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Shipping and Shipper recommendations

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SandraPinky
  10/10/2015 11:11 EST

Hello everyone. Can anyone offer some current recommendations about shipping and shippers from the US to Colombia? Positive and negative info is very appreciated. I'm getting quotes from companies in the US, but nothing beats actual experience. I often research this forum and it offers great info about a variety of topics, thanks to everyone.

HalloCasa
  10/10/2015 11:33 EST

What do you need to get shipped?

I know someone who organizes everything when you move to Colombia with respect to furniture etc. Is that what you're looking for?

Best

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William Russell's private medical insurance will cover you and your family wherever you may be. Whether you need primary care or complex surgery, you'll have access to the best hospitals & doctors available. Unlike some insurers, we also include medical evacuation and mental health cover in our plans (except SilverLite). Get a quote from our partner, William Russell.
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HalloCasa
  10/10/2015 11:33 EST

What do you need to get shipped?

I know someone who organizes everything when you move to Colombia with respect to furniture etc. Is that what you're looking for?

Best

SandraPinky
  10/10/2015 11:43 EST

I'm shipping enough personal items (boxes, furniture) to fill a 20ft container. I would like recommendations for international shippers, pros or cons. I have several quotes from shippers and they're very similar in costs. Personal recommendations from experience would be very appreciated.

HalloCasa
  10/10/2015 11:45 EST

Ok, I don´t know.

Here is the website of the person I was talking about: http://intra-mar.wix.com/intra-mar

Maybe it helps.
Best!

zak023
  10/10/2015 12:15 EST

I want to know the same thing....after my wife is here in the USA for 5 years she is eligible to send household goods back to Colombia with NO Import fees..We are looking at a 20ft. sea box as well...want to ship out of Port Newark, New Jersey..........BJM your from my neck of the woods up here..Do you know of a reputable shipping company in our area ??

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William Russell's private medical insurance will cover you and your family wherever you may be. Whether you need primary care or complex surgery, you'll have access to the best hospitals & doctors available. Unlike some insurers, we also include medical evacuation and mental health cover in our plans (except SilverLite). Get a quote from our partner, William Russell.

William RussellWilliam Russell

William Russell's private medical insurance will cover you and your family wherever you may be. Whether you need primary care or complex surgery, you'll have access to the best hospitals & doctors available. Unlike some insurers, we also include medical evacuation and mental health cover in our plans (except SilverLite). Get a quote from our partner, William Russell.
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guestuser
  10/13/2015 08:54 EST

Rather than focusing on the shipper in your area it's the agent that they use in Colombia that might be of more concern. I used a shipping company out of New York who were very good - but when the local shipping agent insisted on more money (including storage costs after delivery!) they couldn't get anything out of them. From my experience it's the Colombian end that needs the most care.

bigjailerman
  10/13/2015 10:04 EST

Good point

broncoII
  10/13/2015 15:56 EST

Sandra
About two months ago I started using
COLENVIA 2
"Su Carga y Dinero, Estan en Buenas Manos"

1161 E. Altamonte Dr. Suite #1015
Altamonte Springs, FL 32701
407-332-1813
Fax 407-260-5513
En Colombia (2) 3823314
[email protected]

I ship the items from my home in San Diego to Colenvia, then they ship and deliver directly to our home in Bogota. I pay all Dian and shipping fees here according to what I declare to the people at Colenvia. I have shipped USPS and UPS and now Colenvia is the least costly and actually the fastest.
Good Luck

SandraPinky
  10/13/2015 16:56 EST

Excellent advise.

gitanov
  10/14/2015 18:49 EST

I am planning to use an agency in Florida, they come check the items and pack. Price is reasonable and use MoveManagement_Selectcid:[email protected]

7740 SW 104th Street

Pinecrest, Florida 33156

Main: 800.599.4316

Direct: 786.866.9888

Fax: 305.887.4117
They use AirseaTrans in Colombia and told me they have better results than with Intramar. Yes, returning Colombians can apply for the law 1565 to be exempt on taxes for households up to 35000 dollars value.

