Sending my books to Bruxelles at a low cost

Have you tried sea mail?

No I have thought about it but I do not know where to look. I do not speak Vietnamese. Would you know of a company that does that?

Check with FedEx / TNT who offer encomy services ..

Unfortunately without a negotiated rate with a freight forwarder that price is about right for that much weight.  That is likely an air shipment using deferred delivery instead of priority.  Should be 10 days. 

My company used to pay $600 per box for 25kg for plastic resin for sampling molds with UPS going from US to VN.  Now with fedEx it is about $170 for the same package.  You are in the middle of that range.  We have a 71% discount with FedEx off of "walk in" rates.

Thanks I am going to try that right away!

Thanks I am going to see how this works out for me.

Sorry to bother you but would you be so kind as to tell me how you manage to negotiate down to 170 dollars for 25kg with Fedex must I go and see them? Because for the moment I only checked on their website but it is still as expensive as the post office fees. Thanks again!

At these prices, it's cheaper to order an extra luggage in the plane

I've never send more than 3kg through DHL to Brussels, so no particular advice from me, sorry.

Miss Silver wrote:

Sorry to bother you but would you be so kind as to tell me how you manage to negotiate down to 170 dollars for 25kg with Fedex must I go and see them? Because for the moment I only checked on their website but it is still as expensive as the post office fees. Thanks again!

You can't get that rate.  To get that rate we ship around 350 packages a day.  It's all based on volume.

That's why in my first post I said your 6,600,000 quote was reasonable for an individual.  Why can't you take it as a second piece of luggage when you move?  Or even a third?  It would be cheaper than shipping, as Alex said above.

SteinNebraska wrote:

Unfortunately without a negotiated rate with a freight forwarder that price is about right for that much weight.  That is likely an air shipment using deferred delivery instead of priority.  Should be 10 days. 

My company used to pay $600 per box for 25kg for plastic resin for sampling molds with UPS going from US to VN.  Now with fedEx it is about $170 for the same package.  You are in the middle of that range.  We have a 71% discount with FedEx off of "walk in" rates.

$600 for 25kgs ? That is not a discojnted rate, whatever discount figure they told you they gave you is nowhere near that.

We shipped luggage sets with a volunetric weight of 380kgs from uk to China for £221, even with apoor exchange rate thats nowhere near what you was paying.

Ok! I get it. Thanks for your help and advice.

Jlgarbutt wrote:

SteinNebraska wrote:

Unfortunately without a negotiated rate with a freight forwarder that price is about right for that much weight.  That is likely an air shipment using deferred delivery instead of priority.  Should be 10 days. 

My company used to pay $600 per box for 25kg for plastic resin for sampling molds with UPS going from US to VN.  Now with fedEx it is about $170 for the same package.  You are in the middle of that range.  We have a 71% discount with FedEx off of "walk in" rates.

$600 for 25kgs ? That is not a discojnted rate, whatever discount figure they told you they gave you is nowhere near that.

We shipped luggage sets with a volunetric weight of 380kgs from uk to China for £221, even with apoor exchange rate thats nowhere near what you was paying.

I think you missed something.  It USED TO BE $600.  We now pay $170 for 25kg.  THAT is the discounted rate.  And, that rate is priority air shipping - 3 days from US to VN.  Ocean rates, yeah we pay a lot less than that.  500kg pallet is $300 USD.

Talking about ocean rates, strange thing this week.  We have been paying $3,500 for a 20' container, $3,900 for a 40' container VN to US for over a year.  Never changed a penny in 12 months.  This week it jumped to $4,750 for a 20' and $5,050 for a 40'.  Huge increase with no notice.  And, we ship at least a container a month so we aren't random shippers.

SteinNebraska wrote:

Jlgarbutt wrote:

SteinNebraska wrote:

Unfortunately without a negotiated rate with a freight forwarder that price is about right for that much weight.  That is likely an air shipment using deferred delivery instead of priority.  Should be 10 days. 

