We've asked for quotes for many of the above listed companies.
Most of these are outside of Kunming and claim they can do one of two things
1. Send an empty container and a crew do Kunming to do all of our loading for us
2. We do our own loading and send the goods via truck or train to Shanghai or Beijing where they transfer to an ocean container for shipping to the USA.
We're not crazy about option 1 since it is very expensive. And, Option 2 seems to be flawed in that the goods get transferred twice during the move thus increasing the liklihood for damage. Plus, we won't know EXACTLY what we can fit into a 20ft container since the truck in Kunming won't be exactly the same size.
Option 2 above seems to be running $5K - 6K to Texas (not sure if that's to our house in Texas yet or not). And, i'm thinking I don't need a full service moving company to do that.
I'm headed down to Kunming customs office tomorrow to apply for my "Personal Export License" which is required when a family wants to move their belongings outside of the country. Once I have that, I hope a regular shipping company can do the rest. But, I'm not sure.