William RussellWilliam Russell
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William Russell's private medical insurance will cover you and your family wherever you may be. Whether you need primary care or complex surgery, you'll have access to the best hospitals & doctors available. Unlike some insurers, we also include medical evacuation and mental health cover in our plans (except SilverLite). Get a quote from our partner, William Russell.

William RussellWilliam Russell

William Russell's private medical insurance will cover you and your family wherever you may be. Whether you need primary care or complex surgery, you'll have access to the best hospitals & doctors available. Unlike some insurers, we also include medical evacuation and mental health cover in our plans (except SilverLite). Get a quote from our partner, William Russell.
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gitanov
  10/14/2015 18:49 EST

MoveManagement_Selectcid:[email protected]

7740 SW 104th Street

Pinecrest, Florida 33156

Main: 800.599.4316

Direct: 786.866.9888

Fax: 305.887.4117

dliss62
  11/5/2015 21:35 EST

Would it no be cheaper just buy new stuff in Colombia? What is the opportunity cost point as far as shipping cost vs new merchandise?

dliss62
  11/5/2015 21:35 EST

Would it no be cheaper just buy new stuff in Colombia? What is the opportunity cost point as far as shipping cost vs new merchandise?

bigjailerman
  11/5/2015 21:52 EST

It really depends on what item's you are talking about. Many things are available here. Shipping can lead you into large customs payments especially if they aren't properly documented and exhorbitive shipping costs can get you as well. I generally sick to buying here for 90% of my item's.

bh2
  11/6/2015 14:42 EST

I'll second that suggestion. We had a similar experience with our Bogota agency. (This is a long post, but hopefully contains some information useful to others.)

It turned out the Bogota agency didn't even have a copy of our contract, which provided complete, end-to-end delivery service paid in advance (apart from various customs and port fees which are unknowable until the goods pass through the port).

Right away, we experienced an unwelcome surprise:

The Bogota agency didn't think it was worth mentioning to us that the ship actually arrived a week ahead of schedule, which meant the goods would arrive earlier and deliver earlier. And we didn't yet have an apartment selected. Bummer.

Then we started receiving urgent requests for more money (worded suspiciously like hostage demands). After the second request came out of the blue, I called our NYC agency to find out why these costs weren't included in our contract.

Suddenly, urgent requests for more money were dropped like a hot rock and the container was almost instantly released from the port and sent down the road for delivery. Magic.

Our experience with Colombian customs (based mostly on documentation) may be of interest to some others making the same blind jump:

DIAN did a detailed review of inventory items listed on the way-bill, along with a standard random physical inspection of 10% of the load, which they declared had no exceptions. Sigh of relief, because....

Had any (as in ANY) such exceptions been found on the way-bill OR items physically examined in that first pass, we were assured that DIAN would meticulously tear down and inspect the entire 20-foot load, item by item -- which can take many days to schedule and complete, with the obvious liability risk of additional demurrage and storage charges on the container, higher fees for customs inspection, and perhaps higher duty (depending on what other "exceptions" they declare).

That result could seriously ruin your day.

There is simply no upside benefit from ticking off the DIAN folks. Scrupulous attention to detail appears to be the key. Be fully compliant. Get it right. Don't fudge. We were severely instructed (by the expert Colombian lady at our NYC agency) to have NO (as in ZERO) PBO (Packed By Owner) items mentioned anywhere on the way-bill and to assure EVERY (as in NO EXCEPTIONS) "appliance" was fully documented on the inventory as to manufacturer, model number, and serial number. That is to say all items having a motor of any kind, and all electronic items (with or without a motor). Also, of course, don't try to sneak in prohibited items (some of which you may carry with you on the plane, but may not put in a container). We took all that advice seriously and now pass it on to others. YMMV.

We did actually "cheat" a bit on the PBO requirement in this way: I basically told the moving company right up front that the inventory was to mention no PBO items -- whatever it took for us to get that result. They were very cooperative (since they get paid the same either way).

