We are planning moving to Bonaire in 2005.
Can somebody tell what the costs are to ship a container (40 foot) to Bonaire both from the US (probably Miami) and from Amsterdam. We live in Belgium, so most of our stuff will be shipped from Amsterdam. But we will also bring a large RIB with us that we will probably buy in the US because of the low Dollar.

I also read that buying a container is an option as well. But I'm not sure what the benefits are.

Thanks,

Peter

as far as buying the container, it depends on where you are going to live. when we were looking at houses on bonaire we saw one where the owner used the container as a garage/storage building. someone had told us they paid about $6000 (US) to ship three or four rooms of furniture and belongings from the states.

$6000 sounds high, I shipped a load of boats in a 40ft closed top container from Georgia to Japan for $4800 and another from Georgia to Amsterdam for $2200.

2200$ is not too bad. I expected more.

Say Wally, you don't happy to be in the rib building bussiness? We are still shopping and I don't find too many American RIB builders. Most just seem to import boats from England or New Zeeland.

Background for others: R.I.B. Rigid Inflatable Boat, a boat with a hard bottom of either fiberglass or aluminum with a flotation collar around the sides and bow. Better units have foam filled collars, but are not collaspable for shipping and storage.
Sorry Peter, I build salwater fiberglass skiffs. www.sundanceboats.com
The big horse in RIBs is Zodiac, a French Canadian company. My buddy in South Carolina builds the bottoms for Zodiac of North America for their Maryland factory.
Are you looking for one you can deflate and roll up or a permanent boat to beach or moor?

Hi Wally, I'll send you a PM.

Hi Peter, have you contacted IFC Consolidators in Moerdijk (NL) already? They partner with Rocargo and ship from Rotterdam to Bonaire on a regular basis. Moerdijk is on the A16 between Antwerp and Rotterdam.
URL: http://www.ifc-consolidators.nl/

Hi Marc,

thanks for the info. We'll check them out.

And ofcourse a merry X-mas and a happy Newyear.

Peter & Liesbeth

Moving here next year? Cool!

Happy New Year Peter & Liesbeth!

(I'm catching up on a bunch of BT now, in case you can't tell :-) )

Bonaire is not cheap to ship too, though. Wally's experience in prices is from major shipping port to major shipping port, not to a shipping backwater like Bonaire...

Jake