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

backup data and replace

[smi.james.th]

Personally I would have just backed the data up and carried the hard drives with me if I were moving continents. Computer hardware isn't that expensive to replace.

If you're intent on doing it that way though, it might help to package the stuff in its original boxes, I know many people do keep them. They're suitable for shipping.

Packaging

[Ford Prefect]

Simple - put things into packaging approximating what they originally came in. Worked fine for me, with a range of computing hardware and an inkjet printer travelling from Europe to Washington State.

(How do you think much of your computing stuff made its way from China to begin with?)

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...)

Ink and batteries

[maroberts]

Should be removed for shipping.

Prepare to lose everything

[Anonymous Coward]

Prepare to lose everything you pack in the container. Cargo ships will pack as many cargo containers into them as they can and whatever won't fit into the hold will be strapped to the deck. It is not unknown for cargo containers to be washed overboard during a storm. A shipment of rubber ducks that were washed overboard ended up helping scientists track ocean currents. See the following link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendly_Floatees

Re:Prepare to lose everything

[ColdWetDog]

Prepare to lose everything you pack in the container. Cargo ships will pack as many cargo containers into them as they can and whatever won't fit into the hold will be strapped to the deck. It is not unknown for cargo containers to be washed overboard during a storm. A shipment of rubber ducks that were washed overboard ended up helping scientists track ocean currents. See the following link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendly_Floatees

Be prepared to get boarded you scurvy dog!

Come on, bad things can always happen. Container losses are not particularly common and he's not shipping the Mona Lisa.

Good thing pirates don't make you walk the plank these days. You'd be in a total twizzy.

Re:Prepare to lose everything

[Zontar_Thing_From_Ve]

While the subject line is a bit sensational, I do think it's worth warning potentially naive people that they can lose everything in a move, even if unlikely. As a child my family hired a reputable moving company to move almost all of our belongings about 700 miles from a northern US state to a southern one. It was near the end of the year, so unbeknown to us, the driver actually drove the van north to spend New Year's with his family and abandoned it in a shopping center where it was robbed. What they didn't take, the robbers dumped in the snow to get ruined. We lost everything we didn't take with us in the car, including irreplaceable family photos of me and my brother as young children. The moving company fought us in court and in the end since my family was not rich and could not afford a protracted lawsuit, we had to settle for a price that probably didn't truly cover our losses but got most of them. I remember some years ago in school encountering another student with a similar story, but events like this are rare. People just need to understand that while it is probably unlikely that the OP will lose everything, the odds are probably a lot higher than he likely realizes and it's not a "1 in a million" event.

Heatsink

[artor3]

Remove the CPU's heatsink from the motherboard, if you haven't. Those things are heavy, and the plastic screws typically holding them on are weak. The last thing you want is a big hunk of metal bouncing around inside the box.

Source: experience :(

Insurance

[jkroll]

As someone who has moved overseas and back four times; you are worried about the trivial details. Take a good hard look at the shipping contract concerning damage coverage. The contract may also prohibit certain hazardous materials like lead acid batteries and cleaning products.

Have your property packed out by a company experienced in shipping belongings overseas. No amount of silica packages will protect your stuff if the container is lost at sea or gets sea water inside.

Document the condition of your belongings before they are packed up. Also make backups of important data and papers and keep them separate from your shipment. So that in the event that the worst happens, it's just a matter of getting reimbursed for damages and buying replacements. While that can be time consuming and annoying, it is better than losing irreplaceable photos or legal records.

Good luck and enjoy your new country.

Re:Heat.

[Rei]

First off, I'm one of the few people commenting on this thread who's actually moved overseas and sent a computer in their personal belongings crate.

This whole question and most of the answers is a whole lot of hullaballoo over nothing. First, as to carrying the computer onboard carryon or checked baggage: the person will have so much airplane baggage when moving that they're not going to have room to be hauling all their electronics in it, and it'd *definitely* be safer in the shipping crate than in checked baggage.

You know the most dangerous time for shipped goods? Going to and from the port. *Not* while on the ship, not even when being loaded. It's no more dangerous to move by ship than by moving company. Just make sure everything is strapped down *WELL*. It helps if your shipping container is as small as you can possibly get all of your stuff into. Are you using palettes and a partial load or getting a whole crate? Remember that if you get a whole crate you may not be able to have it lowered all the way to the ground, so if you're loading it yourself, you should rent a forklift to help get your stuff in, whether you use palettes or not.

Neither heat nor cold nor static will be a problem. Oceans are temperature moderators and you don't get much more grounded than being surrounded by a giant steel box. Of course your ink will survive; why wouldn't it? And I should reiterate, buy as much of whatever you consume regularly *before* the move because your life will be hectic after it and it takes time to learn where you can buy everything (if it's even available in your new location), esp. if there's a language barrier.

You're thinking of the wrong stuff. When it comes to packing, the primary thing you need to be thinking about is, "how tightly can I wedge all this in and how tightly can I strap it all down?" Whether computer parts or not. And if you're moving to a place with different power, Buy Way More Inverters Than You Think You Need. Get big heavy duty ones and lots of them, not "just enough", because they will break eventually.

Best of luck with your move. I bet you'll be watching the port for your ship like I was! ;)

Re:Heat.

[evanism]

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