Shipping household goods/furniture from Ukraine to US -- any experience?

[Barry and Mila 5]

My wife is looking to ship a couple of rooms' worth of household goods from her home in Ukraine to our home in the US. Mere package shipping won't do, extra bags on a flight won't do, we're talking a small shipping container at a minimum. Any experience with this? Recommendations? Breaking completely new ground for me here, grateful for any advice. Thanks very much!

--Barry

Edited February 21, 2016 by Barry and Mila

[Amy_and_Victor 159]

Does it really worth the trouble to ship large household items across the ocean rather than get rid of it and buy it in the US if you don't have it here yet? I know some people get super attached to everything they have and can't handle the thought of getting rid of let's say old dining table their family had for 25 years, but does it really worth (financially and troublewise) to drag it across the world with you? Unless it's two rooms full of collectable antique that worths many thousands of dollars in any country...

I've heard about some shipping company (Meest?) delivering bulky items from US to Ukraine by sea but I'm not sure they can do it the other way.

- Victor from Russia

[Barry and Mila 5]

They're antiques, items of personal significance, collectibles, etc, so yes they more or less fall into that category. I have an inquiry into MEEST, expect an answer in a few days. Спасибо Виктор! --Бари

[Turboguy 6]

I have never tried shipping furniture but we do a lot of international shipping with my business. I am looking out the window at a container we are loading up to ship to Belgium right now. Talk to a customs broker and they can arrange a 20' Container that will be brought to your door in Ukraine. You will have 2 hours to load it and then they will ship it to your door in the USA and you will have 2 hours to unload it. You can take longer but they charge you for it. I would guess the cost to ship a 20' container at about $ 2500- $ 3000.00 and if you need more room a 40' container won't cost much more.

You might want to ask about the furniture. It could end up quarantined since some could contain insects and sometimes they are very funny about things that have that potential. We have to use special pallets when we ship for just that reason. They won't let us use regular wood pallets they need to be plastic or specially treated ones.

[Barry and Mila 5]

Thanks, much appreciated!

[RobertM54 36]

Will there be customs as well?

[Villanelle 4,122]

This is going to vary obviously from place to place. We shipped a container from Norway. I can give some general info. With what we used there was options online for packing yourself etc however when it came down to it the person who came for the estimate stated it didnt work that way. They need to know everything you are transporting so they preferred to pack it themselves.

Im guessing this is to make sure there is no drugs or illicit items mixed in. So while the ships manifest reads general household goods- there is responsibility on the shipper for exactly what it is plus an additional manifest that listed every single item. The shipping was pricey but as posted here it was antiques and furniture that could not be replaced so we went for it.

They gave options of a whole container or part of a container shared. They did the packing (bubble wrap, boxes etc) and all the loading. They also did the delivery in the US with unloading and set-up of a few pieces. Overall we were very pleased.

You need to speak with the shipping company as its very complicated. There were a few forms that needed to be filled out for customs as well as proof of immigration requirements for customs. I believe you are allowed to ship personal items up to 6 months after your POE with no tariff or tax implications at customs. You need proof of your POE and I believe you have to arrive before the items. (?) Not entirely sure...

They also stated the cost included everything except if taxes or port fees were due upon inspection. (None were but there couldve been depending on what was shipped).

The company we used was based in Norway so providing its info wont be helpful here but Im sure there are plenty of transport companies there that do the same thing. Our price was based on weight as well as sq footage. It cost us about 5k to ship from Norway to the east coast and that included everything- no packing on our part just unpacking small items. I would estimate it was about 1500lbs and part of a container (less then 20 ft).

Hope this helps. Theres not many people that ship this way on the forums because as stated its easier to replace then to ship.

[Barry and Mila 5]

Thank you Damara, much appreciated!