Container Shipping to Phil.

As we prepare for the time when we come to live in the Philippines, we want to bring some of our belongings (furniture,tools, kitchen items and electronics, ....).
Any information about delivery and safety of "small container shipping"? Thanks, J.H.

[The Dane]

I have only used domestic shipping here in the Philippines when moving back and forth from Luzon - Negros...

Very painless here, they came out with a truck - we loaded it up and a week or so later another truck pulls up at the new house in Dumaguete and we unloaded...

You will be facing more trouble with customs and everything though...

Many years ago, the company I worked for decided to move its head offices from Makati to Cagayan de Oro. After some pencil pushing, we thought of just selling out our office furniture and equipment and buy new ones at the new location instead of going through all the effort and expense of shipping these out to Cagayan.

Considering shippings costs, customs duties and insurance, moving bulky items like furniture from the US to the Philippines might turn out to be more expensive than purchasing new ones locally---not to mention all the hassle and effort that you’ll have to go through in importing these into the country. As for electrical appliances, electronics and power tools, it might help you to know that the operating voltage in the Philippines is 220 volts and not 110 volts, which is the standard in the United States. Of course, you can use a step-down transformer...but many power tools and kitchen appliances like your ordinary coffee maker have power ratings that could go as high as 1000 to 1500 watts. A 220-110 volt step-down transformer rated at 1500 watts is quite expensive and bulky, making it inconvinient to move around the house everytime you need to use different appliances. Moreover, there is the danger of plugging by mistake a 110-volt appliance in a 220-volt outlet. For your safety and peace of mind, you may want to consider purchasing these items locally as well. Many stores in the Philippines carry quality brands that are relatively inexpensive.

Now, that leaves out clothing, accessories, small kitchen items, hand tools and other personal effects which you can ship into the Philippines inside balikbayan boxes. It would cost you around 70 to 80 US dollars to have a balikbayan box delivered door-to-door from, say Houston to any point in the Philippines regardless of weight and it takes about a month for the boxes to reach the consignee. The risk of pilferage or having some items stolen from the boxes at the port of entry is practically nil, if that is what you are worried about because these are kept inside locked container vans whose key is kept by the cargo forwarder in the Philippines. Upon delivery , the cargo forwarder will take pictures of the boxes in the presence of the consignee to assure the sender that these were delivered unopened and untampered with. For your added protection, it would be best to keep an inventory of the contents of each of the boxes.

I hope this helps. Good luck on your forthcoming move to the Philippines.