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You are here: Home Moving to Repatriation Physically Moving: Overseas shipping

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20/10/2010Physically Moving: Overseas shipping

Physically Moving: Overseas shipping When physically moving home, there are three options: leave with nothing, leave with something, or leave with everything. Overseas shipping can be tricky and time consuming. Here's some advice on how to handle it.

Pay a visit
Expatica's Repatriation month touches on the unfortunate and unexpected feeling of reverse culture shock when families return home. Favourite shops are no longer around, friends have integrated into unfamiliar crowds -- coming home bubbles up some overwhelming emotions.

Richard Willeter from Crown Relocations advises those planning to repatriate to plan a few trips back home before the big move; it helps absorb the reverse culture shock many repatriates experience.

"Re-familiarising yourself with 'home' is an essential part of reintegration and will help with the post assignment blues," says Willeter. One of the toughest hurdles to leap over is realising life back home will probably not be like it was before.

"The world has not stopped while you have been away, and it has not been waiting for your return," says Willeter. "This is something returning expats have difficulty adjusting to." 


Sell it or "sea" it
An overseas move will always be expensive. And the only way to shave down cost is to eliminate all of that "stuff". Kathleen Peddicord, author and overseas expert, writes in her article 17 Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me Before Moving Day:

"You are probably best off not relocating your household goods and furniture with you. I'd recommend you sell everything or give it all away before the move. I couldn't bring myself to do this, and now I regret all the hassle and expense related to moving a large house full of furniture from one continent to another."

Willeter says relocation companies, "...are certainly seeing an increase in shorter term assignments over longer term." All the more reason to pack light.

However, repatriating has a tendency to carry more exotic "baggage" that's accumulated during a stay overseas, and ordinary items now hold sentimental value for the average repat. When push comes to shove, these one-of-a-kind furnishings are more difficult to let go.

If this is the case, shipping overseas is the usual choice, and contacting a relocation company is a must. Willeter admits that in the end, repatriates will not experience much of a difference with relocation companies than when they expatriated, except for employees saying, "Welcome back." 

Luckily for expats going through the same process as before, organising a moving procedure should be more familiar. Willeter adds that ease comes with experience. 

"Knowing that a client is a 'seasoned expat' does not necessarily help with their ability to acclimatise to a new destination, but they will hopefully be more prepared for the dynamics of the move itself," he adds.   

Expatica's top five tips
Regardless of experience, moving overseas is a big, daunting procedure. Overconfidence is as dangerous as inexperience. In fact, expats coming home are often faced with more bureaucratic work that originally expected. Do you know the laws your home country has for moving goods back in? 

"I have heard many French clients being surprised by the level of 'red tape' that even they are faced with when they come home," says Willeter. 

To help trigger a plan for your move home, here are Expatica's five most important things to remember:

1. Hire a relocation company, or prepare for a full time job.
"If you want to do this on your own, get ready to spend several weeks calling companies for quotes and filling out paperwork for customs, port documents, insurance and more," says one Expatia editor who moved her household belongings overseas via sea container.

"You don't realise how many pieces of paper you generate; you generate an entire stack of paper to do this. But if you have a relocation company, they do all of that for you."

2. You definitely need insurance
On the rare event that a storm hits the cargo carrier and your container falls into the ocean, "They [the cargo ship crew] have to shoot holes in it so the container sinks to the bottom," says the Expatica editor.

Again, this is highly unlikely, but it has happened before. Insurance usually covers the entire loss of a container as part of the arrangement.


3. Keep your cargo separate
"Confusion is not the biggest issue, it's confiscation. If the police find something illegal they will take everything in the container, so all of your special antiques and everything are gone," says the Expatica editor.

It's strongly encouraged to try and fill or rent an entire container when repatriating back home.

4. Remember the middle man
Be certain that furnishings like exotic lamps, hi-tech electronics and one-of-a-kind furniture have the necessary connections to operate outside the country where purchased. From plug adapters to specific bed linens, make sure your ideal setup can be achieved just like it was in your host country.

5. Don't forget to lock up (and unlock)
Willeter says the best advice he's given for anyone moving overseas with shipments en route is simple -- don't pack your house keys in the sea shipment!

A. Sykes / Editor / Expatica

Photos by: dav, photohome_uk, jdnx 


3 reactions to this article

Mike Marcus posted: 2010-12-19 17:06:43

"vide grenier" - French for yard sale is an important phrase you didn't learn in high school French. Unfortunately they are not as much a French institution as yard sales in the US. Hence expats may be your best buyers. FUSAC is a good place for classified ads (for Paris at least) as well as local Craigslist.

Finding a mover is a challenge as French movers are macho guys who are great at manhandling a piano up and down the narrow stairs of 100 year old buildings, but not so interested in careful packing.

In particular, our experience with Grospiron, a large French mover, resulted in serious doubts about the integrity of the company's management as their quoted price included the crating of 3 items and they insisted they had crated them, yet upon arrival of the container in the US, only one was crated!

Depending on the state you live in in the US, you may be able to bring unlimited amounts of wine and spirits with you and only have to pay a nominal tax, in our case less than $1/bottle including all agent commissions. However, if moving during the summer, there are no guarantees of the temperature they will be subjected to.

mignon posted: 2011-07-20 02:12:49

Does anyone have experience with moving from the US to the Netherlands? We are thinking about selling most of our stuff, but shipping over one pallet of goods we don't want to sell. Can anyone recommend an overseas shipping agency?

AmericanInGroningen posted: 2011-09-18 22:30:25

I moved everything including my car from Oakland to Rotterdam. I used Crown Relocations. The lady at the American was super nice and helpful. The guy at the Dutch end was a jackass. But now I know this type service is normal for the Netherlands. He was nevertheless competent and everything arrive in good condition and on time. The cost is about 5000 euros per container which fits your car and a lot of personal items. Hope this helps.

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3 reactions to this article

Mike Marcus posted: 2010-12-19 17:06:43

"vide grenier" - French for yard sale is an important phrase you didn't learn in high school French. Unfortunately they are not as much a French institution as yard sales in the US. Hence expats may be your best buyers. FUSAC is a good place for classified ads (for Paris at least) as well as local Craigslist.

Finding a mover is a challenge as French movers are macho guys who are great at manhandling a piano up and down the narrow stairs of 100 year old buildings, but not so interested in careful packing.

In particular, our experience with Grospiron, a large French mover, resulted in serious doubts about the integrity of the company's management as their quoted price included the crating of 3 items and they insisted they had crated them, yet upon arrival of the container in the US, only one was crated!

Depending on the state you live in in the US, you may be able to bring unlimited amounts of wine and spirits with you and only have to pay a nominal tax, in our case less than $1/bottle including all agent commissions. However, if moving during the summer, there are no guarantees of the temperature they will be subjected to.

mignon posted: 2011-07-20 02:12:49

Does anyone have experience with moving from the US to the Netherlands? We are thinking about selling most of our stuff, but shipping over one pallet of goods we don't want to sell. Can anyone recommend an overseas shipping agency?

AmericanInGroningen posted: 2011-09-18 22:30:25

I moved everything including my car from Oakland to Rotterdam. I used Crown Relocations. The lady at the American was super nice and helpful. The guy at the Dutch end was a jackass. But now I know this type service is normal for the Netherlands. He was nevertheless competent and everything arrive in good condition and on time. The cost is about 5000 euros per container which fits your car and a lot of personal items. Hope this helps.

Add a comment

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