Shipping to Ireland

iamstop

Anyone know the best (cheapest) way to send a few boxes back to Ireland? Slow is fine. So far got two quotes, one for $800 and one for $3500!

From Canada

NewbridgeIR

Did you try Fedex?

JVince

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122481773#Comment_122481773

Seriously?

They are a very premium express delivery company and charge a very premium price.

If it's not a large weight, try send my bag https://www.sendmybag.com/en-gb/baggage-shipping-destinations/ireland/

FishOnABike

What size W X D X H and weight and how many boxes?

Put the details into a site like https://www.sendmybag.com/en-gb/quote/ and see how it compares to other quotes.

kirving

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122481806#Comment_122481806

Why not?! It totally depends on what its being sent, and if you package it in a friendly way, they large carriers can be competitive vs sea freight for small quantities.

I recently moved to the US, and I (my company who paid for the move) had an initial quote for $11,000 for 250kg of sea fright, which would take 6-8 weeks, minimum (all in, door to door). Insane.

I then got a quote for $6.7k for air shipment (all in, door to door) by asking myself.

Individual boxes by DHL, for a few days by air would have been $2500, and $2000 with UPS, but the kicker is you can't send household goods yourself, you need a customs agent to do a ton of paperwork. Had my company been able to use their normal DHL account, it would have been half that price again.

Send my bag looks like a good shout.

@iamstop It's really going to depend on what you're actually sending, but your best bet is to ask a moving company directly, if send my bag works out to be expensive.

JVince

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122481894#Comment_122481894

Sea freight is only worth it for pallets. You'll get a pallet from USA with up to 1000kg for about €800 all in - 2nd and subsequent pallets would be about €400. My guess is someone in your company got a quote for a full 40ft container and no haggling.

Current "wholesale" airfreight rates to/from USA are in the region of $2.50 - $3 per kg + about $75 for customs. (I remebr the day it was around $1.20)

A full 20ft container to/from eastern areas of USA currently is about $2,500-$3,000 + local charges (another $500-$800)

For the OP, my guess is the $3500 quote is from a place like UPS/Fedex and the $800 is from something like send my box. If its 5/6 boxes, then $800 will be near the lowest.

Remember the size of the box matters as much as the weight as they use the highest of actual weight or volumetric weight. So pack boxes as tightly as possible - or even better use old suitcases if its clothing. (easy to pick up cheap suitcases)

NewbridgeIR

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122481806#Comment_122481806

"It's a few boxes" so might not be that big a load.

I have had reasonably sized quantities of physical media (BDs, LPs, CDs) shipped from Australia, Japan, US and the UK. Fedex prices have been reasonable. Plus if you are purchasing from these countries, Fedex permit payment of VAT via a paper invoice up to a month after delivery (rather than upfront).

JVince

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122482345#Comment_122482345

I've been shipping boxes to containers for over 30 years (not as much now as I'm semi retired) - Fedex will never be competitive for a one off consumer quote. Its simply not their business model

Their model is based on volume with regular accounts who want time define delivery. If I need a box from China to Tipperary collected tomorrow and delivered by next Wednesday, Fedex are great - but still expensive enough even with an account that gives 40% off their rate card.

If I want 10 boxes form China and delivery within a 2 week window there are brokers who will get the best rate by checking what space is available on different days. That can be 60% + cheaper than the discounted fedex rates - exactly the way you can get a cheaper flight on different days to the same destination.

iamstop

I'm looking for 5 medium sized boxes (18 x 18 x 16 inches and roughly 30 lbs each) to be shipped door to door.

FishOnABike

Looking at send my bag, it should work out at about €725. If you can repack that into two or three boxes it should bring it down another 25% or more.

kirving

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122482324#Comment_122482324

Sorry, when I say that my company "got a quote", it was from a relocation company for LCL*, as my company can only ship commercial goods with DHL. AFAIK some of the customs clearance is actually done in house by us. Logistics dept were of course shocked at that quote.

But it was really the handling that was the killer I think on the sea freight quote, as it was for a few non-stackable pallets going Ireland → Rotterdam → US East Coast → Train/Truck cross country. Just got really messy with a load of handling at every step, multiple different companies, two bike boxes in the shipment which needed a double pallet, and the fact it was household goods really limited who wanted to handle the customs complications.

Exactly as you say in your other post, if you can do some haggling, you can do much better again. In the end a good bit of haggling between me, our logistics dept, and the relocation agent had it all sent by air in just a few days.

In the absence of haggling, Send My Bag looks to be the best for sure.

*less than a container load.

iamstop

Cheers for the Send My Bag suggestion. I will try to whittle down the amount of stuff and cramp it into less boxes and see where I end up.

FishOnABike

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122494545#Comment_122494545

I've used them before and found the customs and shipping documents they produce from the inventory you input on their website very useful.