relocating to Doha - excess baggage or freight container?

I will be relocating by myself from the United States to Qatar in March 2015. I'm a bit lost on deciding how to transport my belongings. My employer will be providing furnished housing as part of my contract, so really all I need to take are my books (which are a lot), clothes (which are also probably quite a lot), and my compact food processor and mixer unit which I can't bear to part with (I will also be bringing a transformer so I can use it in Qatar). My employer provided relocation handbook recommends considering the excess baggage route if possible as it might be cheaper than using a moving company.

I haven't actually taken proper stock of my current belongings yet so this is just an estimate - but I think I will probably need at least 6 full sized suitcases to transport everything I want to take with me. Every one of my bags will most likely be packed to the overweight limit of 32 kg/70 lb. Assuming my employer will fly me to Doha on Qatar Airways, QA charges $200 for each piece of excess baggage + $50 for overweight bags (if allowances are purchased online). So if I fly with 6 overweight bags, I will be paying $1100 (2 x $50 for the overweight 2 included bags + 4 x $250 for the excess overweight bags). However - this isn't factoring in the expense of buying new luggage! I'll need at least 5 new suitcases and can expect to spend a minimum of $500 buying them. So now we're looking at $1600 to move my belongings. My employer provides $2330 in relocation allowance, so provided that I can limit myself to 6 overweight suitcases, I would still have about a third of my allowance left over to go towards that first Ikea trip in Doha :biggrin:

But I'm wondering how much more expensive using a portion of a container would be. If it's likely to be around $2000, I would consider that worth the extra cost as it would save me the hassle of dealing with several monstrous suitcases at the airport, waiting in the excess baggage line, and taking the bags through customs in Qatar, plus I might be able to move some more things with me to make the most of the paid for space in the container. I've contacted a few relocating agencies for quotes, but one of them required an in home visit, which I'm not ready for yet, and I'm still waiting to hear back from the other agency.

So I guess my question is - is it realistic to expect to be able to move a 1 bedroom's worth of belongings (minus furniture) within a $2000 budget via air or surface freight? Or am I probably better off going the excess baggage route? Any advice and suggestions would be much appreciated! Thank you in advance :)