This little beauty went to America to a print-maker in Indiana and I learned all about international air freight.
The press took 10 days to arrive at Julie's door in Indiana; 3 of those days it spent at Auckland airport having some red tape sorted and waiting for a suitable plane then over the mighty Pacific Ocean she went.
Another 2 days she spent at LAX sorting some more red tape and them off on the final leg to Indiana.
As it is a hand-made converted antique it did not merit any duties or fees.
The freight charge was a handsome figure as Julie did not want to bother with reassembling a partially dis-assembled press. Partially disassembled in two small crates would have saved her $400.
I used a specialist logistics company called Pack and Send and they did a marvelous job, made everything easy and also I took to them a larger version of this model of etching press partially disassembled to be weighed and measured and got quotes for freight charges to Canada, the US, Great Britain and Europe for future reference.
Air freight for table top presses is no problem, larger, free standing presses will have to travel by sea because of their greater weight but that's another story..
Sending this press to America involved many people, all very helpful and I got to chat on the phone and by email with people working in two New Zealand Government Departments: the Ministry of Culture and Heritage because of the antique provenance of the press, NZ Customs (of course) and a charming DHL employee working out of LAX. I felt that I and my American friend Julie were looked after well and that we live in a nice world. Now I look forward to seeing a photo of the press set up in Julies new Indiana print studio.
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