
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