Shipping from Colombia to U.S.

[ryna 132]

Does anyone know of or have any experience with any cargo/freight shipping companies that will ship between Bogotá and the U.S.? Everything I've been able to find online has been for shipping from the U.S. to Colombia.

My wife arrived in Jan 2011, but we recently rented out our apartment in Bogotá and, since the apartment can no longer serve as a storage unit, we've decided it's finally time to ship the rest of her things up to our house here in the U.S. As I understand it, an immigrant has 10 years after their arrival to import their personal property without paying U.S. customs. We're planning a May or June visit and want to try to arrange everything while we're there.

Edited March 8, 2014 by ryna

[NickD 202]

Exactly what are you trying to bring? An apartment full of furniture?

Wife and I went through her stuff, sure didn't want to bring an old 27" TV set here, or a washer and a dryer, plus all of her appliances, got all new stuff. Just small personal stuff like her doll collection, photos, papers, etc. At first was free with an extra box, but now charging around 50 bucks extra and have to contact the airlines for the maximum size.

Basically, whatever we could carry. Ha, she brought a bunch of clothes here, but for most of it, her skirt lengths were too short for her job requirements, so had to buy all new clothes anyway. With her ipad is always finding discount coupons and with all the stores we have here, the selections are great. Plus if she buys anything she doesn't want, can take it back. She was in Bogota two months ago, didn't buy much of anything, got sticker shock. She likes it here.

[ryna 132]

Exactly what are you trying to bring? An apartment full of furniture?

Wife and I went through her stuff, sure didn't want to bring an old 27" TV set here, or a washer and a dryer, plus all of her appliances, got all new stuff. Just small personal stuff like her doll collection, photos, papers, etc. At first was free with an extra box, but now charging around 50 bucks extra and have to contact the airlines for the maximum size.

Basically, whatever we could carry. Ha, she brought a bunch of clothes here, but for most of it, her skirt lengths were too short for her job requirements, so had to buy all new clothes anyway. With her ipad is always finding discount coupons and with all the stores we have here, the selections are great. Plus if she buys anything she doesn't want, can take it back. She was in Bogota two months ago, didn't buy much of anything, got sticker shock. She likes it here.

Thanks...

Actually, we're not sure. She brought most of the things she needed when she moved here and being over 3 years ago she's, of course, bought everything else since here in the U.S. The plan is to give away most of the non-personal stuff (furniture, appliances, etc.) to her sisters but, now that we've cleaned out the apartment, she wants to bring the rest of her stuff - mostly books, some artwork and maybe some furniture that we could use in a spare bedroom in our house. We're just not sure that all of it will be "planeable" either for size or weight (books aren't light!) on our return trip and if one thing can't be carried on the plane with us, we'd prefer to ship it all instead of carrying some and shipping the rest.

I'm just trying to see if anyone has any experience with any shipping companies there because, as I mentioned, everything we've been able to find is from U.S. to Colombia and not vice versa. I'm sure they exist though.

[NickD 202]

Wife want to bring her car here, was impossible, did not meet USA emission requirements. I felt the Lord was with us, with my GM card and other rebates just at the exact time, received over $11,000 in rebates off the sticker price. Send her plenty of photos. Also while we were waiting, something to do with whatever this USCIS stuff is, was remodeling my home to her liking.

Did you to a net search? Here's one,

http://www.icontainers.com/us/movings/?gclid=CPXlweKWir0CFYZcMgodHCoAKg

All I can suggest is to contact many of them, sure don't want to use FedEx, cost us 80 bucks just to send a piece of paper down there. Cheapest way for us with a 50 pound limit was just to pay the extra baggage fee on return trips.

Ha, my wife had a classic Technics turntable I just had to have, took it all apart and packed it in with our luggage, but sure had a lot of explaining to do with customs. They are not very technically minded people.

In a sense, we were starting off with a new life, and many of our new purchases were done together, so it wasn't her stuff or my stuff, it was our stuff.

[ryna 132]

Wife want to bring her car here, was impossible, did not meet USA emission requirements. I felt the Lord was with us, with my GM card and other rebates just at the exact time, received over $11,000 in rebates off the sticker price. Send her plenty of photos. Also while we were waiting, something to do with whatever this USCIS stuff is, was remodeling my home to her liking.

Did you to a net search? Here's one,

http://www.icontainers.com/us/movings/?gclid=CPXlweKWir0CFYZcMgodHCoAKg

All I can suggest is to contact many of them, sure don't want to use FedEx, cost us 80 bucks just to send a piece of paper down there. Cheapest way for us with a 50 pound limit was just to pay the extra baggage fee on return trips.

Ha, my wife had a classic Technics turntable I just had to have, took it all apart and packed it in with our luggage, but sure had a lot of explaining to do with customs. They are not very technically minded people.

In a sense, we were starting off with a new life, and many of our new purchases were done together, so it wasn't her stuff or my stuff, it was our stuff.

Thanks... I just checked them out. They are another export-only (from U.S.) shipper.. That's our problem - everything we've seen is from the U.S. to Colombia and not vice versa. It's not much that we might want to import (nothing like a car - she has her own here and never had one there, no major appliances, etc.) but there are a few things that may be too big for a plane. We'll continue looking....

Edited March 13, 2014 by ryna

[TBoneTX 45,222]

Sometimes the airlines themselves have cargo services (separate from checked baggage). The paperwork requirements might be oppressive, however. See if this lead pans out.

[NickD 202]

We used a box from a baby car seat, was fairly large and was loaded. Ha, rented one of those carts for five bucks. Thing is, we hauled it to the airport, through the airport, to customs, picked it up from our destination, so we were doing practically all the work. Recalled the airlines charged us 50 bucks for their end of the deal that was the cheapest way to bring stuff back.

Information on the size and weight of boxes like this can be found at the airlines website. What you need, is a ruler and a scale.

Gave us a number, the sum of the length, width, and height of the box, we had to below that number, like an eighth of an inch. Volume plays the same role as weight, try to send an empty large enough to carry a baby stroller by common carrier could cost 600-700 bucks by a common carrier.

[Mononoke28 135]

Thanks... I just checked them out. They are another export-only (from U.S.) shipper.. That's our problem - everything we've seen is from the U.S. to Colombia and not vice versa. It's not much that we might want to import (nothing like a car - she has her own here and never had one there, no major appliances, etc.) but there are a few things that may be too big for a plane. We'll continue looking....

Try Deprisa which works together with UPS. My husband used to send me small packages when he still lived in Colombia and I used to get them within a week. They're not cheap but very reliable.

http://www.deprisa.com/Envios+Empresas/Productos/ES/Productos.htm?nodo=3&nodo=1

Diana

[ryna 132]

Thanks Diana. We'll check them out. We're heading down in May and want to get it taken care of.

[NickD 202]

In theory at least, looking at google maps, have roads to travel on between Wisconsin and Bogota. Wife replied, if the tolls in Colombia don't break us, the landslides or the bandits will get us. Could haul a lot of stuff in my motorhome.