shipping household goods from US to Berlin

[alison]

Sometime in the next few weeks I'll start shipping my household goods from the US to DE. Choosing DHL would appear to make sense since they do business in both the US and DE. Acquaintances have recommended also sendmybag.com and mybaggage.com. Has anyone experience with these services and a recommendation?

Thanks,
Alison

[alison]

I've considered DHL, sendmybag.com and mybaggage.com. None offer temporary storage. I suppose that I will have to ship everything just before I travel to my new address and receive it personally at the other end. Perhaps I can pay someone in Berlin to help me carry all the items upstairs? Does anyone have suggestions as to how I might arrange this?

Thanks,
Alison

[alison]

I looked into International Van Lines, which is an end-to-end shipper who delivers, but they appear to have a bad reputation. Does Berlin have an agency like Task Rabbit from which I could hire someone to help me carry them up the stairs?

Thanks,
Alison

[alison]

I ended up choosing JK Moving, which so far has been a good choice. They manage a move from end-to-end, meaning that they hire Ace Packing to pick my goods, a shipping company to transfer them across the Atlantic, and Rosenbrock to deliver them in Berlin. Ace sent two men who were punctual and friendly. They made a careful manifest of my goods, and put all the small carboard boxes into a giant wooden one which they then nailed shut.

The pickup date was 28/1, and I was told that the shipment could take 8-12 weeks, which means somewhere between late March and late April. Today I got word that the box will be on ship on Feb. 19 and arrive in port on Mar. 30. With luck, I will receive my stuff in early April.

All this is not cheap, but $5250 total. A friend sent her goods via DHL to Dublin, and they just dumped all the boxes on the street outside the building. Here there are two flights of stairs, so I'm glad that Rosenbrock will carry them up.

Best wishes,
Alison