When you need to ship items from Dublin, you might worry that you have too much for a courier service and too little for container shipping. But happily, international shipping services offer many options between a parcel and a shipping container! Whether you are sending a care package to loved ones overseas, planning a temporary relocation for university or work, or moving your entire household to a new country, there’s a shipping solution that is just right for you. Here’s a quick overview of your options for international shipping services.
You can send a shipment of just about any size from Dublin using road, sea or air freight – or a combination of those. Surface freight (road and sea) takes longer but costs less. Air freight is fast, but more expensive. If you have just a few boxes to send, air freight often makes sense, although if you have time and want to save a bit, you can certainly opt for surface freight. Obviously, you can’t put all of your household furniture on a plane! Surface shipping makes the most sense for larger shipments.
Container Shipping Basics
While shipping containers come in a few different sizes, all of them are huge. But don’t worry about filling a whole shipping container. You don’t have to. If you have a shipment that is too large for boxes and too small to fill a container, you can opt for what’s known as an LCL – a less than container load shipment. It can include furniture, boxes, suitcases and large, awkward items such as exercise equipment. Your items will be wrapped in protective plastic and clearly labelled. They won’t get mixed up with other items in the same container.
You can send a full container or an LCL by road or by sea, depending on its destination. Some destinations will involve a mix of road and sea.
Sending and Receiving Your Shipment
When you’re arranging your international shipping, you will decide if you want door-to-door shipping, door-to-port shipping, port-to-door shipping or port-to-port shipping.
In most cases, the easiest option is to have the personal shipping company collect your shipment from your home in Ireland and deliver it to your new home abroad. That’s known as door-to-door shipping. It isn’t the only option, however, and in some cases people prefer to bring their shipment to the international shipping company in Dublin. Others prefer to collect their shipment at the port in their new location, and in some unusual cases it isn’t feasible to deliver it to the door of the new home if that home is very far from the nearest port.
The logistics of international shipping can be complicated, but the experienced staff at Spratt Personal Shipping are experts. We’re happy to discuss your unique needs and talk you through the options to discover what will work best for you. We understand you might only need to use personal shipping a few times in your life, but we do it every day.
