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Cost of shipping a piano overseas

Posted: Mon, 28 Nov 2022 5:28 pm
by jpatokal
A friend of mine is moving back to Australia and wants to bring her small upright piano (200kg) with her. Her company is paying for the relocation and the local agent has confirmed that the container has space for the piano, meaning the shipping itself costs nothing, but any extra handling costs for the piano are on her dime.

So far so good, but the relocation agency is asking for US$3000 (!) in extra handling costs, split into US$950 to move it the 10 meters to the truck (same floor, no stairs etc), US$1250 to crate it and US$800 for handling at the other end.

This is approx 15x the market rate to move a piano within Singapore and in fact in the same ballpark as shipping an entire house in previous moves, so I'm pretty sure my friend is being taken for a ride. (And yes, we've made it clear that this is not a grand piano or something.). Any other data points on how much this should cost?

Re: Cost of shipping a piano overseas

Posted: Mon, 28 Nov 2022 9:39 pm
by Lisafuller
Honestly, at that point, wouldn't it just be better to leave the piano and purchase one in Australia? The friends of mine who have moved back to the US left all of their bulky items like furniture and pianos, because it's just not economical to ship them.