My company used to pay $600 per box for 25kg for plastic resin for sampling molds with UPS going from US to VN.  Now with fedEx it is about $170 for the same package.  You are in the middle of that range.  We have a 71% discount with FedEx off of "walk in" rates.

$600 for 25kgs ? That is not a discojnted rate, whatever discount figure they told you they gave you is nowhere near that.

We shipped luggage sets with a volunetric weight of 380kgs from uk to China for £221, even with apoor exchange rate thats nowhere near what you was paying.

I think you missed something.  It USED TO BE $600.  We now pay $170 for 25kg.  THAT is the discounted rate.  And, that rate is priority air shipping - 3 days from US to VN.  Ocean rates, yeah we pay a lot less than that.  500kg pallet is $300 USD.

Talking about ocean rates, strange thing this week.  We have been paying $3,500 for a 20' container, $3,900 for a 40' container VN to US for over a year.  Never changed a penny in 12 months.  This week it jumped to $4,750 for a 20' and $5,050 for a 40'.  Huge increase with no notice.  And, we ship at least a container a month so we aren't random shippers.

That seems quite a big jump for the container rates, Ill have a look though my messages on linkedin, i get tons of chinese agents sendine me rates for containers.

I hope Ciambella will weigh in on this.

She wrote a post a while back about how she and her husband moved a lot of stuff to Vietnam by packing it in boxes and paying the excess fees to bring it as accompanied baggage.

if my memory is right, she said they got to bring something like 22 kg and each box that weighed that much was charged about a hundred and twenty-five US dollars?

Maybe I'm really off on those figures but she can correctly very easily

Sorry it's me again! I have about 15 boxes of 20 to 25kg of books! so that makes 300 to 375kg all put together. So I cannot use a supplement of luggage! And on top of that I really do not know what will be the conditions of my flight with the restrictions furthermore I was injured in a motorbike accident so I have to travel light. If I could have the coordinates of a shipping company to send my belongings by sea... as I said I do not mind if it takes a month or two for me to get my books as long as I can have them.  Although I do know that usually this is for commercial use but maybe there is a possibility for individuals just as there were in other countries I stayed in. But of course no country is the same!

I dont want to be a nosey parker, but how did you acquire 300kgs of books?

Well first paper is heavy: I am an English French and Theology teacher and then I have been in Vietnam for four years and I brought back 2 to 4 boxes each year... so 20 to 30 kg a box is quickly reached and I counted on staying here for quite some time... but now I have to return to Europe and I really do not know when anybody of my knowing will be passing through here... and anyway I would rather deal with myself than let others go through such a complicated process.

Ah, 375kg changes things.  Everything will have to be boxed and then strapped and shrink wrapped to a pallet.  The freight forwarder can do this part for you.  Generally when shipping LCL (Less than Container Load) I pay about $900-$1,000 US to ship one injection mold in a crate for a similar weight.  I don't know about time and cost to Europe.  Generally it is 8 weeks to US.  I don't have any contacts for freight fowarders that work with Europe.  I generally don't schedule the freight, my office back in US does.

SteinNebraska wrote:

Ah, 375kg changes things.  Everything will have to be boxed and then strapped and shrink wrapped to a pallet.  The freight forwarder can do this part for you.  Generally when shipping LCL (Less than Container Load) I pay about $900-$1,000 US to ship one injection mold in a crate for a similar weight.  I don't know about time and cost to Europe.  Generally it is 8 weeks to US.  I don't have any contacts for freight fowarders that work with Europe.  I generally don't schedule the freight, my office back in US does.

I'm guessing whoever books your seafreight rates doesn't shop around. Typically a 40ft container from Asia to Europe is around 1200usd plus collection and delivery..

US seafreight rates are all conference rates where the big shipping lines agree on a standard shipping rate incase of overbooking Inna particular vessel or route they can afford to ship on a other vessel.

For movements here the agent will collect and load the cargo in an LCL container, it would be better to palletise the goods before before collection otherwise you may find they loose load the goods to maximise cargo.

Damco
Maersk
DSV
THI Vietnam

Just four names off the top of my head who are very reputable.

