Canada asks one thing of you that no other destination does: a complete written list of everything you own, valued, before your goods arrive. Get that right and the rest is the easiest major route we run. We prepare the list, clear the border and deliver into your home in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal or anywhere between.
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When you land in Canada, the Border Services Agency expects two lists: what is arriving with you, and what is still on the water. Anything that appears later but was not on the second list can be taxed as a fresh import rather than admitted as your settler's effects. People arrive without the list because nobody told them, and it costs them.
So we build it during the survey, item by item and valued in Canadian dollars, and we give you a copy to carry through the airport. That single piece of preparation removes almost every problem this route can throw at you.
Toronto · The Rockies · The Atlantic coast
Volume decides it first, urgency second. We recommend one after your survey and show you the alternative price rather than quietly choosing the bigger box.
Under roughly 300 cu ft · also called groupage or LCL
You pay for the space you occupy in a container shared with others bound for the same Canadian port. The most economical route for part loads and one-bedroom moves. The container waits until it is full, which on the eastern route is rarely long and on the western route can be.
Roughly 1,000 cu ft · one to two bedrooms
Yours alone, sailing as soon as it is loaded. Worth the difference if you are arriving in winter, when a two-week delay can be the difference between delivering onto a dry driveway and delivering onto ice.
Roughly 2,200 cu ft · three to five bedrooms
The usual choice for a family home, with room for white goods, garden equipment and often a vehicle. Clears as a single consignment, which keeps the effects list and the customs entry aligned.
Priced by weight · 5–8 days
For what you cannot wait two months for. On the Canada route that often means winter clothing, because arriving in Calgary in November with your coats at sea is a specific and avoidable mistake.
Most movers make you fill in a form before they will discuss money. Here is the shape of it up front — and, unlike most published prices in this trade, an honest account of what these figures do and do not cover.
| Size of move | Shipping, port to port | Packing and UK collection |
|---|---|---|
| Small move, shared containerA flat, a student move, part of a house | £536–£1,600 | Quoted per move |
| 20ft containerTypically a three-bedroom house | £4,020–£5,630 | About £2,010 |
| 40ft containerFour bedrooms and upwards | £7,197–£8,900 | About £2,510 |
The middle column is the shipping, and only the shipping. It is the cost of moving the container from a UK port to the destination port. The third column adds packing to export standard and collection from your home. Still to come on top of both: customs clearance at each end, quarantine or biosecurity inspection where the destination requires it, insurance, destination charges and delivery into your new home. Those are quoted per shipment, and every one of them is explained with published figures on what your quote doesn’t include.
We split it out this way because a shipping figure presented as the price of a move is how an advertised number ends up a couple of thousand pounds below what anybody actually pays. Ranges are indicative, move with sailing rates and the season, and depend on your actual packed volume — which is why we survey before we quote. The same figures for every destination, with a worked example, are on what an international move costs.
Door to door, from UK collection to delivery at your Canadian address. Planning figures, not guarantees — and winter weather moves them more than anything else on this route.
| Destination | Shared container | Sole-use container |
|---|---|---|
| Atlantic CanadaHalifax, Moncton, St John's | 5–8 weeks | 4–6 weeks |
| Ontario and QuebecToronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City | 6–9 weeks | 5–7 weeks |
| The PrairiesWinnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton | 8–12 weeks | 7–10 weeks |
| British ColumbiaVancouver, Victoria, Kelowna | 8–11 weeks | 7–9 weeks |
| Air freightAll major cities | 5–8 days | |
Atlantic and central Canada are reached directly through Halifax and Montreal, which is why they are quicker than anywhere in Australasia. The Prairies are landlocked: goods clear at a coastal port and travel on by rail, and the St Lawrence Seaway closes to ice for part of the winter, which pushes Montreal traffic to Halifax and adds road time.
Quoted as one price, delivered as one service. Anything not on this list is named in your quotation rather than discovered later.
