Ask Slashdot: Transporting Computers By Cargo Ship?

JabrTheHut writes "I'll be packing up and moving to another continent soon. Everything I own will be packed up into boxes and loaded onto a cargo container, which in turn will be loaded onto a ship and will sail from Northern Europe, through the equator and then to its final destination. It will be in transit for up to 8 weeks. What do I need to do to ensure my stuff survives the trip? I've got anti-static bags and silica gel for graphics cards and hard disks, which won't be in the computers, mostly, when they move, and some of what I own will be crated in order to protect both against physical damage and humidity. I'll throw in a couple of packets of silica gel into each box or crate. Clothes get moth balls. But what have I missed? Will the printer ink survive? Do I have to worry about batteries? What haven't I thought of?"

Comments

Re:Packaging

[Ford Prefect]

Exactly. I ship expensive electronics (scientific equipment) by container ship all the time. It's not that big a deal.

Actually, come to think of it, the only thing of mine that did get slightly damaged was an old Soviet microscope. Primarily because some idiot (i.e. me) forgot to bolt it into its carrying case, allowing it to rattle around inside.

(Good news - the heavy-duty Soviet engineering meant just the monocular head was very slightly bent. I hope I didn't damage the cargo ship, however...)

Re:Heat.

[evanism]

What about the electrons? If he crosses the equator he'll need to reverse the polarity of a few things. ;)