You will need to produce some form of packing list with values for the cargo, it doesn't have to be super accurate, and I believe books in Belgium are zero rated for import tax anyway.

Thankyou Jlgarbutt for all the good tips you have given me! I have been able to find Damco and Maersk on the web and have sent emails to the contacts listed on their websites but they are not responding. The phone numbers given on the websites are not responding either and seem to be switched to a fax after a few minutes. Time is a bit getting short for me so if you had any contacts you could get through to  I would really appreciate. On top of that I am in Nha Trang so I suppose I will have to take some time  to bring my things to HCMC! and with my leg that is going to be also a bit complicated to organise but maybe there is a service by which I can send my things without making that trip. And then as you said there is the packaging... i have started putting away in boxes my books but they are in all sorts of different boxes so maybe there is a standard box I have to get but I do not know the size I must take or the weight... Thanks a lot for all the help you can provide me with!

Hi, When I was in Vietnam I used to send my belongings to Paris the following company: https://www.eurosender.com/
It's very cheap and affordable.
Try it.

I worked a couple of years for APM Terminals which is a company owned by MAERSK.
DAMCO is not a packager carrier, and in any case is a company owned by MAERSK too.
MAERSK own the vessels (ships) and do not organize deliveries, to send anything from a country to another country you must contact the shippers.
I read so many of those bullshit here that even a polar bear shivered.

Nobody will answer because both Maersk and DAMCO (which is a Maersk company) are not shippers but ship owners.
Damco we had used it when I worked for APM Terminals to transport large port cranes weighing 55 tons each, but they don't make packaging. Maersk does not deal with shipments, he is an owner of large container ships.
This is me:

Any seafright agent that operates a container service also operates what is called LCL services where customers consoldiate their goods in the same container as other customers - The same process as road baeed groipage services....

Working experience in shipping and logistics for 30+ years 😁

Joss15 wrote:

Nobody will answer because both Maersk and DAMCO (which is a Maersk company) are not shippers but ship owners.
Damco we had used it when I worked for APM Terminals to transport large port cranes weighing 55 tons each, but they don't make packaging. Maersk does not deal with shipments, he is an owner of large container ships.
This is me: https://tinyurl.com/y87ru8rl

You think Damco dont operate LCL services ...? Every container service operator in the world does,

DAMCO does not make packaging, they, eventually manage FCL, LCL.
I know them from longtime.

Joss15 wrote:

DAMCO does not make packaging, they, eventually manage FCL, LCL.
I know them from longtime.
https://ibb.co/yYV72WW

You shipped cranes..... we are talking about LCL cargo, not parcels like DHL and Fedex.

We are talking about shipping LCL cargo, not making packaging.

https://www.damco.com/en/services/ocean-freight/lcl/

Taken directly from their site, LCL consolidation services -

the action or process of combining a number of things into a single more effective or coherent whole.

you want to have the last word, keep it. Let's see how Ms. Silver manages to send her pack of books to Brussels.

Joss15 wrote:

you want to have the last word, keep it. Let's see how Ms. Silver manages to send her pack of books to Brussels.

It's not about having the last word at all, the facts are there on the companies own website.   

From you original comment about them not making packaging is correct but the shopper is not asking them to make packaging.

Take the time to read the post it helps a lot

Miss Silver wrote:

I have to leave Nha Trang to go to Bruxelles (Belgium EU) where obligations are calling me. Does anyone know of a way to send most of my belongings (I am a teacher so I have quite a few books which I use) at a lower cost than the 6.600.000 VND for 20kg the post is proposing? I don't need them right away so I don't mind if it takes a few months but I would like to send them before I leave which normally I hope to be able to do current August. Thanks for your help.

Ms Silver strange as it may sound contact your post office. They'll provide the service for you and the rates aren't to bad. Used them back in 1996 to ship a bunch of extra items back to the States after we retired here. They'll give you a quick estimate, do the wrapping and packing, pick-up and customs forms for mailing. You have to go see them first, don't try and do it with a email or phone call.

Rick