• Book your move with your moving company as early as possible.
• Be prepared for extended transit times.
• Book your move dates before setting home closing dates or booking flights.
• Beware of any mover that claims they have no issues securing containers.
• Request all potential charges up front to avoid surprises, such as shuttle, warehouse handling (WHH) and storage-in-transit (SIT) costs detailed below.

When booking sea freight, shipping lines provide Sterling Lexicon an estimated time of departure; however, they are frequently postponing departure dates without explanation. Loading and shipping of the container is entirely at the discretion of the shipping line. Information on final departures and arrivals will be communicated immediately, upon confirmation.

The final arrival of the shipping vessel depends heavily on the traffic at the port of entry. The vessel needs to be offloaded to access the container for import customs clearance. In some ports, massive unloading bottlenecks are causing delays and vessels are being offloaded approximately 5 to 7 days after arrival. After customs clearance, the container is free, and we can schedule final delivery of the shipment.

Currently, delays are anywhere from two to eight weeks. Lengths of delays are dependent on the shipment’s destination, proximity to the port and availability of labor and equipment such as containers, chassis, trucks and vessel space.

Temporary storage is often needed as a result of the container shortage and short-notice cancellations by shipping lines. Until containers and vessel capacity are available, household goods need to be safely stored in a warehouse. This is typically quoted on move estimates as:

• SHUTTLE - Moving goods back to the warehouse instead of loading the container at residence
• WHH (Warehouse Handling) - Labor cost in and out of storage to receive the goods, load them into wooden storage vaults and stack until a container is available
• SIT (Storage-in-transit) - Monthly storage charge for safely holding the goods in the warehouse until loading

Once packing dates have been set, Sterling Lexicon will book the container on a shipping vessel and receive date estimates. However, shipping lines reserve the right to re-book a container on a different vessel. Due to the demand for capacity, cargo is sometimes being prioritized based on pricing. As a result, no “reservations” or “guaranteed bookings” are being accepted.

Current delays impact all ports, globally, and shipping lines follow a set travel schedule which cannot be influenced. Additionally, the import customs clearance of the shipment determines the required port of entry in the respective host country.

While container shipment delays are currently the norm, there are sometimes exceptions. A delay-free shipment can occur, but it is fully beyond the control of the moving company.

Shipping vessels carry up to 23,000 containers, and the complexity of the shipping process (loading, route planning, container positioning on board, unloading, etc.) does not permit negotiations. Some shipping lines have already stopped shipping household goods and personal effects.

Unfortunately, we expect delays to ocean freight shipments to continue through 2022. At this stage, we cannot be sure when the disruption will stabilize.