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Well, husband is happily settled on his air mattress on STX - and I am on mine in western Arkansas. And our worldly possessions are somewhere in between tonight. I have discovered some things that I hope will be tidbits of info for folks shipping from the U.S.
First of all, forget your stuff - sell it all, cram what you can in 2 suitcases, grab your dogs, and fly out. Not sure it was worth the effort at this point! Okay, so that doesn't work for you? Here's a few things I found...
If my info is correct, you want to insure your container for total loss, and items of great value for damage. If you do not insure the container for a total loss and someone else loses their stuff, has to be jettisoned, whatever...well, here's the note I received from the insurance company...
"This is a concept called "General Average," dating back well over 3,000 years.
Under General Average, those whose cargo survives a voyage are charged to repay the loss of another shipper whose cargo may have been jettisoned or lost for the protection of the vessel and the load remaining.
Any shipper whose cargo arrives intact when others' was lost may face a General Average charge.
Insuring cargo under the minimum, "Institute Cargo Clauses C" or better will cover General Average claims.
EXAMPLE: You could ship $5000 worth of waste paper yet be faced with a $150,000 General Average claim for cargo lost by others. ICC Clauses C minimum insurance covers this.
If there is a General Average claim, you would be forced to post a Bond or Letter of Credit or Cash for the full $150,000 in the above example for the several years it takes the General Average claim to work its way through the courts unless you had cargo insurance."
Also, if you don't have insurance, you will be paid .50/lbs., or a max of $500 on your load if it is lost. That's all the shipper is required by law to pay. So some type of insurance is apparently a very wise investment in case the absolute worst happens.
The flip side is you basically aren't getting jack if you pack your household goods yourself and they are damaged. We found this out about 2 weeks too late, but the insurance company we were directed to pays at a greatly reduced fee if you did not have a "professional" pack your goods.
The second thing is to check with your auto insurer. Progressive is covering our Jeep in transit until it goes through customs and licensing in STX, then we have to get an on-island policy since they do not write there...however, this saved us the expense of additional insurance to cover the car. The contents of the car are NOT covered - if you've packed anything in there, it's just fair game - it would normally be covered under your homeowner's insurance if the car were stateside. We are getting a very murky reading from State Farm on this one and don't know if the things in the car are covered, but I suppose it is too late to worry about it.
The third and most valuable thing, if you decide to take your stuff, is not to underestimate what a container will hold...I figured we were pushing max with our household stuff and a Jeep Cherokee in a 40 ft. container, and we could have packed another house in there...they ended up partitioning off the container so there wouldn't be a load shift since it wasn't full by any means.
Hope this helps ya'll....Lee Fleming with Managed Freight has been a great help and has put up with my endless questions and babbling without any complaint.
Good luck! I'll see you on STX on Aug. 20th!
Becky R
Posted : July 30, 2005 1:15 am
Great post, I'm printing it off for furture information. Thanks.
Posted : July 30, 2005 3:59 am
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P.S.
Don't forget to make a master shipping manifest - you don't have to list everything to a "T", but you'd better get it mostly right - your insurance depends on it! Every box needs to be numbered and the contents listed - and when they sealed our container, the truck driver had me write the seal number on the manifest and he signed off on it...hope that helps! Keep a copy of your manifest for your records in case anything goes missing or is damaged in transit.
Posted : July 30, 2005 3:05 pm
Had dinner with your husband at OTW tonight. He asked me to tell you he has been behaving. I will not tell you that until the bribe check clears. :). Come soon, He really misses you. See you in a few weeks.
Posted : July 31, 2005 1:37 am
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AGAIN? Good grief, Linda and I need to hurry back - he hasn't been taken ME out to dinner as much...
Posted : July 31, 2005 11:38 am
I had left over tuna cassarole with my dad here in Louisville. I am, however, enjoying the dryness. One thing I don't miss is the humidity on STX this time of year.
Less than 2 weeks and I'll be home.
Posted : July 31, 2005 2:07 pm
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Then we should get there almost the same time! I'll be there on the 20th and look forward to meeting you - I think our men are running amuck while we are gone! Thanks to Ric for looking out for Russell...although it is a bit frustrating to hear about what a wonderful time everyone is having while I sit in an empty house...
Posted : July 31, 2005 2:46 pm
Hi Becky,
How much household goods were you shipping?
You mentioned that the household stuff in your car is not covered by the insurance. It wasn't covered even though the car was inside the container?
We're looking into a 40ft for our two cars & furniture. And it's only furniture from a 2 bdrm condo.
