I Think We Need One More Shipment Of Stuff

Sounds like you need to crate your stuff and ship it to one of the freight forwarders to put in their container.  Easier said than done.  Best if you can can fit it on standard size pallets.  You may be able to get a local moving company to come and crate if for you and truck it to the freight forwarder.  

Put it on a pallet, shrink wrap it - freight forward LTL  -less than load or/ less than truckload

I ship stuff LCL (less than a container load) with Tropical all the time.  Just do as Exit Zero said.  When I make a booking I give them the commercial invoices for the items, the dimensions and number of pallets, and their weights.  I usually arrange inland transport to the port in the states myself, but most companies can help you with that too if you need it.  

Posted by: @jaldeborgh

It’s looking like we will want to make one more shipment to STX.  My question is this, we don’t need a full or even a half container full, is there some other option for say a 1/4 container? 

I would ship it to Paradise Freight in Medley, FL. So much less hassle.

Thanks everyone for your advice.  I'll start looking for a local (Boston) company who can help us package up the goods we want to bring with us.  It will all be things we've owned for years so nothing new or recently acquired.

We have used Blue Ocean in the past, is Paradise better for this type of shipment?

They do make 10 ft containers (but you don't see them that often).  If you can find one locally, you could pack it yourself and get it trucked to one of the shipping companies for the boat trip.

Depending on your timing for sending the 2nd car (and the size of the car), you might also be able to put the car and household items in the same container (nothing in the car but the keys and copy of title). Either of these would depend on whether there would be any value to you to have a lockable storage when it got to the island (and whether it's allowed if you have a HOA).

The car and the household goods in one container is an interesting idea.  Actually that would be perfect.

Plenty of shipping companies on island that can help and or steal you in the right direction. When I moved down we used vi cargo for the household stuff and crowley for the car. 

@jaldeborgh

my husband and I are heading down FT in 3-6 months, and are in similar situation in Boston area.  I’ll be interested to hear what works for you.  For earlier (small) shipments we’ve used Paradise Freight to VICargo. 
peace

@Path2stx We currently live about 30 minutes north of Boston.  I think we've decided to book a 2nd 20ft container, only because it's the simplest option, even though we won't come close to filling it, half at best but it gives us flexibility (to bring more than we'll actually need - purging stuff is hard).  We'll likely do this around Thanksgiving as my wife will be going down around then for the winter and we need to be out of the house we've been renting for the past couple of years by the end of March, plus I retire on March 1st 2021, at which point I'll will make a quick run to Martha's Vineyard, to drop off a few things there, and then race to STX on March 3rd to escape the cold and be done with New England winters forever!

@jaldeborgh. We’re having trouble purging as well, and are reluctant to clutter up our STX place, but I’m sure we’ll have quite a bit to ship down with us.  We haven’t figured out what’s coming yet, but perhaps we could share a container... we’re in Cambridge.  The way things are seeming now, the Late November timeline could work for us too.  

Fill that container with supplies.  If you really want to be ambitious fill it with stuff you can sell for profit on STX.

@Path2stx Sorry I missed your comment on potentially sharing a container, that might work.  We should have a good sense of what we're shipping by late October, once we have that we should compare notes and see if it makes sense.  One issue would be unloading, our home is about 10 minutes east of Christiansted.

I used vi cargo. You box your stuff up with detailed list taped to box. Numbered. You take or ship your boxes and furniture to them. They shrink wrap it and ship it down. It’s really pretty easy. Time consuming on your end to have to number and label and list each box. But well worth it. 

Posted by: @speee1dy

You box your stuff up with detailed list taped to box. Numbered. You take or ship your boxes and furniture to them. They shrink wrap it and ship it down. It’s really pretty easy. Time consuming on your end to have to number and label and list each box. But well worth it. 

In some ways we're not that organized and our situation may be a bit unusual.  We have been living in a rented house for the past 2 years, having sold our nearby permanent residence of 17 years, in anticipation of my retirement.  At the same time we own 2 (retirement) homes, one on Martha's Vineyard and one on STX.  The rented home is filled with 30+ years of accumulated possessions so my pending retirement is forcing us to purge, from all locations.  We have spent the last few months trying to decide what we can use in both retirement locations, what we can give to our 3 children, relatives and/or friends and finely what will be sold or donated.  The result of this process is that our list of what shipping to STX is dynamic and keeps growing under the rationalization that what we have here is better than something that we currently have in both locations.  We're still pushing for a final shipment(s) just about Thanksgiving time as my wife (and hopefully me) will be able to spend the full winter on STX this year.  I'm trying to arrange to work remotely from STX between late November and my retirement on March 1st next year.  All of this is made even more complicated by the fact that we need to finish up a significant remodel of our Martha's Vineyard home, having done nothing to the house since we built it 25 years ago, COVID-19 has delayed the project by 6 months and we're now hoping it will be livable by late October.  In any case the lease on our rented house ends in March 2021 so there is a hard stop to the chaos.

