The Low-down on Shipping

I know it has been a while since I last updated the blog. It has been a really great week so far. Before I jump into the main subject for this post, let me quickly update you on what has happened this week.

I managed to find a second group of football players who play at the park opposite our apartment. I had gone down to practice juggling the ball when they saw me and very kindly asked me to join them. They were a group of Nepalese and Filipinos. After the session, they got my contact and now I have played football with them twice!

On Thursday, Sangeetha and I met up with Pearlyn, Sidney and a few other Singaporeans living in Darwin. We had Thai food by Stokes Hill Wharf and it was a really good time with everyone. Jules (short for Julian) even brought fruits to snack after dinner. Oh by the way, if you happen to be in Darwin, be sure to check out Harriet Expresso Bar for a good coffee fix. For lunch, if you are in for some Asian food, head down to Asian Pot for your fried rice,                                                       hor fun and laksa cravings.

Yesterday (Friday) our shipment arrived and we spent the entire day trying to unpack everything. As for today, we headed down  Harriet's for coffee and probably the best banana bread we've eaten. Then to Asian Pot for a Lion Dance performance followed by lunch, tea and a chit-chat session. So that has been the update for the week. Now let's jump into the moving/shipping details.

I had initially planned to do a post on the shipping process much earlier when we had started packing our stuff. Unfortunately, I got lazy and didn't do it. Anyway, now that our shipment has arrived in Darwin and we have completed the entire process, I can do a post that covers the entire process from beginning to end. These are rare cases where it pays to be lazy.

So Sangeetha and I started sourcing out for movers in October. Once we had a few companies in mind, we started by sending out emails and making phone calls to receive a quotation. Getting quotes via email or calls was difficult as most movers had to come to our place (in Punggol) to to a stock take of things that will be shipped. We then arranged dates for the companies to come down to check out the items and provide us with quotes. 

By the first week of December, we had 4 companies who came down and a few days later, we got our quotes from 3 companies while the 4th one kinda vanished from the face of the Earth. From the 3 companies, we narrowed down to one. We went with the company that I felt was the most honest and professional while also having a reasonable offer. This company was CYC Movers.  The person in contact with me was Justin and he said that his quote of $5000 would cover everything on the Singapore side while the Australia charges would be billed to us directly by the Australian company that was partnering CYC Movers in receiving this shipment. There are some international companies like Allied Pickfords that will do both the sending and receiving (that's why they are international) and hence will send a single quote that is all inclusive. Oh and the cost depends on quantity. The more space you require, the more it costs. Most decent companies will give you a detailed explanation on how this works.

Once we paid the amount of $5000 which included insurance for the items as well, the packaging material came by 3 days later. We had 20 big boxes and 30 small boxes sent to us together with lots of tape. Our plan for shipping was to document everything we packed in different boxes and then to number the boxes (we used a label maker). 

If you refer to the above picture, you will notice that we had a running sequence for the big boxes and another for the small boxes. In retrospect, I would suggest numbering everything in a single sequence. You can still label them Big or Small or whatever, just make sure the numbers are in a single sequence. This is because, the movers need it to be numbered like that and if you have more than one sequence, they will have to re-number some boxes. You might ask why the need to label boxes big or small. Well, its easier to identify when unpacking. Imagine you need something from a box 5. If you know its a big box, then you can focus on looking for it among the big boxes. Anyway, this was our thought process and if you have your own system that works for you, jolly good.

Having all the items documented was really helpful. When we were unpacking yesterday, it was a quick Ctrl+F to narrow down items that we needed. This allowed us to choose which boxes to unpack first and which to leave for later. Another tip is to make this document a 'Live' document (Google Sheets) especially when more than one person is packing. This allows multiple modifications at any time. It may seem painstaking to type out everything that goes in, but trust me when I say it will save you loads of time unpacking. We finished the packing over 3 days. Some packing tips are:

Folded to cushion a box

1)  Go invest in a tape dispenser especially for packing (It saves soooo much of time!)

2) If you have extra boxes, don't throw them away. Tear/fold/manipulate them to fill up spaces in packed boxes. This will keep boxes tight and rigid.

3)    Use vacuum bags for clothes (you should already have known that).

4)     Take only things you need (give others away or sell!)

Once we were done packing, the guys from CYC came down on 29 December to load their truck. They brought additional packing material for the bulky items and did a fantastic job. Especially, the way they packed the bicycles. It was like these guys were Magnetos of cardboard. They could willfully bend and shape cardboard to pack anything! I'm certain they can make cardboard fly as well... 


So everything was sent out and Sang and I had our fingers crossed. You know, standing there, watching all your belongings depart on a huge truck makes you a little worried about whether you will ever see them again. About a week later, I messaged Justin to ask him about the shipment. It was supposed to have been shipped out on 5 January. However, he replied by saying that they had run into some sort of difficult. Oh no!!! He went on to explain that the shipping lines had increased their prices at the turn of the year and it now cost an additional 1200 odd dollars to ship things over. Disappointed I was, and I made it a point to let him know. He gave me 3 options. One was to pay the additional amount (he recommended against that obviously). The second option was to wait for a few weeks as the prices would drop once the festive period was over and the last option was to send the items via a different port. The third option meant that the shipment will be sent out early but might take a few days longer to arrive.

We decided with the third option as we were not ready to wait for an indefinite amount of time with no guarantee that prices would drop. The third option made sense as the shipping could get underway. The setback was that we had to pay an additional $500 as this was via a different port. Anyway, as apologetic as Justin was, I told him that I felt cheated in having to fork out the additional cash. Nevertheless, he maintained his professionalism throughout and reassured me that this was something he wouldn't have predicted. You readers be the judge.

Anyway, our items arrived yesterday in perfect condition. None of the items were held back beyond the 1 week quarantine period as we had made sure to remove any dirt/dust from our items. We spent the entire day unpacking and as you might have guessed, the cardboard started piling up. Off we went to Shoal Bay Waste Management Facility to dispose of the cardboard.

 So this is basically our entire move from start to end. Readers out there, if you know of people who are going to move soon, please direct them to this post so that it may benefit them. Thanks for reading and enjoy the weekend!