container shipping times

[mattandjax]

we've had 3 quotes and not much between them, except the length of time for the container to arrive at our new destination.

I'm just wondering how long people have found their wait to be, in comparison to the company's claim. are they just vague estimations? or is it a good basis to choose which container company to hire.

we have quotes from Pickfords, John Mason and PSS.
PSS come middle for price, but say they will have our contents in our new home in 6-7 weeks. (the other 2 say around 8-10 weeks)

Jax

[alldone]

We used Pickfords who were the cheapest of our 3 quotes (anglo-pacific and crown) by quite a bit. All quoted about 9 weeks (Glagsow to Nelson) and Pickfords took almost exactly 9 weeks to delivery.

[Peter&Liz]

We also used Pickfords they quoted 10 weeks door to door but came in 2 weeks late. But other than that they did a really good job both sides.

Peter

[veronica]

we ship a container every year privately and the actual journey seems to average 5 - 6 weeks. (quickest was 4 weeks slowest was 7 1/2) what happens with removal companies and the time they need for processing at each end is an unknown for us as we packed and shipped our own stuff. we used crayford freight in essex near tilbury and have carried on using them since the initial move.

[IanW99]

Another couple of points, if shipping is part of groupage then this can have a big impact on timings as you have to wait until the container is full which can add weeks to the quoted times.

And whilst the company may quote 8-10 weeks or whatever, please be aware that this is only a guide there have been others on the forum where it has taken significantly longer (even with sole use containers) and I personally know of one container taking 6 months .

Ian

[petri]

If you know the exact shipping company, you could check if their web page has a tool to check the schedules.

For example if I know that my container is going with Maersk, I can go to http://www.maerskline.com/ and enter From: Helsinki To: Auckland. (Or the vessel name or the container number)

If I ship a container from Helsinki to Auckland today, it will depart on 14th April and arrive to Auckland on 7th June -- 54 days. It shows the locations, the dates, the boat names, voyage numbers, lloyd's numbers, and when the ships were built.

The shipping companies know pretty well where exactly and how the containers are going. You just need the tracking details and to find a service where you can check the status.

[Rob&Don]

we've had 3 quotes and not much between them, except the length of time for the container to arrive at our new destination.

I'm just wondering how long people have found their wait to be, in comparison to the company's claim. are they just vague estimations? or is it a good basis to choose which container company to hire.

we have quotes from Pickfords, John Mason and PSS.
PSS come middle for price, but say they will have our contents in our new home in 6-7 weeks. (the other 2 say around 8-10 weeks)

Jax

Hi MattandJax,
We used John Mason and our container took around 11 weeks door to door. Most container ships do not sail directly to NZ so this and weather conditions can affect time taken to arrive. 8-12 weeks is about average.
Also, on a side note John Mason matched the insurance quote we had from Letton Percival, so we insured with JM in the end. HTH

[Mgee]

We were baffled with the price and time differences in the quotes we got, and had a chat with a family friend who's a retired sea captain. He said that both the price and the transit time depend mostly on who has the best partners and routing deals to a certain part of the world, and that those companies that ship often to that part of the world usually have the fastest connections. If a company doesn't normally ship stuff to Oz or NZ, their deals aren't likely to be the best, and this will normally mean more stops and changes of vessel along the way. If I remember correctly, the fastest routing is from Rotterdam to Singapore and then directly to NZ. The bigger cargo ships are usually faster than smaller ones because they make fewers stops along the way 'cause they cant use the smaller ports due to their size.

[Selwynn]

As someone with no experience in international shipping, can anyone give me a ballpark estimate on the cost of shipping for the contents of one small room?

(ex: I am single, with no dependents, have only a roomful of possessions - desk, 1 bookself, one twin bed, lots of books)

[girlwithanewf]

On the length of time a container takes, our container got packed on 15th January, it arrived in Wellington from Scotland on 3rd April (oh, the excitement of seeing it go past our house along the coast) and everything was delivered to our house on 9th April. Still waiting for the car but should be getting that on Thursday.