Just an update.  Plans are coming together!  We’re just about confirmed in our arrangements to have both a half-container loaded and separately our Jeep picked-up on November 17th.  My wife and I will then fly down on December 2nd and stay until sometime in May.  We do want to spend Thanksgiving with family on Martha’s Vineyard before heading south.  I’ve worked things out with my employer allowing me to work remotely from STX until my retirement date, I guess this is the single silver lining to COVID-19, as typically my job has required I travel 50% of the time, internationally.  Our half-container will also be more crowded than originally planned, while we’ve done a reasonable job at pre-move purging we’ve also decided on some additional decorating and minor remodeling so we’ve bought a number of things that will make the trip with our regular belongings.  Might as well used the empty space in the container!

Hard to believe we’re nearing the end of what’s been an ambitious 2 year transition plan into retirement that’s included buying the property on STX, a major renovation to our home on Martha’s Vineyard, living in a rental house for two years, two significant moves along with the purging that goes with downsizing to a smaller home, not to mention a wedding for our oldest daughter last August.  For the most part the plan has stayed on track but it’s been a lot of hard work, made more challenging by COVID-19.  The good news is we can now clearly see the finish line and it’s all good.  We’re both excited, a little tired, but truly grateful to everyone for the help we’ve received throughout the process.  Very much looking forward to some downtime with friends and family as things finely start to settle down once we get to STX.

Stay safe and healthy in these uncertain times.

Thanks for the update!  I hope you follow up with how the move went.  And hope it all goes as smooth as possible.  

Posted by: @jaldeborgh

Posted by: @speee1dy

You box your stuff up with detailed list taped to box. Numbered. You take or ship your boxes and furniture to them. They shrink wrap it and ship it down. It’s really pretty easy. Time consuming on your end to have to number and label and list each box. But well worth it. 

In some ways we're not that organized and our situation may be a bit unusual.  We have been living in a rented house for the past 2 years, having sold our nearby permanent residence of 17 years, in anticipation of my retirement.  At the same time we own 2 (retirement) homes, one on Martha's Vineyard and one on STX.  The rented home is filled with 30+ years of accumulated possessions so my pending retirement is forcing us to purge, from all locations.  We have spent the last few months trying to decide what we can use in both retirement locations, what we can give to our 3 children, relatives and/or friends and finely what will be sold or donated.  The result of this process is that our list of what shipping to STX is dynamic and keeps growing under the rationalization that what we have here is better than something that we currently have in both locations.  We're still pushing for a final shipment(s) just about Thanksgiving time as my wife (and hopefully me) will be able to spend the full winter on STX this year.  I'm trying to arrange to work remotely from STX between late November and my retirement on March 1st next year.  All of this is made even more complicated by the fact that we need to finish up a significant remodel of our Martha's Vineyard home, having done nothing to the house since we built it 25 years ago, COVID-19 has delayed the project by 6 months and we're now hoping it will be livable by late October.  In any case the lease on our rented house ends in March 2021 so there is a hard stop to the chaos.

lol, much more complicated that my move. 

Posted by: @speee1dy

lol, much more complicated that my move. 

Hehehe, I know, I must come across as a little bit OCD but I've had it in my head that I wanted all the big (expensive) projects done and out of the way before I stopped working.  I think the idea took on a life of it own as the projects at both homes kept expanding.  It's not a bad thing, just a little more tiring that we were expecting.  My regular work has also been crazy busy, in a good way, adding to the chaos, but I've always worked best when under pressure.  But, as I said in an earlier post, we can see the finish-line so I'm guessing, in the not too distant future, we'll be glad we got all the big stuff out of the way.

It’s been roughly a year since I made this original post and almost 6 months since we came south in early December.  First off, it’s been the best winter I can remember in many years, we’ve accomplished virtually everything we set out to do, but more important, we’ve met so many great people and made some real friends.  While we’re still learning (and I assume that never stops) we have come a good way up the curve on the basics.  We’ve scouted out a good portion the restaurant scene, done much of the tourist stuff and now have a really good group of service providers that help us maintain our property.  While we expect next winter to be filled with non-stop visitors we got off to a stronger start than anticipated with the pandemic.  We were able to get vaccinated in January, something we greatly appreciate, and have enjoyed visits from our three daughters and a few other long time friends, one of which ended up buying a home about 10 minutes from us.  We’re also in the process of buying the lot next door, giving us room to build a garage as well as protecting our privacy.

Bottomline, St. Croix has exceeded our expectations and we’re more committed than ever to putting down roots and becoming part of the community.  As we’re seasonal residents it’s time to go north for the summer, I have to admit I’m more than a little depressed to be leaving, but being recently retired I’ve got a lot of unfinished projects that need my attention.  I will be coming down a couple of times to check up on the garage construction even though I have confidence in the builder.  We’ll be back around Thanksgiving time. 

@jaldeborgh

Wow...that's great to hear! I'm glad you've settled in so nicely.