Shipping of katana from Japan by ship

[Yves]

In my search to buy a new made katana from Japan, it seems that these can only be shipped via the sea. Anyone ever did this. I'm not really confident that this is ok for something delicate like a sword. Thanks. 

[Stephen]

Few post on this,  do some searching. 

They still go express.

[Ray Singer]

I've never done this before, and don't know anyone who has, but my general feeling about shipping is that the less time a package is in the system, the less opportunity there is for damage, theft, misplacement, loss and other issues. I always use express and try to get things from point to point as quickly as possible. 

[Yves]

Well not according to a bunch of suppliers like Tozando and others and also not according to UPS, Fedex, EMS, TNT,....As for the posts, don't know how old they are, but things might have changed recently. 

[Brian]

I suspect this is one of those cases where they won't take them unless there is a direct flight. Remember the EMS issues a while back that wouldn't ship without direct flights? Those all had to go sea freight.
Probably why the USA and some others have no issue, but our Belgian friend is having a problem.
Usually solved if you use Fedex, but at a much higher price and even they sometimes refuse.
I'd get hold of Kelly Schmidt (search the forum for him) and ask him about shipping to you.