Good Intl. Shipping Container Co. ?

[Tom R]

Can anyone recommend a decent but fairly priced shipping container company for a move from Shanghai to central Illinois, similar to what ABF provides in the States with U-Pack. Am hoping to fill up a container unit and have it shipped to the States in the fall.

[Randy W]

The term to search for is "logistics", or "International logistics". My suggestion is to find a local company (Cosco branch?) that will take it through customs at your nearest International port, then a U.S. company that will take it from there, internationally to a US port and drop it off at your driveway. A "three day" drop-off for us was dropped off late Monday night, and picked up EARLY Wednesday morning (the "three days" were Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday - effectively allowing only a single day - Tuesday - to load the container, thanks to LONG lines at the Port of Houston).

 

Prices can vary - by an order of magnitude, since International door-to-door movers are usually paid for by the employer. In 2009, we paid over $3000 to have a container dropped off in our driveway in Houston, loaded ourselves, and then shipped to our nearest Chinese port of Zhanjiang.

 

I can't find the name of the logistics company we used. Allon may be able to help you there - he was a BIG help to us in getting the container from Zhenjiang, near Shanghai, to Zhanjiang, free of charge.

 

It'll probably be a Cosco ship that will actually load it, and take it to the U.S.

 

Our fees from Cosco, once the container arrived in Zhanjiang (it was initially mistakenly shipped to Zhenjiang). We unloaded ourselves (with some help from locals, who worked for about the same price I had paid some "immigrant labor" in Houston to load it)

 

Cost issues (billing currency: RMB):

Agent fee: 500 yuan

customs/inspection: 1000 yuan

fumigation fee: 610 yuan

port charges: 600 yuan

transport fee (Zhanjiang to Yulin): 2600 yuan

Total: 5310 yuan

 

 

You might check a Shanghai expat forum, since the main problem will be getting it out of China.

[Randy W]

Here's the one I used - Tara Shipping

[Allon]

I'll jump at Randy's request and I am glad to help if I can.

 

I work for one of the major shipping companies so I will say that as a caveat but I don't do sales. I am in IT. And I have worked in both logistics and shipping.

 

I can PM you or you PM me as things roll along.

 

For the benefit of everyone else, let me give you an executive summary of a complicated process, as I am sure you found out.

 

Within China there is a lot of competition for movement of freight, especially now to the US and for a number of reasons. But in your situation, COSTCO might be a good bet for a place to start. Try CMA/CGM or APL as a second, and DHL third. Maybe Tara as Randy did would not hurt. (Maersk is the largest but I frankly do not recommend them and will not tell you why. DHL is the largest logistics company in the world and has the best reputation within the industry, despite the bad press it has gotten recently. I worked for them quite a while. APL has the best brand for shipping. They use their own freight forwarding -- which is logistics -- and are US run. It has won 4 big awards just this year.)

 

You can go out and get "bids" or compare prices, but I can tell you the profit margin right now is so slim that it will only matter if you know of a small company that tries to (notice: tries to) handle end-to-end trips by themselves, but almost 100% of the time has to farm out a great deal of the work. But you get the best attention because they really want the business. You can find them in any Google search. All of the shipping companies worth talking about have sites on the internet.

 

Limit your search to just 3. If you get a good feel when you call any of them, go with it. Just be wary of smaller firms without a "brand." Remember too that most companies that do the shipping won't have those brand names, but they will use the brand names. (Did you know that DHL farms most of its US domestic parcel shipping to the USPS?)

 

That does not mean the bigger companies don't have that personal attention. Those bigger shipping companies are, roughly in order of size: Maersk (German really European), GMA/CGM/APL (French but APL is its US subsidiary), COSTCO (Chinese), and from there they get ridiculously competitive and small to smaller. The overall industry suffers from over capacity now so just look for convenience and reputation. The price can vary but ask why the price is lower than other bids you have. Often you will find they forgot something.

 

You can find these guys on the web. They all have web based customer fulfillment. Be able to describe exactly what you expect of them -- a container in the driveway, customs handling, any delivery surcharges like fuel -- they will have that all in the Bill of Lading -- if they do the service. But make sure you ask. Let them know you are knowledgeable and that you know what you want. And ask for a route map or route they intend to take. (Some can't do that exactly but China to US is really not that challenging. US to Afghanistan is.)

