[acisman]

Hi

Some of you will have read my comments on other threads about how quickly things have moved for us over the past few weeks and about shipping quotes. EXCHANGE CONTRACTS ON HOUSE TODAY Yipee!!!! :P Well having decided to use PSS ( we are currently trawling through the nightmare valuation form ) we are now getting a clearer idea of the shipping timetable and it is raising the stress levels again. :?

As you may recall, PSS are loading our container on 1st March, while we will not be leaving for NZ until 17th April. We therefore accepted their offer of 10 days free storage over here, thinking that this, plus the time it would take for the container to get to Auckland would be sufficient for us to get to NZ and find somewhere to live.

OH NO !! We go a letter from PSS yesterday stating the container would be shipped out on 9th MARCH and the ship had an ETA in Auckland for 9th APRIL - ONLY FOUR WEEKS from UK to NZ !!

That means our container will arrive 2 weeks before we do. I asked PSS if they could delay the shipment for a further 2 weks, but was told this would cost £40 a day storage charges in the UK.

They said that provided we have someone in NZ who can deal with the customs clearance paperwork ( and we do), we can then store the container with their agents at a cost of $250 one off admin charge and then $55 per week.

Is 4 weeks realistic ??
Having already booked flights for 17th April and with other arrangements, we can't go to NZ any earlier, so does anyone have any experience of storing goods in NZ.

Thanks for any help you can give.

[veronica]

havent any experience of the storage thing with shippers but have used the self storage facilities in NZ. they are pretty much the same as UK. taking into account its going to take you at least a couple of weeks to get sorted at the nz end is it not worth delaying the shippers by a few weeks and getting the container on a later boat. or am I missing something here.

[acisman]

Hi Veronica

We are moving out of our house on 1st March so the container will leave us on that day and therefore to delay the shipping this end will cost us £40 per day, while in NZ it will be the equivalant £45 per week (including the admin charge).

When I phoned PSS yesterday it was my intention to extend the storgae period over here, but they convinced me it was much cheaper to store it in NZ.

I am just seeking experience of others on the time it really takes for a container to leave the UK and be available to you in NZ and also experiences of storing in NZ.

Dave

[veronica]

Our daughters container took about a couple of days off the 4 weeks from leaving their house in the UK to getting to Auckland and was in their flat driveway within 2 days of arriving. Our one to Chch took nearly 6 weeks but we delayed for a few days deliberately at the chch end as the premises we needed to get into weren't quite ready.

[acisman]

Oh Veronica

That is not what I wanted to hear !! I had hopes that the shippers forcast of 4 weeks was best case scenerio and that in reality it would take 7, with a further 2 week delay for custom clearance.

Thanks for the info though, at least it proves that our worst nightmare may come true.

Still to look on the bright side, it now means we will not have to buy all those little items ( like a bed !!) that we would need until the container turned up weeks after we arrived.

Dave