Urgent request for US West Coast shipping contacts

[TerraHertz]

I have an urgent and extreme shipping requirement. I need to find a US west coast shipping logistics company that can undertake a difficult pickup and shipping project, with pickup near Sacramento IN THE NEXT WEEK OR TWO.

The project is detailed here: http://everist.org/dm/
(There's another version of that online with all the contact details, but that's for prospective contractors.)

It involves boxing and loading a 20' shipping container with a pile of technical manuals that will pretty much fill the container. Then shipping it to Sydney - but that's the easy part. The pickup is the insane part.

I have some inquiries in progress, but am seeking contact with other potential US shipping agents that might be capable of this job.
Any readers on the US West coast (or Oz) that are aware of potentially capable shipping companies, please post here.

Yes, I know it's crazy, and I know how much it will cost (approximately.) Call me nuts, I don't care.
And yes I can afford it.

Previous mention: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/goodies-on-ebay-disguised-as-scrap/msg3761939/#msg3761939

[I wanted a rude username]

Just want to point out that if the congestion currently affecting US ports scuttles your plans, you can probably negotiate with the seller to pay for another year on that storage unit, and/or take it over from them.

Good luck, you magnificent bastard.

[jpanhalt]

Intriguing.

Have you checked with "library movers" in the US?  "Iron Mountain" is one we routinely used for lots of paper storage.

[TerraHertz]

Just want to point out that if the congestion currently affecting US ports scuttles your plans, you can probably negotiate with the seller to pay for another year on that storage unit, and/or take it over from them.

Re transfering the storage unit - unfortunately no. The seller says he's previously tried to transfer ownership to another family member, and the storage company refuses. They will only finish a lease if the unit is emptied and clean. Seems really inflexible to me, and I can see I'll probably end up trying to argue with them about it. But maybe it really won't be possible. This is the biggest uncertainty. Otherwise I'd just pay for another month.
And he's migrating to the East coast. Cannot retain any connection to the storage unit.

The ports congestion - yeah, JUST my bad luck with timing. But I am cynical about the situation improving any time soon, so best to try getting it out as soon as possible. (I believe the psychopathic death-cult Elites are seriously trying to smash the world economy and kill most of us. But lets not get into that discussion here. Just mentioning it as part of the background to why I'm trying hard to grab this manuals windfall. I consider it most unlikely to ever happen again, and even the shipping might soon become permanently impossible.)

Good luck, you magnificent bastard.

Thanks. Need it.

[fcb]

Shipping is absolutley nuts at the moment and is only getting worse, I have family in shipping and they have never ever seen or heard of anything like it, the system is not creaking it is basically broken.

If it's important - you'd be better off getting on a plane and sorting it out in the US.

[Alex Eisenhut]

I think you're looking for an international freight forwarder.

http://www.a2globalshipping.com/us/ca/sacramento

Worth a try, I guess.

[TerraHertz]

Have you checked with "library movers" in the US?  "Iron Mountain" is one we routinely used for lots of paper storage.

Thanks for that. I've left a query with them. Ha ha, but if fees are proportional to company web site polish, I probably can't afford *them*.

Shipping is absolutley nuts at the moment and is only getting worse, I have family in shipping and they have never ever seen or heard of anything like it, the system is not creaking it is basically broken.

I know, I read a lot. Broken on the West Coast, seems OK on East Coast.  Also Sydney Port Botany seems to be running fine. But supply chains collapsing everywhere.

If it's important - you'd be better off getting on a plane and sorting it out in the US.

Would if I could, but cannot. Our lovely Oz government won't allow us to leave if not kill-jabbed. Which I'm not and won't be.

I think you're looking for an international freight forwarder.   (Yes indeed. But there are so many. Also google loves to deliver results for your own country, not so much others. I forget how to get around this, if it's possible. I don't have a VPN.)

http://www.a2globalshipping.com/us/ca/sacramento

I've left a query. But arrgh, their forms use google login. I have several different google aliases (which it hates) and there seemed to be no way to make the form accept my attempts to switch google account. I *loathe* google so much.

