My family have done it several times.
There are really two options:
Air freight: very expensive but also very fast
Shipping Containers by Sea and truck: More cost effective, but can be very slow.
Now it depends how much stuff your friend is shipping over and how much he is is willing to pay, does his work pay for relocation?
We have shipped mainly through shipping container but used air once. With the shipping containers, if you get on the first transatlantic ship and go fast through customs it can take just 1 month, however customs can slow it down allot and its often hard to know when they will deliver it. We have found that you have to count at least a month by ship even though some companies say they can do it in less.
If you don't have much stuff you don't want to get a whole container, but often you can share a container, that is sometimes impractical if your on a tight deadline, but it can be very useful, as you would be surprised how much you can ship in one.
A good international moving company and that does a good job in the USA is Alliance Pickfords, they have partnerships in most major cities so your stuff gets handled well.
When shipping in a container or by air, make sure you take all things like pictures and important documents with you and travel with them, sometimes these containers fall off the ships and though most movers provide insurance there are things that simply cannot be replaced.
Hope that helps a little.
Paul
