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Good Afternoon. What is the best company to use to move your things (household items, cars, etc) from the Midwest (WI) to St. John? I know that this website offers several options to look into, but I am looking for some personal experience feedback. It is greatly appreciated! Thank you!
Posted : January 29, 2014 9:37 pm
we used vi cargo, lived in florida at the time so was easy
Posted : January 30, 2014 9:14 pm
Vi Cargo does not service STT/STJ.
We are your neighbor in Chicago! We are in the process of building a home on STJ and moving, so here is some info for you. I've got more if you need it! ha!
Most people use Tropical or Crowley to ship to St John. There are also a few others I believe. Any and all shipments first enter the USVI in St. Thomas. There, you will have clear customs before it can make it's way over to STJ. The benefit of Tropical is that they have a storage yard on STJ, so if you are not ready for your shipment or container right away it has a place to sit (I think for 30 days until they start charging you demurrage).
How much stuff will you be shipping? Enough for a container or less than container load? Only use a 20 foot container if shipping a whole container. 40' ones do not make it around our steep and sharp cornered roads. You'll spend more money unloading the 40' container in the shipping yard and moving the contents on a smaller truck then you would just paying for 2 20' containers.
In WI, you have 2 options - have the company send the containers up to you (expensive) or you U-haul them down to Florida. You can also ship directly to the Company for them to load onto the container (you have 30 days to fill the container before it ships). This works well for small household stuff you can box and for on-line orders just to deliver straight to them with free shipping.
Also, for any new items make sure you have receipts! You will need to provide copies of your receipts for customs where non-US made items are levied at 6%. There is no duty on used household goods. I find it helpful to also give the Customs officer a spreadsheet of everything in the container, if it's new or used, and if new the origin and cost.
Posted : January 31, 2014 2:51 pm
If you are looking for an end to end solution take a look at Econocaribe.
They truck your goods from one of their depots to Florida. Tropical shipping then handles the ocean freight. The advantage is you deal with just one company and one bill of lading.
I used them in 2006 to move a large shipment of household goods from Chicago to STX. They have freight depots in other locations so you will need to check online to see if they have a depot closer to your WI location than the Western suburbs of Chicago.
Posted : January 31, 2014 4:15 pm
When I saw the title of your post - I couldn't figure out WHY you wanted to ship items from Water Island to St. John. LOL!
Posted : January 31, 2014 4:24 pm
If you are looking for an end to end solution take a look at Econocaribe.
They truck your goods from one of their depots to Florida. Tropical shipping then handles the ocean freight. The advantage is you deal with just one company and one bill of lading.
I used them in 2006 to move a large shipment of household goods from Chicago to STX. They have freight depots in other locations so you will need to check online to see if they have a depot closer to your WI location than the Western suburbs of Chicago.
Jim, I'll have to take a look at Econocaribe. How were they with pricing when you used them? I see on their website they now use Crowley for their ocean freight out of Port Everglades, FL.
Posted : February 1, 2014 8:05 pm
When I saw the title of your post - I couldn't figure out WHY you wanted to ship items from Water Island to St. John. LOL!
I was thinking the same thing. I thought moving from Water Island to St. John. ..lol
Posted : February 1, 2014 10:05 pm
We used Meme St. John with International Logistics out of St. Thomas for our move to STX. This company will allow you to ship items in your car or truck. We brought everything we needed in the bed of truck that had one of those accordion covers on it. We've lived here before and knew not to bring furniture as the vast majority of housing are with furniture already.
Remember most companies will tell you that customs will not allow you to pack vehicles, but, that is wrong and those "other" companies just don't want to deal with customs. I highly recommend International Logistics and they have a link on this site!
Posted : February 2, 2014 12:23 pm
Hello,
You can contact us for quote / service information.
www.shipblueocean.com
Thank you
Blue Ocean Transport
1-888-428-2735
Posted : February 3, 2014 9:49 am
Topic starter
Thank you all for the amazing and very helpful information. We greatly appreciate it, and now I feel like I have somewhere to start. 🙂
Posted : February 4, 2014 7:09 pm