-Keith-
Posted : August 1, 2005 2:00 pm
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We shipped a couch, coffee tables, an armoire, end tables, a queen sized bed, double bed, 86 boxes, nightstands...Keith, we shipped a LOT of stuff. You probably will need a 40 ft. for 2 cars and furniture. There is a guy on island already with Bank of STX who shipped two vehicles and very little furniture - he loaded it all himself. Bear in mind you have to leave 1 1/2 feet all the way around the vehicle so the it can be accessed, and the vehicles are last loaded. Unhook your battery and the cars can't have more than 1/4 tank of gas.
No, the items in the car are NOT covered by auto insurance - normally it would be covered by homeowners, but as I said, State Farm really doesn't know what to do with us. We packed pictures and stained glass in there....if I lose the whole load, I still have the entire load loss insurance, and we accounted for our pictures in that total.
Clear as mud, huh? You can email me privately if you have any other questions!
Becky
rx1rich@cox.net
Posted : August 1, 2005 4:01 pm
Becky - did you ever think you would be adding all this information to your stores of knowledge?
Posted : August 3, 2005 12:26 am
Topic starter
Never info I WANTED to add until recently, LOL! Everyone has been so good about dispensing advice, I hope I can help someone just a little bit along their route - but my mantra remains, "SELL YOUR STUFF!" I know our move has been relatively painless, but my back hurts, my head hurts, and I'm still clearing out crap we've amassed for a half century...sell it, give it away and take a tax write-off, let your relatives cart it off - but just say NO to a big move! We are leaving so much it is unreal, but I can't say I'm truly sad to see it go, which is interesting since it has been of major importance up until this time.
I find it amusing that Russ and I are moving to the island to slow down our pace and simplify our lives, but insisted our lives would not be complete without our belongings...now they just don't look as important. They are pretty, but they aren't really "who" we are. I discover that more and more every day - it's either the island mentality taking hold, or the blood circulation to my brain is gone after sleeping for a week on an air matress with crappy pillows...
18 days and counting - if anyone sees Beloved Spouse (also known as B.S.), give him a kiss for me....well, not you, Ric....
Posted : August 3, 2005 2:01 am
Hey Becky,
Thanks for all the info on shipping.
Yes I already live here and have been here for a couple of months. But I am getting ready to move my stuff from Charleston SC to here.
Before I read your posting, I knew and wanted to buy a container, there are tons of used ones there as it is a port city. Many put them in their back yard for shop or whatever. And they are cheap.
So, my question. Did you have to rent one?
Interesting what you said on the packing of it. Housegoods first. I have a 89 bronco2, pretty small will fit in no problem. But you mentioned having to have so much space on each side,,,,interesting.
Also I have a motorcycle trailer and bike, now you know why I am considering a Conex versus just shipping the vehicles seperately,,,
Who did you you use,,,Crowly or Tropical? or Flemming??
Oh,,,how much was the ship,,,,like 1700 or so??
Thanks
Bill
Posted : September 16, 2005 10:48 am
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HAHAHAHA!!! Okay, sorry for the brief breakdown there...
We had to rent a container...ain't many in central Arkansas. It had to be trucked in, I believe from Oklahoma? We asked for 40', got 45' - could have brought most of everything the neighborhood had in it. I was agitated at first, now glad they overestimated the space, otherwise lord only knows what I would have decided was just way too important to part with. Believe me, now that I'm here, I'm looking around going "now, WHY did I think I needed this?" I'm a huge quilter, but it is REALLY difficult to get inspired when the heat index is 102. But I digress....
Shipping for the 40 ft. with WAY too much household crap and car...around $7500...and add the movers I had to have load it on the Arkansas side of $600....and all the packing tape, bubble wrap, boxes....oh, and insurance....actually, priceless (although AmEx would beg to differ).
We used Lee Fleming, who absolutely was wonderful. I know he could have pinched my head off a few times with all of my questions, but he made it as smooth and painless as possible. He gave us a quote, but it is actually based on weight and we came in under what was projected, so our bill was actually $1K less or so than we thought. Our bill included Lee getting our car cleared through customs, licensed and delivered to us, and I totally recommend that to people just coming on-island. I haven't lived through the dreaded DMV yet, but I am not relishing that experience from what I have heard.
Contact me at ssrr@runbox.com if you need more specifics.
Posted : September 16, 2005 12:16 pm
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We packed our boxes ourselves - after all of the warnings, I figured we would have a good pile of toothpicks when the container got here. We "lost" one picture frame....everything was perfect. Oh, there might have been a little ding on a piece of furniture, but nothing I couldn't have done myself rearranging furniture in Arkansas. Pack well. I have heard of lots of claims that had to be made - happily, all we owned was in the same condition as when it left the states and I have not had to file a single claim for anything. And the packing tape and bubble wrap people will be in business for months to come based on my personal contributions alone!
Posted : September 16, 2005 12:20 pm