[Brumby]

I think you might temporarily exceed Dave for the title of "That crazy Aussie bloke" - but I admire your efforts.

All the best luck!!

CALL TO ARMS

Enablers - Your time is NOW!!

[Zero999]

If it's important - you'd be better off getting on a plane and sorting it out in the US.

Would if I could, but cannot. Our lovely Oz government won't allow us to leave if not kill-jabbed. Which I'm not and won't be.

How about hiring someone who is and can do it for you? Perhaps not, it'll probably cost too much.

[sandalcandal]

I haven't actually used them but I have in the past talked to http://www.clarkeglobal.com.au/ and I found them very on the ball and helpful. Maybe they'll be able to help you here too?

[andy3055]

What are the chances of getting them moved to a facility to scan, index them and transfer online for you to download?

[Brumby]

What are the chances of getting them moved to a facility to scan, index them and transfer online for you to download?

How many MILLION$ do you have?


Besides, that still doesn't address the critical factor - TIME.  There is precious little time to secure them from the storage unit.

[Alex Eisenhut]

I would try to track down the people behind this show

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storage_Wars

they might have insights.

[jpanhalt]

RE; Storage Wars

I have used independent haulers for several things, usually farm equipment or other large items, like a riding mower and mini-excavator.  I contracted through UShip (https://www.uship.com/freight/ ).  They are very price competitive.  The excavator (about 6 tons) was about  $400 from Southwest Missouri to Cleveland.  That is, less than what gasoline would cost for my round trip.  Unfortunately, they do not do packing.  While they will load their trailers with big items, I suspect they won't want to load 100+ boxes unless palleted and given access to a forklift.

[bdunham7]

Yes, I know it's crazy, and I know how much it will cost (approximately.) Call me nuts, I don't care.
And yes I can afford it.

I'm not sure what your cost estimates are, but given my luck finding people to do 'stuff' lately, I think you're in for a challenge.  To get all that done in the time you have seems unlikely, so your backup plan needs to be to find someone that will, for a substantial fee, go get everything and move it to another larger storage facility for starters.  Then it can be packed up in a more leisurely manner while you arrange a shipping container.  With shipping containers, there seems to be an abundance of them here right now and it is inbound shipping that is maxed out, not outbound.  So maybe, just maybe, that part will work out.  I hope your overall budget is at least--the very least-$10K US.

[TerraHertz]

Yes, I know it's crazy, and I know how much it will cost (approximately.) Call me nuts, I don't care.
And yes I can afford it.

I'm not sure what your cost estimates are, but given my luck finding people to do 'stuff' lately, I think you're in for a challenge.  To get all that done in the time you have seems unlikely, so your backup plan needs to be to find someone that will, for a substantial fee, go get everything and move it to another larger storage facility for starters.  Then it can be packed up in a more leisurely manner while you arrange a shipping container.  With shipping containers, there seems to be an abundance of them here right now and it is inbound shipping that is maxed out, not outbound.  So maybe, just maybe, that part will work out.  I hope your overall budget is at least--the very least-$10K US.

I'm hoping to get it done for under $20K. But I can go above that if necessary.
It's quite an amazing coincidence that this opportunity came up so suddenly, NOW, when I happen to have sufficient funds available. That alone is very rare. Fate...  But I'll wait till after completion and they are actually here, before thanking Fate.

Then there's subsequent costs. Need to do some building mods in my home, arrange a LOT of shelving... then maybe a year of sorting and cataloging, then offloading unwanted duplicates.  THEN a long development effort (software and technique) before even contemplating a large scale scanning effort. Part of my motivation is that I think ALL scanning (past and present) of tech docs like these, has been atrociously poor. Results so far below acceptable aesthetic and ergonomic quality that they are an insult to the original doc producers. Just one point: There is no PNG in PDF. ALL the built-in image formats in PDF are either very poor compression, or excessively lossy. There is no way round this with PDF. So everything scanned to PDF is junk and needs to be redone at some time in the future when a better file standard is developed. But even PNG lacks features required for this use.

