Best way to ship equipment
 

Hi there! I am working on the plans for a worldwide tour, 1-2 years with 2-6 months spent in each location. We will be performing 3d scans and digital archiving, with a small video documentary crew along for the process. And I get stuck with wrangling out technology and logistics. Since there may be up to 8 cameras, 3-8 computers, MASSIVE amounts of storage, lights, sounds ect... I am wondering if shipping may be preferable to airline freight checking. We are far more worried about safety/security of equipment vs. it's traveling along WITH us. The whole process will be at museums (with the exception of work on Cyprus), which may make that even easier. Any suggestions?

Don,

If you can afford it, check it on the airplane... or air frieght it ahead of time. I have in the past put gear i didnt care about in Pelican cases and have them shipped by Air from Asia to USA without any probs.

Cheaper, but longer method is by slowboat! It takes 40 days for me to get stuff from USA to China... FWIW it cost me 500 to 1000 bucks for a pallet of equipt in a container. Please everything in plastic bags if u decide to do this.

HTH

You owe it to yourself to watch this video at least three times. :)

Viddler.com - Chase Jarvis TECH: Packing Photography Gear (Advanced) - Uploaded by chasejarvis

Extreme detail and lots of information on shipping expediters, which you may want to consider over just dealing with airlines. But given your multi-stage travel plans, YMMV. Still, great topic and this sounds very applicable.

I think it depends on how many cases you have and how many people you have to handle the cases... If you have enough people that can man handle every single one of your cases and bring them to the check-in station, and then get them thru the customs station on the other side, then I'd want to check-in the equipment each time.

The reason I say that is because you never know what could happen and if you ship the cases they may get stuck in customs for a week or so.... if you carry them to the check-in
and you pick them up from the baggage area after landing, at least you have them with you
and your not waiting on anyone.

I got stuck in Singapore one year because I didn't have enough people to carry on some equipment that I didn't pack for in the galley.. I ended up asking people I'd never met
before, if they could carry on a couple extra cases... not worth the scare....

shipping is a luxury that I really like... but its best to ship early and have at least one of
your team members on the receiving end so they can work out any issues that might happen with the equipment

If possible you could rent a truck and drive it to some of the sites, that way your equipment is always with you...

Thanks for that video link, very informative.