How to ship large and heavy items internationally?

Nowadays it is so easy to order anything and everything on the internet from all over the world. Rather than looking around town or satisfying with a similar model because the item you really want is only selling on another continent, you can now simply fill your virtual cart, click a few buttons, and checkout. Even though purchasing items of any size can be done by anyone anywhere and at any time, delivering the item safely and inexpensively is a complex process. The problem is that there isn’t really one fixed price for shipping. If you want to know how to best ship large and heavy items internationally, stay with us until the end of this article. You are free to look around other Transparent International NYC posts for more in-depth information.

What is considered to be a large or heavy shipment?

If you find yourself wondering what you should do when you need to ship some elephant-sized piece of machinery or heavyweight set of encyclopedias? We’re here to help. Let’s say you are going to be moving from the UK to the USA and you need to have some large items shipped. Firstly, we need to understand what does a large or heavy shipment means. There are two types of shipments: parcel and freight. Parcel shipments consist of letters, magazines, and “normal-size” packages you might receive from e-commerce retailers and other companies. Carriers will have different limits for weight and size.  When your package exceeds any of these measurements, it is considered a “freight shipment”. And unfortunately, that means that you will have special freight charges.

How much does it cost to ship large and heavy items internationally?

Life would be so much easier if carriers could agree on one fixed price for shipping. Unfortunately, there is no such thing. So, any time you are shipping heavy items across the country or internationally, which is more complex, of course, you have to do a little research. Luckily, there is a way to avoid that hassle, at least when you are moving and need to ship something overseas for moving purposes. For example, International Piano Movers deal specifically with piano moving and shipping overseas. Transparent International also deals with other large and heavy item moving and international relocation of fragile, robust, and valuable inventory.

Things you need to take into consideration:

• Dimensional weight. Pay more attention to this practice since applying dimensional weight to shipments is fairly new. In the last five years, carriers began to notice they were losing money on large yet light items. Light, but large items took up a lot of space on their trucks, yet made them little money. That is why they began applying this “theoretical” weight to packages based on how much volume the package occupies. So that they can choose to charge you whatever earns them more money, the actual weight of the package, or the “dimensional weight.”
• Freight class. When your item goes beyond the weight and size restrictions of parcel shipping, it will be shipped as freight. The price will depend because there are 18 classes of freight shipment. On the website for the National Motor Freight Traffic Association (NMFTA), you can read more about these classes.
• Destination. When you need to ship large and heavy items internationally, “limited access location” charges can also apply. These are areas where the pick-up and delivery services are restricted like airports, construction sites, churches, government facilities, etc. We suggest you look up our moving companies to Australia in case you need something shipped there.