I'm moving the family down to Dunedin from the US within the next few months, and we're being allowed by my new employer a set volume of 28m3. All well and good, but, so far as I am able to determine, this volume does not correspond to any current shipping container standard - the standard interior dimensions for a 20-footer seems to be closer to 31m3. To make matters (somewhat) worse, our goods have been estimated at c. 36m3, which puts us well over the measured interior dimensions of a 20 foot container, but far under a 40-footer. We'll see how much the next two estimates give us, in terms of volume, but there's not a whole lot we'd be willing to part with, at this stage. I'm almost equally unexcited about paying the thousands and thousands of dollars in excess of my company moving allowance (but maybe I'm spoiled to even have an allowance!).
So my options seem to be biting the bullet and paying the excess, or trying to find a way to freight some of the less fragile items - like boxes of clothes and, less likely, books. Does anyone have any experience with trying to reduce their cargo load through other freighting options? Is there a slow-boat method that might be worth exploring? I just saw that the AirNZ extra luggage option is terribly expensive ($200 per item), so that's not going to work too well, with our budget... This is all very new to us, and not the most exciting part of the move we've experienced thus far, but I'm sure things will get better after these details have been worked out!