Many other problems with PDF. I personally think it is a deliberately crippled standard; for reasons I suspect but can't prove so won't discuss.

Anyway, that's one reason I'm doing this.

What are the chances of getting them moved to a facility to scan, index them and transfer online for you to download?

That's completely impractical (for many reasons) but also fails to meet my primary objective. Which is to preserve the physical documents for posterity. (And future improved scanning technology.)
People place far too much faith in digital archives. Wait 500 or 1000 years, before saying it's a good idea to totally rely on digital archives.

[Someone]

Having done blind and/or unaccompanied moves:

Hire a moving company to do it! Sounds obvious but the larger "house moving" companies do this sort of thing for corporates all the time. Some are international and will have personnel/locations at each end already. They will:

repack into boxes/crates
hire a container
load into container (co-ordinate backfilling if you want)
organise container movements (at a speed of your choosing, can be very cheap if you don't mind slow)
organise import/customs/biosecurity
unload and unpack at end point

All taken care of for you. Its amazing how cheap the container movements are when you don't mind waiting.

[amyk]

Jason Scott might be able to help; he's done something similar before: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/rescue-mission-25-000-manuals-baltimore/

[TerraHertz]

Having done blind and/or unaccompanied moves:
Hire a moving company to do it! Sounds obvious but [snip]
All taken care of for you. Its amazing how cheap the container movements are when you don't mind waiting.

Yes! It is obvious. That is what this thread is about! FINDING such a company, known to be capable and getting a quote. As quickly as possible.
There are so many moving & logistics companies, not enough time to search for and evaluate them properly.

Got any suggestions for an actual company that you used before? URL or contact details please. Several leads I've been given elsewhere turn into briar patches because I was just given a name, but there were company mergers, etc since.
Currently have three lines of inquiry active, but more would be better.

Jason Scott might be able to help; he's done something similar before: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/rescue-mission-25-000-manuals-baltimore/

The ManualsPlus debacle/tragedy. I had followed that one closely.  See my posts in that thread? Also my notes about it here: http://everist.org/NobLog/20190223_full_spectrum.htm#alex

That was not really similar. Mainly because they were able to organize many volunteers to come onsite, to select and box what manuals they could deal with. Over several days. (And they still only got a fraction of the ManualsPlus collection.) What they did was nothing like hiring a moving company to just come and box up everything, in one day. (Which is feasible in this instance if well organized.)
Someday I'd like to talk with him about where those ultimately ended up. "Somewhere in CA." It sounds like archive.org gave up on keeping them. But not now. No distractions...

If I'd had half a million dollars when ManualsPlus was closing, I'd have rescued the entire lot. No kidding. With a million, just bought the entire building and kept that company going even if at a loss.

[bdunham7]

Got any suggestions

Yes, if you haven't already tried this, find a company at your end that does moving internationally and let them set it up.  They will have contacts and associates for whom the deal will be somewhat normal, instead of some random guy on the phone from across the globe.

[TerraHertz]

find a company at your end that does moving internationally ...

Actually it is a good idea. Pursuing it now.
googling 'international moving companies' is quite different to 'international freight forwarders'.
There are of course multiple choices. Working through them asking for quotes.

[Someone]

Having done blind and/or unaccompanied moves:
Hire a moving company to do it! Sounds obvious but the larger "house moving" companies do this sort of thing[snip]
All taken care of for you. Its amazing how cheap the container movements are when you don't mind waiting.

Got any suggestions for an actual company that you used before? URL or contact details please. Several leads I've been given elsewhere turn into briar patches because I was just given a name, but there were company mergers, etc since.

Yes, if you haven't already tried this, find a company at your end that does moving internationally and let them set it up. They will have contacts and associates for whom the deal will be somewhat normal, instead of some random guy on the phone from across the globe.

