Shipping questions (from ATLANTA to Bangalore)

[r2ipad]

Hello All,

I am preparing for my R2I and would like to get some help/suggestions from R2i friends regarding the cost and the items shipped. I think I need a Full container. The following are the items, I would like to move.

1) 1 Leather Sofa (3 seater)
2) 1 Leather/fabric Sofa (3 seater)
3) 1 Leather chair and ottoman
4) 5 Sofa Chairs
5) Dining Table with Six Chairs (will be discarding and buying new in USA)
6) 1 Piano keyboard (not professional size)
7) 2 Flat screen TV - around 55 Inch (Yet to be bought)
8) 1 King bed (foot board, headboard), Matress (high quality heavy matress)
9) 1 Queen bed (foot board, headboard), Matress (high quality heavy matress)
10) 2 night stand matching King Bed
11) 1 dresser table matching king bed
12) 5 Large Wall paintings
13) 2 End Tables from Family rooms

14) In addition, boxes that I have to pack after discarding stuff - not yet determined the number of boxes.


Question

1) how does shipping of furniture and large mattress work. - as they were of different sizes from regular boxes
2) How does TV shipping work - will be selling my old LCD TV and buy a brand new Flat Screen before R2I.
3) What is the ideal boxes i can buy for packing - have lots of heavy hardcover books + clothes + toys + speaker + sterio systems
4) How to pack the boxes - bubble sheet etc
5) Does this fit in full container and what size of full container is needed?
6) cost of container

I asked a lot of questions and hope i can get answers from r2i Gurus and friends.

I appreciate your help.

Thanks
r2iPad

[direstraits]

R2IPad,

Typically, folks get a FCL (Full Container Load) of size 20' or 40'. The 20' is about 1050 Cu.Ft volume and the 40' is close to double that. Typically a 3BR House furniture and personal belongings fits in a 20' Dry container.

There is also the LCL option, where you can ship much lesser volume. This usally means your stuff is palletized and share a container.

Based on what you want to take, a 20' container is definitely needed, especially since you have a significant amount of furniture.

Once you decide what you want to use, then you can call the set of shipping companies (listed on this forum) and get quotes for door-to-door delivery. This services means they will send their professional guys to load your stuff into the container and again at the end in India, they will deliver it into your home. You can additionally request for these movers also to pack/unpack everything or your furniture at the least. This will cost you additionally.

Typically for a 20' container, with the above furniture, you can additionally fit in 50-60 boxes that are medium and large sized. When we moved, I just brought the boxes from Home Depot (Cheapest price and also made of re-used paper) and boxes that my company IT dept discarded after purchase of computers and monitors (hard and sturdy). For wrapping your beds, you can use the original packing (we kept them) or buy them in U-HAUL for 3-4 dollars each.

For the boxes, we packed most of our stuff wrapped in towels and comforters, bed sheets or put a sheaf of clothes on the top and bottom. We only used Bubble wraps for items that really needed them.

The cost of container from US to India (currently) is ~ 4500 to 5000 (Depending on how close you are to the ports). You have to additionally pay for the Movers/Packers in the US and in India. Plus there is some additonal cost for Insurance. For my move (on April 29th 2011), our cost was ~7000 since we used the movers to also pack our furnitures (They disassemble them to reduce the volume space).

All the Shipping companies are pretty good in providing you accurate estimates and some them also send their local packing agent to your home to judge if your stuff can fit in a 20' containers. Also these professionals are used to filling containers, so they know exactly how to pack the container.

Hope this was helpful.

[r2ipad]

Thanks a lot. I will try to get the local folks and estimate whether it fits in 20Ft container - That's a good idea to avoid suprise at the end

r2ipad

R2IPad,

Typically, folks get a FCL (Full Container Load) of size 20' or 40'. The 20' is about 1050 Cu.Ft volume and the 40' is close to double that. Typically a 3BR House furniture and personal belongings fits in a 20' Dry container.

There is also the LCL option, where you can ship much lesser volume. This usally means your stuff is palletized and share a container.

Based on what you want to take, a 20' container is definitely needed, especially since you have a significant amount of furniture.

Once you decide what you want to use, then you can call the set of shipping companies (listed on this forum) and get quotes for door-to-door delivery. This services means they will send their professional guys to load your stuff into the container and again at the end in India, they will deliver it into your home. You can additionally request for these movers also to pack/unpack everything or your furniture at the least. This will cost you additionally.

Typically for a 20' container, with the above furniture, you can additionally fit in 50-60 boxes that are medium and large sized. When we moved, I just brought the boxes from Home Depot (Cheapest price and also made of re-used paper) and boxes that my company IT dept discarded after purchase of computers and monitors (hard and sturdy). For wrapping your beds, you can use the original packing (we kept them) or buy them in U-HAUL for 3-4 dollars each.

For the boxes, we packed most of our stuff wrapped in towels and comforters, bed sheets or put a sheaf of clothes on the top and bottom. We only used Bubble wraps for items that really needed them.

The cost of container from US to India (currently) is ~ 4500 to 5000 (Depending on how close you are to the ports). You have to additionally pay for the Movers/Packers in the US and in India. Plus there is some additonal cost for Insurance. For my move (on April 29th 2011), our cost was ~7000 since we used the movers to also pack our furnitures (They disassemble them to reduce the volume space).

All the Shipping companies are pretty good in providing you accurate estimates and some them also send their local packing agent to your home to judge if your stuff can fit in a 20' containers. Also these professionals are used to filling containers, so they know exactly how to pack the container.

Hope this was helpful.