Shipping a house worth of belongings internationally

[MooseBreath]

DH and I are trying to get our affairs in order for an international move to another continent (in December). We have a 4yo and an 18mo, as well as a dog. Permits to live in the country are sorted.

We currently rent, but have a house deposit ready for when we move. Ideally we would bring much of our furniture and belongings, so we aren't starting from scratch.

AIBU to have absolutely no idea how to go about doing this? I assumed we could use a shipping container, but we would be moving overseas and then a fair way inland. I have read online that this is incredibly unreliable and takes years for belongings to arrive, which seems insane. We can't exactly wait years for our furniture and clothing...

Has anybody done this before and know the basics of what to look for? How does it work?

Unless I had really expensive, rare furniture I'm not sure I'd bother tbh. Sorry, not very helpful!

But things like clothing, toys, and household essentials like kitchenware? It seems crazy to have to buy everything again when we already have it.

You need to contact a freight forwarding company for a quote for moving personal effects. Where are you moving to? Transit times depend on location from/to but UK to US can take around 2 weeks, dependent on what part of the US and UK to China takes around 28 days transit, you’d need to allow for offloading from the vessel and delivery (depending if the goods will come to you directly in the container or need to be unpacked first), plus customs clearance, you’re definitely not looking at years.

I used to work for a freight forwarder and we often shipped household contents between countries, but most only take what they absolutely love, basics like pans etc., additional clothing, some items of sentimental value and often far too much!! Speak to a company that ships household contents, do not neglect to have sufficient transit insurance and think about what you absolutely want to take and what will work where you are going, so will furniture be appropriate, heavy coats be needed.... Transit times depends on where and I'd also advise the goods being professionally packed, as the containers have a tough time in transit.

We moved from the US to the UK. Goods are shipped by sea, and IIRC it took a couple of months. Goods will be off loaded at port and a moving company in your new country will need to take them by land to your new home. You should be able to arrange the whole thing from the UK

IMO the success of the move depends mainly on the quality of the packing. I would make sure it is done right, whether you do it yourselves or hire it out. Good luck!

The cost of moving it all is usually more than the cost of buying it all again in the new place, unless you're very rich and have really top quality stuff?

I'd max out all available luggage options with the true essentials, and then start afresh, personally. After a mammoth declutter, selling stuff, giving it away and so on in the original country. Really we need very little to get established, and then you can add things as you go.

Even the cost of storing it adds up after a while.

I wouldn’t bother either. You’ve no idea whether it will fit in your new home anyway. Furniture is relatively cheap these days whereas shipping is not. When we moved overseas, we paid excess baggage with the airline to bring over clothes and personal effects which was way cheaper than shipping.

I stored some stuff like crockery and bedding at my parents’ house just in case but never brought it over and donated it all last year when we went back to the UK.

Obviously do the sums and see how much it would cost to buy everything new vs shipping but unless the difference is massively significant, I would start all over again.

We are going from the UK to Canada.

Measure how much it would cost to ship against buying them again.

I watch Elle swift on YouTube and she just got a shipping container of furniture moved from uk to USA for £7k think she said. Took 3 months.

This will start to give you an idea of costs https://www.pssremovals.com/shipping-to-canada

I used to work in shipping, it doesn’t take years 😂 contact schepens international, white & co as a starting point. They know what they’re doing and will sort all customs out too. If I knew where you wanted stuff moving from / too I could give you an idea of transit time

The entire prospect is terrifying. Anybody know of a way to sell an entire house worth of furniture and contents?!

We move from London to Montreal. Some items were sent by air and others shipped. Also took the dog and cat - they were expensive and lots of paperwork (recommend using a specialist company).

Yes, we are using a company to ship the dog. Very expensive, but we're certainly not going to abandon a member of the family!
Which companies did you use?

Very much agree. Have moved across the world several times for work. In each case work paid, and we were allowed to fill a standard shipping container ( with restrictions based on destination country).

Third time of moving, from Middle East to USA, we took the cash option. We paid for excess luggage with some sentimental things, including photos and mementos of our stay, hand carried jewellery etc.

So much easier.

If you are paying for it yourselves, I would recommend you get a removals company or freight forwarder to give you ££ and time estimates, then make an informed decision from that.

Do consider the costs of replacement furniture at your destination. In our case, there was always an Ikea or Pier equivalent, so we didn’t struggle.

We did this 10 years ago. We used. Crown relocations who were excellent. They come to your house and take an inventory of each room and base their cost on that. They then packed up our (5 bed, fully furnished) house, shipped it and then moved it all into our new house overseas. It all went very smoothly.
ETA: our kids were the same age. We only had to worry about bringing the essentials in our luggage. We bough blow up mattresses as temporary beds and camped in one of the main bedrooms together for a few weeks until our things arrived. It was a big adventure and the kids loved it. My advice is to make the first few weeks as fun as possible for the kids so they feel settled and happy in their new location as soon as possible (trips to the zoo, water parks, ice cream cafes etc).

I've done this a number of times and it is a pain. A lot does depend on where you're moving to, distance and access to ports etc.
For a full house of furniture etc you'd be looking at a container .... smaller quantities though are possible.
Things to think about.... do you really need to ship everything? You may find the accommodation in the city you're moving to is generally furnished...check out expat groups/ estate agent ads. If not, there may be an IKEA or similar.
Shipping can take a month plus....so my advice would be to pay for an extra suitcase or 2 on the flight for 'essentials' just in case (in one move my shipping ended up in Tokyo...I was in the Middle East).
Definitely go for a company with a good reputation and who'll provide packing as well.
We had to get quotes from 3 different companies which is a useful tip as prices can vary a fair bit.

Where in Canada are you moving to? Feel free to PM me

When I moved to the US we opted to take the money and start over, as we didn't know where we'd be living and whether our furniture would even fit the new place.

To clear the house we gave a bunch of stuff away to friends and family, loads of things went on FB marketplace, we hired a skip to clear out a lot of stuff too. I also looked at house clearance companies, but in the end managed it ourselves.

we have done Austria to China and then China to UK - usually about 2 months depending on customs clearance. We didn’t pay for it ourselves so cannot advise on cost and one of moves was during covid so probably more expensive due to s shortage of containers.
Do also take into account damage. The shippers advised us that most containers leak and we had items damaged each time we moved. Claiming on the insurance was fine but I wouldn’t ship anything that couldn’t be replaced.

We did this four times! We didn't take insurance out (Australia to UK and return twice) as what's the chance your container will end up at the bottom of the ocean? Only had a bit of damage to some books as the young chaps who did the packing put them in a round box so the edges where bent🤔 I've heard stories of stuff going missing ie. small items like CD's and jewellery, so watch out for that.

Would this help OP? https://nomadicfire.com/moving-abroad-checklist

Canada is quite big. Is it near the East coast or West or in the middle?

When we moved to France in 2021 I got the house contents down to 25 cubic metres and got rid of everything else. I sold some furniture to the new tenants of our house including a bed and the huge oak dining room table and a huge wardrobe. Which cut down my cubic meterage alot.

For electrical items we have already replaced most of them now as well.

Someone mentioned not taking out insurance, not sure I'd recommend that. I specialised in marine transit insurance, claims on damage to goods in containers kept me very busy!!