5 Tips for Shipping Containers Overseas

When sending shipping containers overseas, it can be an anxiety-inducing event, especially if it’s your first time. You have to figure out where to start, who to involve, what you need to do to get started and that doesn’t even get into the paperwork or packing!  There’s so much that goes into the process. While Super Cubes does not ship containers, we can help with these 5 tips to help you get started.

5 Tips for Sending Shipping Containers Overseas

Knowing how to prepare for sending shipments overseas is crucial for ensuring your products stay in one piece and don’t get damaged along the way. On top of that, you want to ensure that you have a proper 40-foot shipping container, or 20-foot, depending on your needs. To give you peace of mind, here are 5 tips for shipping containers overseas.

1. Finding the right International Freight Forwarder

Freight Forwarders are companies that help individuals and companies ship things overseas. They specialize in dealing with the intricacies of coordinating the multiple means of transportation (trucking, rail and shipping in both countries), the paperwork and other requirements for shipping goods overseas. We recommend working with a freight forwarder, particularly if you have never shipped something overseas before. It is a complicated process, and each step needs to be set up correctly. If it isn’t and your shipment is held up, you can incur hefty fees. A freight forwarder will help you avoid all of this since they do this every day. 

We recommend looking for an international freight forwarder who works with shipments going between the US and your destination. You will want to check out to make sure that they have a good reputation. Here is a checklist of some things to look for when screening different freight forwarders:

• Company reputation
• Industry experience
• Comprehensive services
• Regional coverage
• Communication skills
• Easily accessible information
• Realistic pricing
• Understanding what services will be provided
  • What transportation is and is not included
  • What documentation services are included
  • What fees are and are not included
  • Ask these questions very carefully so there is no confusion about the answers.
  • Anything that is not included, be sure that you understand what you need to do and when you will need to do it as well as what they estimate those costs to be.

Freight forwarders should be able to answer your questions about the process fairly easily. Be sure that you can communicate well and get quotes in writing. 

2. Understand Regulations and Required Documentation

To legally ship overseas, there are required permits, documentation, and certain regulations that you need to follow.  Some of the types of documentation that will be needed for shipping are below. Some your freight forwarder will create and some you will create. You want to make sure that you have talked through this to be clear who is doing what. Then make sure you have created or gotten copies for them to make the process go smoother. 

• Bill of Lading – Issued by the carrier to confirm receipt of goods and show contract agreements
• Commercial Invoice – Includes buyer and seller details, description and quantity of goods, shipment value, payment terms, etc.
• Certificate of Origin – Declares where the goods were manufactured
• Insurance Certificate – Proves cargo is insured by stating the coverage type, insured value, policy number, etc.
• Copy of Passport/ID – 
• Power of Attorney Form – 
• Packing List – Discloses the number of packages and contents within and the weight and dimensions
• Import and Export Licenses – Government-issued permits that are required for restricted or controlled items
• Customs or Dangerous Goods Declarations – Forms that include nature, purpose, and value of goods
• Phytosanitary Certificates (for plant products) – Ensures plants are free of pests/diseases and comply with country regulations
  
  

3. Choosing the Right Container

One of the first questions you and your freight forwarder will discuss is what size and type of container you will need. Your freight forwarder will also want to know what is in the container, as that affects the shipping rate.  

There are several questions to ask yourself when you are figuring this out:

• What is the quantity of goods you are shipping? Containers come in 20’ and 40’ long. You can check out the different sizes of containers on this page of our website. For international shipping, your options are 20’ standard, 40’ standard, 40’ high cube for standard sizing. Anything beyond that, and you will get into additional charges. 
  
  
• Can your goods fit into a regular container with doors on one end? 
  • If the answer is yes, then you can proceed with a regular container. Great! That just saved you some money! 
  • If the answer is no, then you will need to get a specialty container to fit your goods. You can check out specialty configurations on this page of our website for open-side, open-top, hard-top and containers with doors on both ends. You will probably have to buy the container to fit your needs as the shipping lines usually will not supply these containers. Super Cubes can help you with this! 
    
