Transcontinental shipping of models - advice please

[silly moo]

We are moving from Africa to the UK in a few months time so I am frantically packing up my railway collection. Most of it will be going by sea in a shipping container. We spoke to the removal company last week and the representative mentioned that the shipping containers do get quite hot in transit. Ours will probably go via North Africa and the Suez Canal.

I am concerned about my models getting damaged by the heat. 75% of them have their original boxes and the remainder have been packed in tissue paper, I have the option of putting them into a steel trunk, plastic ammunition boxes or cardboard cartons.

Our new models are sent by container from the factories in China so perhaps I am worrying a bit too much.

Do any forum members have experience of sending their models on a similar journey and any advice?

[Bealman]

I lost books and furniture on a container ship between the UK and Australia back in 1990.

They all arrived, but some were so water damaged as to be irretrievable.

Just make sure your N gauge stock is secure!

[zwilnik]

I lost books and furniture on a container ship between the UK and Australia back in 1990.

They all arrived, but some were so water damaged as to be irretrievable.

Just make sure your N gauge stock is secure!

and properly insured.

If you've got any spare polystyrene sheets lying about you can probably insulate the cardboard cartons pretty effectively by lining them. That should regulate the heat a little as well as giving you a bit of extra padding.

[Bealman]

Yes, great advice. Basically the shipping companies don't give two monkies. They are only moving stuff from A to B.

Pack everything.

[Newportnobby]

I lost books on a container ship between the UK and Australia back in 1990.
They all arrived, but some were so water damaged as to be irretrievable.

Take no notice, Veronica. His wife just threw his smutty mags overboard is all.
I know you're moving back to the UK but you do realise you're jeopardising the award for furthest travelled NGF member at TINGS?

[RailGooner]

If you can source natural wool, it is a good insulator and helps to stabilize humidity. It also delivers some shock/drop protection. It's very environmentally friendly and is becoming more widely used in packaging products.

[jpendle]

Above all do not skimp on insurance. A ships crew are well within their rights to jettison containers overboard if necessary to stabilize a ship in extreme weather.

BTW the entire contents of our 4 bed house in the UK did not fill a 20' shipping container!

Regards,

John P

[Malc]

You don't know how much Railway stuff Veronica has stashed away.😁

[silly moo]

Malc is absolutely right 

[Webbo]

Veronica

I wouldn't worry too much about your stuff getting overheated. Air temperatures over the sea don't go too much above 30, but I suppose the container containing your stuff could be on the outside on the sunny side of the ship. Anyway, if the inside of the container gets warm for long enough no amount of insulation will save you.

Best advice to protect yourself is to get your stuff well insured as has been pointed out.

Bon voyage to you and your railway
Webbo

[Stuart Down Under]

We shipped our stuff back to Australia two years ago. I packed all of my models myself in eight sturdy cardboard cartons, each measuring 47x32x32cm. They were lined with bubble wrap and packed solid, with no intervening packaging. I taped every joint and every edge to make each carton vermin-proof. They were quite heavy - I thought that a full size packing case would be just too much. All arrived safe and well. I tracked the ship it was on - loaded in Felixtowe, but ran aground for two days in Hamburg! Came via the Cape and trans-shipped in Port Klang, Malaysia to a smaller vessel for Sydney. Our household goods took a 40ft Hi-cube, but it did also have my Mini Cooper in it! I do agree about adequate insurance. The trouble is damage to contents not packed by the removalist will not be covered - only total loss. I kept an itemised inventory of all of the models in each carton.

The real worry isn't the ship, but the removalist. All the cartons will be individually numbered, but the speed at which they are unloaded made it impossible to check off item-by-item, and it was a few days before we realised that some stuff hadn't arrived - fortunately models all OK. The goods will likely be repacked at least twice. Picked up from you, then re-packed into the sea container. The removalist only has the container for about two hours before they have to pay extra demurrage charges. Unpacked from container at destination (again a limited time) for inspection by customs, then repacked for delivery. Easy for the odd carton to get overlooked.

Do your best with the packing, insure adequately and then just hope for the best!!

Good Luck.

[dannyboy]

If you can source natural wool,

....................  according to t'internet, in 2011 there were approximately 28.8 million sheep in South Africa - so no problem there then! 

As has already been said Veronica, make sure you have adequate insurance and I would suggest taking plenty of photo's of your stock, before and after packing! Good luck with the journey. 

[Chris Morris]

Everything  travels in a container from China to the UK in the first place and you never see locos with heat deformed plastic bodies on sale from Dapol or Farish. I would therefore conclude that when packed in their original packing models must be able to withstand the temperatures in a container.

[The Q]

One thing you have to watch out for is unexpected rapid delivery, I was told to expect to get delivery at Felixstowe in six to eight weeks from loading into a container in Saudi. Two weeks later I got a call it arrived.

The particular problem with this was I had to hire a van .... With a towbar, not too common!!!

Everything had arrived , but the boat on it's trailer had received some damage. They had transhipped the goods into a different container at Jeddah, most of my ratchet straps had gone missing so the boat bashed the container sides. There were some damaged boxes but not the contents.
Insurance with it being Saudi, the only way To claim was to go back to Saudi, but that was impossible, and would have cost more than the damage.

[Newportnobby]

Port Klang, Malaysia

Unfortunate name. Sounds like they need drivingsailing lessons in that harbour