Actually it is a good idea. Pursuing it now.
googling 'international moving companies' is quite different to 'international freight forwarders'.
There are of course multiple choices. Working through them asking for quotes.

lol, well, you got there in the end. As you note above, any experience even from just a few years back is moot with the constant merging/changing of these companies. Although its pretty hard to stuff up piles of paper expect binders on their ends/sides and ripped binding holes as boxes will end up rotated.

[daqq]

That's completely impractical (for many reasons) but also fails to meet my primary objective. Which is to preserve the physical documents for posterity. (And future improved scanning technology.)

While I do understand your preference, and that having the documents scanned and printing them out at your location might the 'bad' option, it's still better than nothing. Just keep it on the table as a last resort option?

And yeah, scans do suck most of the time, but they can also be done properly. Oh, you'll love this: http://www.survivorlibrary.com/library-download.html

[james_s]

Would if I could, but cannot. Our lovely Oz government won't allow us to leave if not kill-jabbed. Which I'm not and won't be.

Ok well that's just stupid, and absurd hyperbole too. Kill jabbed? Give me a break, how many hundreds of millions of doses have been administered without issues? Having just got my third Pfizer recently I really struggle to even comprehend why some people make such a HUGE stink out of something so trivial. Just put on your big boy pants and get the damn shot like everyone else and then you can forget about it, it won't hurt you, it's a massive fight over a nothing burger. Frankly I don't think I'll ever understand, I got my first two jabs ~8 months ago, it took a few minutes, my arm was a little sore for a day or two, then it was over and done and on with life, and I'm just dumbfounded that there are still a few folks acting like it is this huuuuuuuuuuuuge deal.  Frankly I can only assume it's just people pushing back for no other reason than they feel like someone is telling them what to do, so they're going to cut off their own nose just to spite their face. I've got a friend who is on the verge of throwing away his career over it and I've decided I just don't care, if that's the hill he wants to die on that's his right, meanwhile the rest of us have just gotten on with life and the whole vax thing is in the rearview mirror. We didn't die, we didn't get sick, no bits fell off, no new bits have sprouted, it's a huge stink over nothing.

[TerraHertz]

That's completely impractical (for many reasons) but also fails to meet my primary objective. Which is to preserve the physical documents for posterity. (And future improved scanning technology.)

While I do understand your preference, and that having the documents scanned and printing them out at your location might the 'bad' option, it's still better than nothing. Just keep it on the table as a last resort option?

Sometimes I'm stunned at the completely delusional things people say seriously, as if they really think they are being practical.
Did you skip the info-doc? Didn't notice the VOLUME of material? That pile goes back 15 feet deep, all like the visible front in the pics. And btw, some of it is real old and historical.

What's the #1 problem? It's getting them out of there by the deadline. Talk of 'scanning' is bullshit. The only fallback is to extend the deadline for pickup. I expect this to have to happen one way or another.

Please stop with the 'scan them' crap. You actually think 'having the documents scanned' is even conceivably possible? Some kind of good idea?
And that after they're packed and containerised (by the deadline, or extended dealine), then the best next step would be to store them somewhere in the USA and pay 'someone' to scan them? (After sorting, cataloging, restoring, de-duping, indexing...)
Instead of just shipping them, which is totally easy from that point.

You can't be serious. And yet you sound as if you are being serious.
This 'scan everything' reflex is so common, but so totally whacked... it's as if there is some kind of induced mass halucination.

And yeah, scans do suck most of the time, but they can also be done properly.

Into PDF? We will never agree. Also the 'screened background with overlaid text/lines' problem is still not solved. Not to mention huge foldouts, super-fine detail, thick volumes with rigid spines, thin paper with visual bleedthrough, very faint/faded ink, and a hundred other practical issues.

Oh, you'll love this: http://www.survivorlibrary.com/library-download.html

Interesting. Also ironic. Not just that electronic docs won't last or be accessible long in a grid-down scenario, but the _first_ listed topic is Accounting.

Back on topic. Turns out a lot of international home moving companies don't have commercial import/export licences. Which are needed in this instance. But some do. Awaiting responses.