Shipping a house worth of belongings internationally

My DSIS ended up waiting ages for her stuff due to delays at the Panama Canal.

Crown Relocations company

Call Pickfords (or other overseas moving company) and ask them! Takes about 6 weeks typically by sea. You also need some air freight.
Employers should be sorting this out for you.

I moved country and brought so much stuff, but wish I hadn't! Now I am ready to move again, I am selling everything and will buy new in the new country. It's not worth the hassle and cost of shipping anything, unless it is extremely rare and irreplacable.

Take excess luggage If you can afford and stay in a serviced apartment for first 6 weeks. You can look for a permanent place in that time and by the time you move all your stuff should have arrived.

Facebook is really good for this kind of thing. Search for a 'Brits in Canada' type group. They will have loads of posts about logistics and who they used.

Used Anglo Pacific for 3 international moves. It's all about cubic metres so think about space v cost when deciding what to take.

I've done this a few times. I wouldn't move white goods or anything electrical if the voltage isn't compatible. I'd start by getting rid of any duplicate items, things you don't like/need or are tatty.

I do bring special items of furniture, decor, bedding, kitchen stuff etc. You'll wait a little while for your stuff but it's nice to put your things into your new place and make it feel like home.

I find there is a lot less choice outside of the UK so I'd think carefully about selling everything. There can also be waits for sofas etc in some places so I was happy to have mine.

I'll buy some new stuff and some stuff second hand when I arrive but I'm happy that I've brought what I have.

Last time, I shared a 20ft container ( it's called groupage) and it reduced the cost quite a bit.

My sister did the same this year! Not an entire family home worth of shipping, but key items of sentimental furniture, a shop worth of clothing and kitchen stuff. Cost 2-3k I believe, they picked it up from the storage locker, shipped it, then delivered it to her in Canada. Let me know if you want me to message her and ask who she used.

Good point about the voltages. Anything with a heating element won't work in North America - we brought a fridge, microwave, KitchenAid etc and none of them work. You can buy converters (which we had to do for our printer) but they are over $250.

If you bring a piano into North America you have to remove the ivory keys and buy replacements here as you are not allowed to bring ivory into the country.

Yes, check the voltages on your electrical appliances. An increasing number are dual voltage now and work between 110-220v, so will work in both the UK and North America.

Your tumble dryer won’t (have had a U.S. one in storage in the UK, the frequencies aren’t compatible).

I've done this twice, it's fine and it's nice to have your stuff. Took 2 months for it all to turn up.

My advice, meant kindly op, is don’t!

Only keep a very few precious items.

I would sell as much as you can and start again there. It’s hardly the back of beyond and you will need slightly different things because of the weather.

There are services that organise this.

Things to remember:

• UK electronics may not work well/at all abroad. No point shipping them.
• you may have to pay import duty
• sea freight can take a while ie if you ship stuff it might not arrive for a month.

Whether it's worth shipping really all depends... if you have things you'd never let go of (beloved clothes; books etc) then you won't be managing with suitcases and may as well organise shipping. Cheap furniture probably isn't worth shipping, unless it's hard to come by at your destination.

We used Pickfords. They were great, did all the packing for us.

You buy the space within the container, so you pay for it whether you fill it completely or not. We shipped a few special pieces of furniture and our household belongings but no bed frames or white goods. We even brought a piano - no extra cost at all!

I’ve done it. It wasn’t a whole house because there was no point bringing electrical appliances or some items of furniture. But I brought a lot of books, kitchenware, rugs, soft furnishings, etc. I used a company that arranges the container and everything for you. It took 4 months from the driver picking up all the boxes and things from the house in the UK to the container being cleared by customs and unloaded here. The company I used wouldn’t pick up the stuff from the IK until I had my immigrant visa in hand. I was hoping they could get it earlier to give me a head start with the time it would take. But I got my immigrant visa and moved here less than a week later. They picked everything up the day before I flew here for good. The house was completely empty except me and 2 suitcases. After they took everything I went to the airport hotel and the next morning I was on the plane.

It's actually very straightforward. We did it UK to USA three years ago. Hire a good shipping company and they will come to you, size up your furniture and how many boxes of stuff you have (it's always way way more boxes than you think) and give you a quote. They have to pack it up for you in order for their insurance to cover it. They then arrange delivery at the other end. Ours took 8 weeks. That's about average. A full container cost us £11k I think.

I disagree with posters above saying to start again - it would cost far more to completely refurbish a 4-bed house. And then you'd still have to pay to ship out boxes of your valuables, clothes, toys etc.

It's really easy to use a moving company. They just bring up a container, pack it, and we organised for it to be delivered to our new home the day after we moved in. They then unloaded all the boxes (which I asked them not to unpack, because I wanted to do that). They put all the big furniture in place. To save space, the only thing I didn't bring was the beds. We bought new and I got them delivered the day we moved into our new home. I don't think anything got broken either. Took about two months total.

My friend did this move recently and used Richardsons. Hope this helps!

I have shipped a full household of furniture 5 times. I’d much rather do that and keep items I like, plus all the random stuff I’d rather not part with than have to buy a whole new household full of stuff. We also took each chance to declutter too.

As far as I remember, shipping containers were either 20 or 40 feet. So see what your estimate is. No point using a 40ft if you only need 25ft. At that point, get rid of enough to fit into a 20.

We moved long distance each time and it always took approximately 2 months. Had to claim a couple of times on insurance, but all fairly minor. I’ve also used Crown and Pickfords and maybe a couple of others too. Shop around but pay attention to reviews at each end.

It doesn’t matter if your destination is not near a port. Your containers get driven to your final destination anyway whether it’s long or not (obvs a cost implication though). I do think Toronto has a massive port though.

We moved UK to Australia and used Crown also. They were fab. They pack everything up just like normally moving house. They also let you know what you can't take (depending on where you are going to)

As we didn't have a house to move into in Oz straight away they just put the Australian arm of their company as the address and it stayed in storage in Australia until we rang and said we were ready for it. We then just paid a monthly storage fee. As we were paying to ship it anyway we took the electrical stuff too and just changed the plugs when we got there.

We moved from Singapore to Australia about 15 years ago with a 20ft container. Cost about $10k including insurance. BUT when I created a spreadsheet for insurance purposes it came to > $100k. There wasn’t even that much furniture in there, mainly household goods/DVDs/CDs/toys/books. We used Pickfords and was all smooth but organised the insurance directly with the underwriter, someone recommended by British Expats. Can’t remember the name (begins with L?) but was way cheaper than doing through Pickfords.

You use an international removal firm - eg Pickfords. They organise it all for you end to end - they have contracts in most countries with other removal firms. Will cost about £10k and take about 3 months. Not worth it financially unless you have priceless heirlooms.