 

Logistics (as opposed to shipping) companies are what you are looking for but some shipping companies do have freight forwarding, which is what you are doing. I would look for either DHL or APL where you are shipping from since they have a better front end for you. APL will handle you better in the US. DHL is better from a global perspective and they have good customer service. Now, some companies will advertise that they use DHL or APL (or Maersk) to move things and that is perfectly fine as long as they deliver that customer service you want at a price you can afford.

 

If you have trouble, as Randy did, I can only make some phone calls and hope they can do something. I can't break any legs or fire people even if I work for any of these companies.

 

I hope I have been reasonably objective.

[Randy W]

China Ocean Shipping Company, known as COSCO or COSCO Group, is a Chinese state-owned shipping and logistics services supplier company. Its headquarters is in Ocean Plaza in the Xicheng District in Beijing. Wikipedia

 

lol

[Allon]

Also, most of the shipping companies if not all, belong to ocean partnerships in order to make up for gaps in service one company cannot provide, that another company can at a lower price usually. Unfortunately, such groups also lead to price fixing and a number of companies were subpoenaed by the US for such price fixing. That case is still in process. In fact, we just finished an audit and everything turned out fine in terms of price and profit margin.

 

There is not a lot of room for these guys to cheat you, especially on a route you are planning, China to US. You would not believe what we have to pay for getting munitions to Afghanistan and Iraq, and other places I probably should not talk about. The padding is to pay local chieftains for the "honor" of having your shipment go through their "property."

 

All this goes to show price is really less important now anyway. You want quality (no scratches or dents, smooth customs declarations (extremely important), and just a smooth route with no demurrage (a ship that stays in the harbor due to a terminal that is understaffed or it is just a choke point for some reason or another and gets charged for not unloading within a time limit). The company may charge you for the wait. Another problem is misrouting for some reason or another. (See Randy.)

 

Because of the origination (China) check out Costco first. They have a pretty good reputation.

[Tom R]

Wow - thank you so much for the "executive summary of this complicated process"! I definitely don't want any legs broken or anyone getting fired so no worries there.

 

I'll be looking into all of this in more detail in a couple/few months when our move date is more zeroed in, but one question comes to mind initially:

 

-Which one of the big companies (COSCO or Costco?, DHL, or APL) do you think would be best at handling everything themselves from door to door? I don't mind if they farm out some stuff internally, but I don't want to have to deal with coordinating work between multiple companies.

 

(I should note that I don't have a driveway here in China - our apartment bldg entrance is right on the street with no parking. I guess we'll have to find a spot nearby, or inside the apartment complex, for the container unit to be dropped for a couple hours/days).

Edited April 4, 2018 by Tom R (see edit history)

[Randy W]

China Ocean Shipping Company, known as COSCO or COSCO Group, is not COSTCO, which is a competitor of Sam's Club in the U.S., but easy to confuse (I had to Google it to make sure I had it right).

 

You have an ADVANTAGE, in that the FIRST leg of your move is the most difficult. If THAT part doesn't work, then it's a no-go from the get-go. Once it's on an ocean-going ship, it shouldn't be any trouble at all to TRACK IT (very important, as I found out), and for your logistics company to arrange for delivery to the destination.

 

Most American companies won't have contacts within China, but CAN pick up your container at the port. Find the port nearest you at https://www.searates.com/maritime/china.htmlor other web site, and see if you can't get your container dropped off for packing, and then delivered to that port. I'm thinking there will be a COSCO branch at that port that will take care of that for you.

 

A "door-to-door mover", ala North American Van Lines, is liable to charge several arms and legs, and be unable to function within China. You need a logistics company that will work with you, which is why I recommend Tara Shipping - Roland (assuming he's still there) will tell you everything you need to know about getting the container to them, AND at as reasonable of a price as you're going to find.

 

Your container will be on the truck trailer (about 5 feet up), with NO ramps.

 

I'm not sure what regulations apply to exports, but I'll mention that there are TWO port authorities which cover ALL Chinese ports - Guangzhou and Shanghai. They have different regulations.

Edited April 4, 2018 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

I'll mention also that it's rare to find people who bring a container's worth of stuff with them. Most either maintain two households - one in each country - or just chuck it all and start over. Either selling, giving it away or whatever. Saving on shipment costs can go a LONG way toward paying for replacement.

 

One thing to consider is whether you can pare it down to a small shipment, to be sent by air freight and declared as "excess baggage".

Edited April 4, 2018 by Randy W (see edit history)