>>...I just received an estimate of $20,000 for shipping a 44' boat weighing >24,000 lbs. from Australia to Georgia...<< Tom.... That's about 83 cents per pound. I had thought that surface shipping would be cheaper than that. Maybe not. As an example of what competition can do, consider this: in early 1992 the going air cargo rate Hong Kong to New York was a little less than $5 per pound; by about mid 1994 competition had driven that rate down to about $1.50. Regards, John Gaquin