Shipping your belongings overseas can be expensive. The most reasonable financial choice for an international move is to ship items, especially items such as furniture or cars, by sea. This might seem like a daunting task. One way to help ensure a smooth international move is to hire a moving company that understands and can help you with port services. Port services are needed to help you obtain your items once they arrive or to help you ship your belongings.
If you’ve never heard of port services, you most likely have questions about the process. Below are three points to help you understand what port services entail.
Defining What Port Services Are
Port services include a variety of services, all of which are necessary to help you ship your items from one port to the next, as well as the services that help you retrieve your items. This includes hiring a company to not only pack and crate your items to prepare them for shipment, but to also ship your items. Packing items to be shipped by sea takes extra attention because if they aren’t packaged correctly, your items will be damaged by the salt water and the sea air while being shipped. Beyond packaging and shipping your items, port services also include handling the paperwork and custom forms that come along with international shipments.
Do You Need Port Services?
If you have large items that need to be transported overseas, you need port services. Moving smaller items, such as clothing or important paperwork, can be done by shipping via air. If your items are large and bulky, the most economical choice is to ship your items. You could sell all your larger items and purchase new items once you arrive in your new location, which gets to be expensive. If you would like to take your large, bulky items with you, port services is your best option.
Benefits to Hiring a Moving Company to Take Care of Port Services
Can you ship your items from one port to the next on your own? Yes you can, and there are benefits to hiring a moving company to assist you that often outweigh the challenges of doing it on your own.
● Properly filled out customs forms
Filling out customs forms can be challenging. If you don’t fill out the forms correctly, you may experience delays in either sending or retrieving your items. Do you have a friend who has filled out customs forms before and you think you can rely on them to help you with your move? Your friend might be able to help you, but customs forms vary from country to country, so even if your friend has shipped items overseas before, unless they shipped their items to the same country as you, they most likely had different customs forms than what you’ll need to fill out.
● Properly packed items
Water, especially salt water, has the ability to damage your belongings. Special care and attention need to be put into packaging items that will be transported overseas to protect the items from rain and salt water. Moving companies that offer port services will ensure your items are packaged correctly to ensure they don’t sustain any water damage.
● Peace of mind
Moving from one place to the next in the U.S. can be a challenging endeavor, but there is an extra level of stress when your move is overseas. Hiring a moving company to handle port services for your large items allows you to put your energy into learning about the new city you’ll be living in and less energy into worrying about your belongings.
Are you located in the Tacoma, Washington area and looking for a professional mover to help you with an upcoming international move? If so, call Ed’s Moving and Storage today to assist you with your move.
Beyond international moves and port services, Ed’s Moving and Storage can also help with local moves, interstate moves, and military moves. We are a veteran-owned, one-stop-shop for all of your moving needs. Contact us today, and we’ll answer any questions you have and can provide you with a free estimate for your move. We look forward to taking the stress out of your next move.