My wife and I are expert packers and we simply refused to let anyone else pack our recently refurbished vintage audio equipment. Most company packers have no real clue that high-end audio equipment requires a lot more than just dropping it in a box with good stuffing. Even original equipment boxes, alone, aren't enough. We did the complete and correct double-box/double-bubble packing after telling the moving company they could observe this process and then, if necessary, unwrap and re-wrap those items (while we watched) to assure they went on board properly packaged and without being marked "PBO". Nobody bothered to look or question our packing.

These particular high-value items all arrived in pristine condition. Some other items which were "professionally packed" did not. Your experience may be different, but I'd suggest you leave nothing important to chance, especially if relocating from the Land of the Free (see details below).

And if you have expensive audio equipment you care about, please take a few minutes to visit AudioKarma or other expert source offering specific details about how to pack audio gear for shipment to minimize risk of damage – which is equally important for all UPS and FedEx transfers.

The financial cost for our goods passing through the port of entry amounted to only a modest fee for customs inspection and a modest tax based on a generously understated value of our goods. No big deal in the context of the total cost.

As to physical receipt of the container and unloading of goods to our apartment:

The two young men from Bogotá who delivered and unpacked the container were absolutely professional, gracious, diligent, skilled, and helpful to a fault in getting various damage documented in photos and writing.

The load was a real mess and they had to work a lot more hours to get things more or less sorted out. A one-day job required two. Even some delicate items which had been declared "high value" were just wrapped in paper and tossed in the container, two with no number stickers. It was a display of amazing indifference bordering on deliberate insult.

When I asked these young men about the sorry state of the container load, one of them replied with a bit of embarrassment that this is a common problem with shipments originating in the US. These guys unpack a LOT of 20 and 40 foot containers sent from other countries, which typically arrive in good shape with the load well ordered and bridged where necessary. But not the ones from the US.

While they apparently didn't expect it, we tipped these guys generously and then praised them in writing to the agency in Bogota for their professionalism. Fair's fair. They did a good job.

The agency not so much, IMO. For example, we were told the items inspected by DIAN would be plainly marked with labels so we could see which items were opened by customs. Never happened. It was therefore anyone's guess which boxes/items were inspected. Fortunately, we've noticed nothing mysteriously disappeared, but we would have liked to know if the re-packing of inspected items might account for other mysteries encountered during unloading.

bh2
  11/6/2015 15:41 EST

I'd like to add to the detail of the post above that whether sending a full container load is better or worse than dumping what you've got and buying new when you get here has no "correct" solution. You must do a detailed cost/benefit analysis to figure that out.

In our specific case, there's no way we could have replaced our household by replacing it in Colombia for anything like the much lower cost of shipping what we already owned.

A 20-foot container load from the US cost us about 10 grand, all in. The conservatively insured value of our household is over four times that amount and includes a few items we could never reasonably replace except at great expense. We downsized to be very selective about what we brought since we live in an apartment in downtown Medellin and didn't want to pay for space to house anything but what we actually use in our everyday life (which happens to include individual personal custom office arrangements for each of us, which is admittedly a way bit unusual, to say the least).

Anyhow, get some quotes and do the math. If the numbers suggest it's anything like a close call, dump your stuff and buy new here. As others have pointed out, pretty much anything you want is available.

However, if the value of what you own vastly outweighs the cost of shipping, putting up with the angst of loading and shipping a container may be far less costly to achieve a long-term relocation.

There is simply no right answer for all situations.

SandraPinky
  11/6/2015 17:50 EST

Thanks for a great post full of common sense information.

bh2
  11/6/2015 23:53 EST

Correction to my earlier post: the total cost of our move, door to door, was more like 12 thousand rather than 10 thousand (as I misstated above). That doesn't much change the cost/benefit ratio, of course.

gitanov
  11/10/2015 09:35 EST

Thanks for all the details. As I am searching for a moving company, could you please tell me the name of the company you used in USA and the one in Colombia? You said it was 12,000? Was the port charges included in that amount? How much they charge you on the port without the taxes? This is very important to calculate our budget. I would appreciate your reply or post. It will help many others. Thanks

lizdell
  11/15/2015 12:57 EST

Thank you for all that detailed information - super helpful! I am getting ready to relocate from NYC to BOG and was curious what company you used for this move? Thanks again!

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