subject: For Moving Everything In The House, International Shipping [print this page] Many people have been offered the opportunity to follow their jobs overseas and that means moving their entire household further than a couple of states. It means contacting an international shipping company to carry the family's belongings across the ocean to another land so the family can make a new start in a new country.
When shipping internationally, there are several regulations and rules about what can cross the borders and that includes international waters and airspace. The biggest problem many shipping companies have is with liquids. They are not allowed to pack or carry liquids of any kind across the boundaries into another country. Liquids would include but are not limited to dish soaps, bath soaps, hand lotions, baby formula, medications that are liquid, wines or other liquor or cream based cosmetics. Some countries will allow medications and baby formula but will not allow wine collections or other liquors to cross into their land. The transport company will know what is allowed and what is not.
In order to save time, some people who are moving to another country will ship the items they use most often, such as clothing, personal hygiene items, their computer and perhaps a few cooking items through the postal carrier or another shipping company in order to have the things they use everyday with them until the rest of their stuff arrives. Many of the bigger items, like beds, dressers, television, desk, carpets and such, might go on a cargo ship and take weeks to arrive at a new home in another country.
For shipping a household full of items to the other side of the world, there are a couple of choices. There is a cargo plane or a cargo ship, each is costly and each will carry an entire house full of items and then some. The ship will carry containers that look like semi-truck boxes and the plane is stacked with boxes on pallets that are secured for flying.
If a family would want to keep their car instead of purchasing a new one in a new country, they could arrange for either the cargo or freight shipper to forward their vehicle to their new home. There may need to be some modifications in order to make the automobile 'legal' in the new country and a person would need to check with the new countries vehicle registration department to make sure what procedures need to be taken. Bicycles, mopeds and motorcycles are very popular in many countries, but again, may need some minor changes to become street ready at the new home.
A large freight plane or cargo ship could also carry family's recreational vehicles as well; a boat, camper or personal watercraft could all make the trip abroad. Professionals who work with shipping vehicles and other large items know what they are doing and just how to tie down things so they do not move around during a flight or rough seas.
Many families want to ship their appliances to their new home in a new country and this poses a slight problem although it is easily fixed. Most European countries have a different electrical outlet system then the Untied States and there are adaptor plugs sold at all the grocers and market in the new country as well as the major department stores in the Untied States. A computer would also need a special adaptor and the Internet services are a little different than that of the US.
International shipping quote charges vary for different reasons. The amount of household items a family is shipping, the distance they are shipping the items, the way in which they are shipping the items and so on. All of these factors will help in determining the cost of shipping something overseas to a new home.