    
• Do you want to own the container when it gets there? Or do you need a particularly long time to unload the container at the destination? Most people use containers provided by the shipping line. This makes things easy as you get the container, load it up and then when it gets to the destination, you empty it out, and it goes away. But sometimes you want to keep it at the other end. If that is the case, you can buy the container. This is called a “Shipper-owned container.” Super Cubes can help you with this! If you go with a used container, it needs to be at least in cargo-worthy condition, which means it meets the requirements set out by international shipping standards and is structurally sound enough to be the bottom container on the ship with full containers on top of it. In addition, you will need a survey or certification showing that it is cargo-worthy to show the shipping line that the container is in cargo-worthy condition.

If you are providing your own container - be it as a shipper-owned container or as a specialty container - Super Cubes can help. We can source the container for you and survey it. If you are getting a used, cargo-worthy container, a one-trip/”new” container or a specialty container, they all will need to be surveyed. 

What about if you want more time to load the container? Well, we recommend you find a place to store everything while you get ready because the process of setting the container on the ground, then figuring out a way to bring in a forklift or crane to lift that container up and put it on a truck is going to be far more expensive than just storing your goods in your garage, basement or warehouse until it is time to ship the container. More on that in the loading section.

Find out How To Choose The Right Shipping Container

4. Loading your container

One of the biggest concerns customers have is about loading their container. It is the thing that most people want to talk about the most when they call in about shipping containers overseas. It is also one of the aspects of shipping containers that people understand the least. 

When you load up your container, it will go to either a rail yard or a port. Those are very busy, very tightly controlled places where containers come in and out quickly because space is at a premium. The drivers that go in and out need to have special security passes to allow them to go in and out and must bring the containers in and out on chassis or special container trailers. These chassis cannot pick up or drop off containers. The way that most containers are loaded is that the driver will pick up the container where it is placed on the chassis. If it is purchased from Super Cubes, it will be picked up from us at this point. The driver brings the container to the customer, where they have a set amount of time (usually a couple of hours) to load the container, and then the driver brings the container to the rail or port. The timing is pre-determined so the customer can have a team ready for loading. If extra time is needed, there is a set hourly rate for the extra time.  

If that is not the way that the container is loaded, usually one of two things happen: the container is brought out on the chassis and left there. The customer will pay a larger fee for the chassis to stay onsite, and that is usually a short amount of time, like overnight. Alternatively, the container is set on the ground and left there to be loaded at the customer’s leisure. When it is time to ship the container, the customer gets a forklift (only works for 20’ shipping container) or crane (for 40’ containers) to lift the container onto the truck. The crane does add an extra expense to the project that generally is far more than a moving crew. There is a side loader that lifts full containers, but those are only available in large container cities like Chicago, Newark, and Long Beach and cost a bit more than regular trucking. However, availability is usually the tougher issue. These challenges are usually more expensive than just having a crew load the container up, so most people opt to just go with a loading crew.

Read: How To Move 20 Foot And 40 Foot Shipping Container

5. Obtain Insurance

One of the most important things to do on your checklist is getting insurance. While you can do everything possible to prevent damage, accidents are still prone to happen. By obtaining insurance, you can protect your assets and shipping containers while traveling overseas just in case something happens. Whether it is poor weather conditions, damaged during transit, or a container is lost, insurance can help cover your losses. Without insurance, these instances would all come out of your company’s budget.

Where to Buy Shipping Containers for Overseas

If you plan on going the shipper-owned container route and don’t already have a shipping container for getting your product overseas, we have the best place in mind to get one: Super Cubes. With so many years in the business, we can help you find the precise 20-foot  or 40-foot shipping containers you need and can survey them. Whatever it takes. We’ll help you make the right decision for your overseas shipments so you can be confident your product gets there in one piece.

Super Cubes is a family-owned business located in Minneapolis, MN, that provides containers anywhere in the continental US. We offer personalized service for individuals and businesses, providing high-quality containers at competitive prices. With nationwide facilities, we can modify and deliver containers close to you. Contact our experienced team for your next container project.