Shipping confusion

Posted by: @scout77

I don't know anyone who has used them though. Anyone here who has?

I’m using them now for the second time, although to STX.  They’ve been fine, responsive and mostly on schedule.  We did arrange for additional help for the loading and unloading, which wasn’t difficult.  A 20 foot container from the Boston area to STX runs about $7.2K, including insurance.  The loading and unloading are extra.

I have Blue Ocean a try for a vehicle recently and could r even get them to respond to me. Sent messages to them through Facebook, their website, and email.  Nothing.

A quick google search of the Nashvilla area turned up several places that would be able to put your items on pallets.   Once you know how many pallets you have and their sizes you can see if a whole container or a less than container  load is the way to go.  I almost always use Tropical Shipping.  And for clearing once it arrives I used Boynes Trucking.  

Honestly it is best for you to have them bring the container.  I used a moving company and when they offloaded it, they made them palletize everything so what should have fit in a 20' container then was put into a 40' container.  I bought and had a 20' waiting for me in Miami to be loaded.  If I would have loaded it, I could have had them cube out the container and maybe had a pallet or 2 left over, was a costly learning mistake. The shipping company never told me they were going to palletize it all.  As for blue ocean, they didn't respond to me either recently about a car I want to ship down, got with Tropical, great price, will be using them when I'm ready.

We’re expecting our Blue Ocean 20 foot (rented) container at 9:00am today (Tues), spent all day Monday with packers getting everything 100% ready so we’re good to go on the last stage of our move. As long as they show up reasonably on-time (as the packers are scheduled to load the container) I’ll give Blue Ocean a good recommendation.

My wife and I have spent countless hours over the last 2 months organizing, purging and packing, to get ready for today, fingers crossed.  We’re excited, while nervously hoping that today goes off as planned.  Ours is kind of a double move as we’re moving out of a temporary residence (of 2 years) into two homes we own (it’s complicated), so roughly half our belongings go in one direction and the other half in a different direction; not counting all the things we’ve sold, given away or trashed.

Yeah.  No responses after multiple inquiries from Blue Ocean.  We used them to ship down a vehicle a couple years ago, but they seem to be dropping the ball of late.  

I have had some really strange unorganized communication with Blue Ocean as well :-/ Thanks for all the advice, going to keep researching!

I contacted Blue Ocean in January for a quote to ship my vehicle and they were very responsive.  I had them pick it up stateside and ship it down in May/June with no problems with the shipping or contacting them when needed.  Everything went on schedule per plan.

I was going to try Ocean Blue because of the good recommendations here.  So I was disappointed to not get a response from them on any platform I tried.  I usually have multiple shipments weekly with Tropical.  I Jane been having some trouble with them changing my booking numbers on me recently but it usually doesn’t slow anything down or cause too much confusion.  There are so many things that can throw a wrench in the logistics game.  Poor communication is just not something I am willing to deal with.  

Update, our container from Blue Ocean showed up 30 minutes early on Tuesday so I’m pleased. Not sure why others haven’t gotten good responsiveness.  I’ve been a little OCD in our move planning so maybe I’ve over communicated with the team at Blue Ocean.  The gentleman I’ve been dealing with most a Blue Ocean (John Estelles) has been very good.  He just happened to pick up my original case/shipment, roughly a year ago, and has been professional and responsive on both moves and two separate vehicle shipments.

Most of my communications have been through email but there have been several phone calls as well.  These are also the first and only times I’ve ever used this type of shipping service so I’m a complete novice.

@jaldeborgh Great to know, thank you! 

Posted by: @jaldeborgh

Update, our container from Blue Ocean showed up 30 minutes early on Tuesday so I’m pleased. Not sure why others haven’t gotten good responsiveness.  I’ve been a little OCD in our move planning so maybe I’ve over communicated with the team at Blue Ocean.  The gentleman I’ve been dealing with most a Blue Ocean (John Estelles) has been very good.  He just happened to pick up my original case/shipment, roughly a year ago, and has been professional and responsive on both moves and two separate vehicle shipments.

Most of my communications have been through email but there have been several phone calls as well.  These are also the first and only times I’ve ever used this type of shipping service so I’m a complete novice.

I had worked mainly with John as well, phone and email.

I should add that I never called Blue Ocean.  I sent messages in three different formats.   Because of my job, i have to do everything in writing to loop in all the other people who assist me.  So I have to have someone who can communicate with me in that format.  Blue Ocean did not respond to any of my multiple messages.  

With Blue Ocean, the woman who called me said that you pay the entire fee when your container arrives in STT and nothing up front. Could this possibly be true?

Probably be true. I did not pay anything for my vehicle shipment until picking it up on STX, including the land transport they arranged for in the states.  When shipping smaller items via the freight forwarders they only charge when you pick up the item in the VI. 

The ocean freight companies don't even have a bill for you to pay until The vessel sets sail.  They don’t produce the bill of ladings until after the ship has left.  You will not be able to pick up your shipment until the bill is paid.  But that usually happens at the time of pick up with a check or credit card.  Tropical has an online payment portal but you can also email them a credit card authorization form or pay over the phone.  

All my payments to Blue Ocean were wire transfers, both the containers and auto’s.  They will accept a credit card for Vehicles, not sure why, but not for the containers.  I opted for a wire transfer on the car as I save the credit card surcharge, roughly $120.

Have had 40 foot containers sent on two occasions (2018 and 2019) from Atlanta sent about 6 months apart via Blue Ocean to STT and separately had a vehicle picked up at a car dealer in Utah, shipped to FL and shipped to STT all handled by Blue Ocean in Dec. 2019.  All three experiences have gone very smoothly and no issues with communication via both phone and email.  I also mainly dealt with John Estelles at Blue Ocean.

All three times have used Daniel at Beep Business to handle customs clearance and arrange delivery and unpacking in STT.  For my vehicle, also used Beep Business to clear customs, get the car titled, registered and inspected.  Car was delivered by Beep to the STT airport and I picked it up and drove it to my home upon arrival to STT. 

Payment to Blue Ocean was handled in advance via wire transfer except for Beep Business which was handled separately post customs clearance and delivery and paid via credit card.

The entire process was pretty painless and just had a local hourly moving company load the containers in Atlanta.  All pretty simple. 

Also, I did not ever purchase the marine insurance for any of the shipments.  The containers are locked with your own padlocks, so perhaps I was lucky, but had zero issues and once you read all the fine print on the marine insurance it didn't seem worth it. 

I highly recommend Daniel and his Beep Services for any STT issues - top notch professionals.