Ask the Moving Doctor

Hello Louise, that’s a great question!
Returning an unused U crate is expensive for you as you would have to pay the return journey back to us.
You are better off for example ordering two U Crates and then if you need the third one ask for the third one to be shipped out. Yes you have to pay the extra for that shipping but its cheaper doing it this way plus you then receive the discount for us collecting and shipping three at the same time. Obviously you need to order the kits well in advance so you have enough time if you need to order the third kit.

The other suggestion I have is to measure out the size of the U Crates on a floor and wall using masking / painters tape. Now go ahead and load your things into that imaginary space to see if it looks like you can get everything into two or three U Crates. May be you can do two U Crate 100’s and some extras on a small pallet for example which would save you some money.

I hope this answer helps you and if you have any other questions feel free to ask the International Moving Doctor.
cheers

Thanks for the question Rob. I passed this over to our Sales Manager for Europe, Steve to answer and this is what he says:

Hi Rob,
Thank you for having taken the time to visit our website and your interest in our services

Shipping E Bikes is an issue because of the fact that they use Ion Lithium batteries which we are unable to ship, also the dimensions of your packaged bike are a little over what could be placed on a pallet or in one of our U crate 100’s

Having said that, if you would be willing to unpack the bike and remove the battery and then load the bike inside one of our U crates without the original packaging or on one of our large pallets, as a guide the dimensions of our large pallet is 120cms x 80cms x 182.88cms and our U crate 100’s are 111.76cms x 114.3cms x 198.12cms, then I am sure that this would work, then I am sure that the Bike would fit

Going back to the battery some International couriers will ship Lithium batteries, I would recommend checking out FedEx as sending the battery separately maybe the way to go. Alternatively leave the battery behind and buy a new one in America.

I have included a link to one of our videos showing how a Bike has been loaded into one of our smaller U crate 50’s along with some boxes and personal effects which should give you a clearer image of the space available and on how to load a bike inside

If you have any further questions or would like an informal chat about your moving needs please email me at stephen@upackweship.com and I will be more than happy to address any questions you may have.

Cheers Steve

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=442MGGhOUMs

Hi Kim, yes each box and separate item needs a label or at least written on with permanent marker saying contents, name and piece number.
If you are moving with UPakWeShip we email you a UPakWeShip Label Template which has I believe your name and booking number already printed so you just need to complete the piece number and the contents.

If like you, you are moving to Europe or the UK, the description can be vague. So box 1 clothes, box 2 kitchenware, box 3 bedding, box 4 toys…..
The item number and the description needs to match the packing list that you have to do to provide us to give to customs. We give you a packing list template as well.

Its also a good idea if you know the room you want the box to go into at your new destination house to write that on the box too. So write “Ally’s Room” or Kitchen on the box so whoever is unloading knows what room to put the box.

We don’t put the delivery address on the crate or boxes as that’s private information so we just put the destination country, your ref number, name and a “if lost please email us at ….@upakweship.com

I hope that helps and answers your question Kim, if you would like me to answer anything else feel free to post another question.

Cheers, The International Moving Doctor.

Hello Carolyn, thanks for the good questions. Yes the bottom of the U Crates are wood pallets. The sides and top are very thick cardboard called I believe, Triwall as in three carboard thick. There is nothing ever stacked on U Crate 100’s but its possible we might stack a U Crate 50 on top of another U Crate 50. Yes all U Crates and pallets go into a 40 foot steel shipping container and the container gets loaded onto the ship. The only time your U Crate is outside in the elements is when its collected from your house and delivered overseas to your residence. The rest of the time its always under cover.
You can see a lot of pictures of our U Crates in our warehouse and being loaded on the International Moving Doctor’s mini blog page here. https://upakweship.com/the-international-moving-doctor/ask-moving-dr/

Also if you look at our You Tube video How we moved to the Netherlands it shows how the U Crates work with pictures and video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0IrdoMYsq4

I hope that helps and let me know if you have any questions. Our U Crates are an extremely safe way to ship your things overseas. They are definitely worth the money!

Cheers, The International Moving Doctor.

Hello Audrey, it depends a little on the time of year, (spring and summer are busy so more frequent sailings) ship availability and port congestion. (pretty good at present) the length of time it takes to clear the shipment through customs (again fairly quick at present)
So at the moment I would say 7-8 weeks from the west coast to France. To give you an idea, my thought process is as follows:
Collection Oakland to our shipping terminal SC, 1 week.
Receive and await loading, 1 week.
Load shipping container and take to port ready for loading onto ship, 1 week
Transit to Rotterdam and UPakWeShip Europe office, 2 weeks
Unloading and customs clearance, 1 week.
Delivery to France 1 week.
Allow another week for any errors but that’s about as close as we can get at present.
I hope that helps and let me know if you have any other questions or concerns about your relocation to France.
Cheers,
The International Moving Doctor

Hello Marcella and Joseph and thanks for the great question. Whilst we can ship a motorcycle to Portugal in our consolidation service to Europe via Rotterdam, the problem is you would not have the correct paperwork that Portuguese customs needs to give you in order for you to register the bike in Portugal. So the best way is to ship the bike direct into Portugal. If you type http://www.TGAL.us they are a legit company that specializes in shipping cars and bike worldwide and can help you. They have been in business nearly as long as us and we know and respect each others specialties. We can of course help with your boxes and suggest a U Crate 50 being the safest method of transport with us.
I hope this helps and let m know if you need any more information or have further questions, cheers
The Intl Moving Doctor.

Hello Melissa, first off, I apologize for the delay in replying, we had a software glitch and the reply button was not on the screen for me to reply to you.
All fixed now, and the answer is yes that is fine obviously as long as it fits. I would wrap it in movers blankets and label it with your name, and a number to correspond to the packing list. The U Crate 100 is fantastic for protecting all items. They have like a 99% success rate of getting everything to the destination, just as you packed it. So as long as you pack it well and don’t force too much in to bow or bend the sides, all will be good.
Cheers and happy packing, The International Moving Doctor.

Hello Nicky, depending where you are but generally you get two hours free for loading then its about 100 pounds / Euros/ Dollars ish per hour after that while the driver and truck waits. Alternatively we can sometimes place the container on a Friday for example and collect it on the Monday. This works if you are near a port or inland container terminal but could be expensive with double trucking as the truck has to come back to collect the container if you live nowhere near a port or inland container terminal.
I hope that helps and let me know if you need more details.
Cheers The International Moving Doctor

Hi Lauren, they will be fine to ship no problem.
Cheers The International Moving Doctor

Hello Ed, yes they can but please make sure they are heavy duty totes as the lightweight ones tend to crack during transit when other things are stacked on top of them. Its worth spending the money on tough heavy duty totes or strong cardboard boxes.
Hope that helps, cheers The International Moving Doctor

Hi Lauren, no details required so Kitchenware is fine. If you have a mixed box just list whatever the majority thing is in the box.
Cheers
The International Moving Doctor