Canada is not a biosecurity destination on the scale of Australia or New Zealand, but it is strict about three things: firearms, undeclared goods, and anything organic. Almost every problem we see comes from a list that was incomplete rather than from an item that was forbidden.
Declare generously. There is no penalty for listing something that turns out to be unremarkable, and there is a real one for omitting something that isn't. If you are unsure whether an item belongs on the list, it belongs on the list.
Canadian import requirements change and some rules are provincial rather than federal. We confirm the current position for your destination at survey and give it to you in writing.
Direct sailings to the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, with rail and road onward. Canada is the second largest country on earth, so the port is often the shortest part of the journey.
Via Montreal, ON
Our busiest Canadian destination, serving the Greater Toronto Area, Hamilton and southern Ontario. Goods usually clear at Montreal and travel on by road, or at Halifax when the Seaway is closed for winter.
Port of Vancouver, BC
The Pacific gateway, serving the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island and the interior of British Columbia. Sailings route via the Panama Canal, so allow considerably longer than for an eastern address.
Port of Montreal, QC
The main eastern gateway and the fastest route into central Canada. Quebec has its own language requirements for some documentation, which we handle as part of the entry.
Inland via rail, AB
Alberta is landlocked, so goods clear at a coastal port and travel on by rail. Popular with energy-sector moves. Allow the extra weeks and plan winter access carefully.
Port of Halifax, NS
The shortest crossing from the UK and an ice-free port all year, which makes it the winter alternative when the St Lawrence closes. Serves Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland.
Kelowna, Whitehorse, rural
Mountain and northern communities are all served, generally via Vancouver or by rail. Access is the constraint rather than distance — tell us early about steep drives, single tracks and seasonal roads.
Working backwards from your flight.
Book the survey and confirm your quotation. Check any vehicle against Transport Canada's admissible list before you budget for shipping it.
Decide what travels and what goes. Start valuing items for the effects list; this takes longer than people expect.
We finalise your BSF186 lists. Separate air freight, winter clothing and anything you need in the first fortnight.
We pack, inventory and load across one to three days, with the packing list matched to the effects list.
You present your lists at the border. We clear the shipment, arrange inland transport and book delivery around the weather.
Volume first, then which coast, then how far inland. Halifax and Toronto are among the cheapest long-haul destinations we serve; Calgary and Vancouver are considerably more because of rail and canal routing. Any figure quoted before a survey is guesswork — use the estimator on our home page for scale, then let us quote properly.
It is the personal effects accounting document, and yes. You present it at the border when you arrive, listing what you have with you and what is still in transit, with values. Goods that arrive later but were never listed can be taxed rather than admitted free under the settler's concession. We prepare both lists during your survey and give you a copy to travel with.
Generally not, on household goods and personal effects you owned and used before arriving to settle. New purchases, goods for resale, alcohol and tobacco are treated differently, and there are restrictions on disposing of duty-free effects within the first year. Returning Canadians fall under a separate rule with its own ownership period.
Only if it is on Transport Canada's list of admissible vehicles, or is at least fifteen years old, in which case it is exempt from the approval programme altogether. Most modern UK-market cars are not on the list, and this is the single most common expensive surprise on this route. Check before you plan around it. Classic vehicles over fifteen years travel routinely.
Substantially. A full-size trailer cannot get down many residential streets between November and March, so we shuttle with smaller vehicles, which takes longer and costs more. Delivery windows are weather-dependent, unheated storage is unsuitable for some items, and the St Lawrence Seaway closes to ice, which reroutes eastern shipments through Halifax. We plan all of it into the quote.
Mostly no. Canada runs on 120 volts, so British appliances need a transformer and motors run at the wrong speed. Kettles, lamps and washing machines are cheaper to replace. Good audio equipment, tools and anything genuinely valuable can be worth transforming.
Yes. If you have lived outside the UK for at least twelve consecutive months and are resuming residence here, you may qualify for Transfer of Residence relief, which must be applied for before your goods arrive. We handle the application alongside the move and collect from any Canadian address.
Tell us which city and roughly when. A consultant will come back within one working day to arrange a survey.