Close to a decision

Ok, so here is the latest in the "moving our crap" saga. Actually, it isn't nearly as dramatic nor as exciting as a saga - it's more of a, hmmm..., an anecdote, I guess. By the way, I am developing a fascination with the whole shipping business. It all sounds so romantic, even the job titles: custom house broker, consolidator, freight forwarder (ok, maybe not that one so much). They draw up bills of lading and put your belongings in liftvans. And before that they hopefully palletize and lash your goods. There are weekly sailings and it is all managed by the Federal Maritime Commission. Seriously, the lingo is great. This leads me circuitously to the point - I am nearly settled on a company that I (possibly naively) trust with our crap.

There are basically two (three if you count UPS) ways to move a substantial quantity of stuff across the ocean. You can either go with a traditional shipping company such as Mayflower, United, or (literally) hundreds of other similar movers. The quotes from the legitimate companies have ranged anywhere from $2200 up to about $5000 for 1200 lbs. In general, this has been a port-to-door arrangement where we drop off said stuff in either Chicago or an east coast port city and they do their level-best to get it to our apartment in Hamburg in the neighborhood of 2 months. If we live on a funky street or up more than two flights of stairs, the rate increases.

Option 2: Using a primarily commercial shipping company, I can sort of piece-meal the whole thing together. This means I have to contract with a local company to put our stuff into a big wooden crate (liftvan) and secure it (lash it). The local movers take the stuff to a Chicago warehouse where a freight forwarder draws up the export paperwork, takes the stuff to the dock, and puts it on a big-ass boat in one of those sea-land containers where it waits until it is time for the boat to set sail (about once every 10 days). Before it arrives in Hamburg, we have to arrange for a custom house broker who, for a fee, navigates the import process and clears our goods through customs. Then, we arrange for a local mover to bring our stuff from the warehouse by the port to our apartment. Again, stairs and cobble-stones cost extra. This is all for about $1400-1600.

I am leaning toward the a la carte choice for a couple of reasons. First, they seem a lot less shady. I don't know if because we are small peanuts to them, or what. But they just haven't been as full of promises and bravado as the people who primarily move household goods. Also, the weight isn't such an issue. They ship by the cubic meter (which is a crapload of space) and we get up to a ton (ha! a ton of crap) for the same price. There are two prospects on the horizon going this route: Ted L. Rausch and MHX. If I chicken out or if things just get entirely too complicated, I have what appears to be a reliable back-up on the household mover side.

Oh, one other funny thing. We have a huge collection of these really sturdy Gateway boxes from our last move. I figure they came across the ocean once with computers in them, they'll probably do the job one more time. Anyway, I can't wait to see the customs folks in Germany when they see a crate with 30 Gateway boxes that has paperwork claiming no commercial value. Think we'll get searched?