International removal prices: what a move abroad costs
Published shipping prices for every destination we handle, and — the part the rest of this industry leaves out — a complete account of what has to be added on top before anybody has actually moved house.
Last reviewed:
In short: shipping household goods from the UK to Australia typically costs £670–£1,640 in a shared container, £3,122–£4,950 in a 20ft container and £7,900–£8,450 in a 40ft container, port to port. To the United States it is £680–£2,500 shared, £3,000–£4,500 for a 20ft and £7,500–£9,000 for a 40ft. Packing, UK collection, customs, insurance and delivery are added on top; a complete door-to-door price comes from a survey.
Before you read the table
- These are shipping costs, port to port. They are what it costs to move a container from a UK port to the destination port. They are not the price of a move.
- Packing, collection, customs, inspection, insurance and delivery are extra — and together they usually come to more than people expect. They are all set out below, with figures.
- A published price in this trade is almost always the shipping alone. When you see “from £670 to Australia”, that is a shared container slot, not a family moving house. We would rather show you the parts than the headline.
- Your real figure depends on your packed volume, which is why we survey before we quote rather than after.
Shipping costs by destination
Indicative ranges, UK port to destination port. A small move shares a container with other shipments; a 20ft container suits most three-bedroom houses and a 40ft most homes of four bedrooms and upwards.
| Destination | Small move, shared | 20ft container | 40ft container |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | £670–£1,640 | £3,122–£4,950 | £7,900–£8,450 |
| New Zealand | £791–£1,990 | £4,190–£4,800 | £6,020–£6,900 |
| United States | £680–£2,500 | £3,000–£4,500 | £7,500–£9,000 |
| Canada | £536–£1,600 | £4,020–£5,630 | £7,197–£8,900 |
| United Arab Emirates | £605–£2,140 | £4,775–£5,865 | £5,885–£6,917 |
| South Africa | £650–£2,000 | £5,000–£8,500 | £8,500–£12,000 |
| Singapore | £865–£1,879 | £2,596–£3,720 | £4,672–£6,342 |
| Hong Kong | £865–£1,769 | £3,015–£4,455 | £5,829–£6,728 |
| Thailand | Price on request — ask for a quote | Price on request — ask for a quote | Price on request — ask for a quote |
| Malaysia | Price on request — ask for a quote | Price on request — ask for a quote | Price on request — ask for a quote |
| India | Price on request — ask for a quote | Price on request — ask for a quote | Price on request — ask for a quote |
| Cyprus | £540–£1,980 | £2,200–£3,700 | £4,350–£6,107 |
| Bahamas | £630–£2,245 | £3,470–£4,844 | £6,120–£7,733 |
| Barbados | £625–£2,724 | £3,813–£4,159 | £6,357–£8,385 |
| Cayman Islands | £669–£1,690 | £3,985–£4,733 | £6,405–£8,113 |
Ranges reflect the spread between ports within a country, the season and the sailing rates at the time. Europe is not in this table because European moves go by road rather than by sea and are priced per vehicle and per load — see European road freight. For anywhere not listed, ask: we ship to most of the world, and the rest of the world page explains how.
And then what gets added
Every one of these is a real cost on a real move. None of them is in the table above. This is the list that usually arrives after somebody has already accepted a quotation.
- Packing and materials£1,750 for a three-bedroom house, £2,250 for a four-bedroomTwo to three days’ work. Export packing is not the same as packing for a move across town.
- Collection and transport to the portaround £260More from the far north or the south west, less from the south east.
- Export and import customs formalitiesquoted per shipmentEntry lodgement at both ends, and the relief you qualify for claimed properly.
- Quarantine or biosecurity inspectioncharged by the agency, by time or by itemAustralia and New Zealand in particular. See the figures on our costs page.
- Insurance2.5–3.5% of the value you declareCarrier liability is not insurance. A £35,000 shipment is £875–£1,225.
- Destination charges and deliveryquoted per shipmentTerminal handling, delivery to your door, unpacking and debris removal.
A worked example: three-bedroom house to Australia
- Shipping, 20ft container, UK port to Australian port
- £3,122–£4,950
- Packing to export standard, two days
- about £1,750
- Collection from your home and transport to the port
- about £260
- Customs entry at both ends
- quoted
- Biosecurity inspection, if ordered
- quoted
- Marine insurance on a £35,000 valuation
- about £1,050
- Destination charges and delivery into your home
- quoted
- Before the quoted items
- £6,182–£8,010
That is why “from £670” and the price of moving a family to Australia are different numbers with nothing much to do with each other. The quoted items are quoted because they genuinely vary — and what your quote doesn’t include gives the published figures for every one of them, so you can see the range before you commit rather than after.
Whole-move averages, for context
| Region | Typical total |
|---|---|
| North America | £4,500–£6,500 |
| South America | £5,000–£7,500 |
| Europe | £3,500–£4,500 |
| Oceania | £5,500–£7,000 |
| Asia | £5,500–£6,500 |
These are whole-move figures rather than shipping alone, so they are not on the same basis as the table above and should not be compared with it line for line. They are here because they are a fairer answer to “what will this actually cost me?” than any shipping rate is.
How to get a figure that means something
Everything above is for planning. A price you can hold us to needs a volume, and a volume needs somebody to look at your house.
- Estimate your volume with the move estimator — two minutes, no details needed
- Or do it properly with the self survey, room by room, and send it to us
- We survey by video call or in person, and the volume we quote on is the one we measured
- You get a written quotation with the destination charges shown as a figure, not as a promise to tell you later
- Compare it properly — ten questions to ask any removals quotation, including ours
Talk about money first, if you like
Plenty of people want a rough figure before they are ready to be sold to. Ring and ask. If your move does not make sense at the price, we would rather tell you now.
- Telephone
- 07749 924755
- enquiries@halointernationalrelocations.com
- Unfamiliar with a term?
- The glossary explains the jargon in plain English.