Rays world: Loading day...

The container....20hq

So it was time to move...The ME was a great experience, places we liked, places we learnt to like, and places that will always be in our memories. We will InshAllah return oneday to relive those memories...Until then its a whole new world for the next 5 years! New adventures! New memories and new dreams, may Allah swt grant us success and make it easy for us...InshAllah Ameen.

This post outlines the trials and tribulations of loading our 20ft container with all our personal belongings. I had been quoted some seriously high prices! in excess of $4000 to move this container from the UAE to South Africa

There are several stages when organising a shipment of this sort. Having done extensive research I found the easiest and most economical method of doing things...

Having inititally spoke to several removal companies I found that I was getting charged excessively for various stages in the loading process.

In order to gauge the price of a shipment one must first phone a shipping line, a shipping line is a company that actually has ships sailing from destination to destination, rather like airlines having planned destinations/flights shipping lines have specified routes and vessels that travel those set routes.

I phoned up 'Maersk Line' and spoke to a helpful gentleman who gave me a quote for a 20ft container on the shipping line Dubai, Jebel Ali to Durban, ZA. He quoted me $800 for the container alone, he also gave me some shipping dates to choose from... On my particular route there are approx 3 sailings in the month, so i choose the 17th Jan 2011.

So with that figure and date in mind I started to find out what other costs where involved. The first being paper work and fees etc that needs to be produced for the container to be shipped:

BL (Bill of Lading) - The official legal document representing ownership of cargo.

CI (commercial invoice) - a rough estimation of the shipment value

Packing list - a rough list of items in the container

THC (Terminal handling charge) - A charge of carriers for recovering the costs of handling FCLs at container terminals at origin or destination.

Customs documentation & service fee - Dependant on goods being shipped to/from country of origin/destination.

Transport - local - fee for local delivery of container from place of loading to port.

For this task I contacted a Freight forwarder, I had been recommended a reputable company from the gentleman at the Maersk Line office. With the Shipment quotation in mind I contacted the freight forwarder to quote me for all the neccessary paper works, customs charges and local delivery etc.

I mentioned I was going to be stuffing/loading the container myself since I knew that companies tend to make their money in this area, overcharging for labour etc.

I was quoted $1400 all inclusive (shipped to port of Durban) which was alot cheaper than the $4000 I had orginally been quoted!

The only thing I had to do was get the container loaded!

We had decided to load on the 11th Jan 2011, to leave enough time for clearing at port etc and sailing on the 17th Jan. It had been noted that I would not pay any money until the BL was issued.

When it came to loading the container all our items where packed and ready in storage, I had arranged for the container to be unhitched outside the storage location where I met the driver and instructed him what to do the night before loading.

In the morning we were hyped up and ready for loading! Initially I had planned to take 3 men at the charge of 100 AED per hour with a forklift if required! I then had a change of plan and decided to do it the hard way....! I had requested for 1 man to help me at the negotiated price of 150 AED for 1/2 a day! Optmisitc since we had to load the full container just me and my helper!

In the morning I met Jamal and alhamdulillah this brother was terrific! He never stopped from the moment we started! We lifted all the items with ease into the container, Allahu Akbar...It almost seemed as thou the items had lost their weight?! I had been imagining difficulty in lifting the items into the cointainer etc and needing to hire a forklift etc but Alhamdulillah it was so easy! My duahs where answered, thanks to Allah swt. We loaded the container in 2 hours flat!!! SubhAllah. Doors closed...Ready for shipment!

So there is the story and some pictures for memory...