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We have to move out of our main house end of January. We'll be staying in a small vacation house we have while we continue to search for our new main house, we hope that will be sooner rather than later but will not be rushing it, it could be 6 months.
We'll be using a professional mover and I'm thinking it might make sense if we could pay a monthly fee to have everything stay in the moving container and have the moving company store it until we are ready for the move, rather than having everything moved into and out of storage. I believe I've read about people doing this. I don't know if this would cost more or less than having it moved into and out of storage?
What makes the most sense from a strategic and cost standpoint? I am not expecting it to be cheap but don't want to throw away money for no reason either.
If moving to Hawaii Matson and Horizon are the only ones I know of that will supply a 45' container, have you load it, pick it up, ship it to Hawaii, store it, and deliver it when needed without transferring it from the pickup method to warehouse storage and reloading it for shipment. Odds are if you are using anyone but Matson or Horizon for a Hawaii relocation, whomever you use will still transfer the goods from their trailer to a Matson or Horizon container anyways.
You do have the option of using Pods, Pack Rat, U-Haul, ABF and the other "pods" type containers (although they are usually under 25 feet) who do store the units as-is and ships it as-is to where you need it. With these types of companies, they are renting the unit to you and you pay the initial delivery of the empty unit, pay for the pickup, pay for deliver at your destination, pay for the shipping from pickup location to delivery location, and any needed holding storage charges. If you know the specifics of your trip, they will quote a single price, but if you are not sure, they will provide ala-carte pricing.
The last option is to purchase a seaworthy (with or able to get a certificate) and be your own shipper. You buy the container you need, hire a trucker to deliver it, hire trucker to pick it up and take it to some storage yard, pay storage yard rental, hire trucker to pick it up and deliver it to Matson, Horizon or Pasha's terminal, pay Matson, Horizon or Pasha for the sea voyage, hire trucker to pick it up at the port and deliver it to you, unload it, keep or sell the empty container to someone else.
Sorry for the delayed acknowledgement, thanks for the response. I'm curious, does anyone know if storing and then shipping (2) 25' containers instead of a single 45' container is an option to even consider?
Generally folks refer to them as twenty and forty foot containers, not sure if they are the same as a twenty five and forty five footers? If you own the container and it's seaworthy, then you just have them taken to the port and away they go.
I would guess that the differences between a forty foot and two twenty footers are double the cost of moving, shipping and storing two versus one. I haven't checked the differences in cost between shipping a twenty foot versus a forty foot, but I'm guessing two twenty footers will cost more than one forty footer. But Matson and Horizon have websites which will probably have some rough cost estimates.
It will take two trucks to move two containers, so twice as much to move the twenty footers. Storage places charge per container? Per square foot? There aren't that many on the Big Island, though, so you can call and inquire.
Is there any after shipping use which is a reason for two twenty footers?
The standard (best rate per cubic foot) is based on a 40' box container. There is an upcharge for 40' hi-cubes, 45' containers, and 45' hi-cubes. Likewise, there is discounts for smaller containers. However, the base rates favor the 40' standard container so smaller containers will be more per cubic foot.
As an example, lets say a 40' standard container cost $1,000 to ship. You may pay an additional $100 for a 40' hi-cube, $250 if its a 45' container, and $200 if a 45' hi-cube. The 20' (standard sizes are 10' 20' 40' 45') container being half the size isn't going to be half the cost. It is actually a sizable per cubic foot increase and may cost $800 to ship. So, two 20' containers will be about $1,600 for the same cubic foot volume of a standard 40' container. Now add double storage fees, deliver fees, trucking charges, etc, etc and its not worth using smaller containers unless you only need one.
Now, two containers may be appropriate if you are shipping some items for immediate use and others for later deliver. In this case, having one delivered right away and storing the other may be less than if you had to have the one larger container delivered unloaded and return to storage for delivery at a later date.
As hotzcatz wrote, go to the shippers websites and read their information. I'm sure they all offer a way to get a quote before you decide to use them.
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