Locate a freight forwarding company close to your current location. Freight forwarding companies will assist in packaging the container correctly, checking documentations, checking insurance and may even export the container for you. Tell the freight forwarding company what you want to ship and what paperwork you already have prepared. The company will recommend any further information needed for the shipping. Freight forwarding companies will vary in price.
Meet the requirements for your container specified by the freight forwarding company (i.e., what insurance is needed, what products can be shipped and what restrictions are in place for certain products). Ask the forwarding company whether they provide containers and, if not, what size is acceptable and where you can purchase a container.
Prepare a list of items due to be shipped to present to your freight forwarding company which they can reference when they are assisting with documentation.
Take pictures of the items before they are exported and the condition of the container. Ensure the photographs are dated as this will help insurance claims should the shipment become lost or damaged.
Confirm the cost of transportation and shipping schedule with the freight forwarding company. You may want to check additional information such as method of transport, precautions taken with package such as labeling (i.e., containers with breakable contents are labeled as "fragile") and request a contact number for the multimodal transit operator who normally regulates imports into countries. You should know the estimated arrival time of your container and keep contact details for multimodal transit operators should your shipment encounter any problems.
