Picking a slow boat to KL

June 20, 2009 12:12 PM

Can anybody recommend an LCL shipping company to Kuala Lumpur?

I need to send a large, heavy trunk from NYC to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A friend recommended using an LCL (less than container) shipping company, and I wanted to see if anybody in the hivemind had experience with one. Good and bad experiences are requested.

posted by computech_apolloniajames to Travel & Transportation around Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (3 answers total)

You'll want to avoid anything that involves linking with Pos Malaysia, aka the national postal system, and their Poslaju courier service. Avoid anything that ships to their Malaysian base, and then does the final delivery through Pos Malaysia/Poslaju. What's unfortunate is that your cheapest rates will involve Pos Malaysia.

In the past, my family has used DHL and TNT to pick up passports at the US embassy in Brunei, and deliver it to my parents workplaces in Malaysia. No hiccups at all.

We also used TNT to ship a violin from Singapore to Malaysia. For TNT, it depends where you're sending it to ... for rural areas, they sometimes link with Pos Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur isn't rural, though.

A family member worked at a large private hospital, and they dealt almost exclusively with DHL. I guess they must be pretty reliable, if a hospital is using them for medical shipments.

There's a list of courier services at lowyat.net, and you could also ask there for recommendations. It's an old thread, but an active forum.
posted by Xere at 9:51 PM on June 20, 2009

How much volume are you talking about, LCL, in cubic meters? I suggest you google for NYC freight forwarders and copy/paste an email to 15 or 20 of them saying basically the same thing...

Tell them what you're sending, how much volume it occupies, estimated weight, and the need for LCL service (from doorstep? from freight dock?) from NYC to Kuala Lumpur. Be specific on what you want to do with customs duties and brokerage fees on the Malaysian end, the freight forwarder will need this information to calculate the cost correctly.

There are a ton of freight forwarders in the NYC/NJ area and you should be able to email bomb a lot of them quickly.
posted by thewalrus at 11:20 PM on June 20, 2009

Oh yeah, you're also going to need to specify in your RFQ exactly how you want it delivered in Kuala Lumpur... Will you pick it up from a freight dock with a truck, do you want it delivered to your doorstep, will it be palletized or in multiple loose large-suitcase sized boxes, do you need liftgate service?
posted by thewalrus at 11:21 PM on June 20, 2009