South Africa is a straightforward country to ship to and a demanding one to clear. The relief that lets you bring your belongings in free of duty depends on paperwork lodged in the right order, and the ports have been congested for years. We handle both, and deliver into your home in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban or anywhere between.
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Getting a container from Felixstowe to Cape Town takes about four weeks and rarely surprises anyone. What surprises people is the other end. South African Revenue Service requires the importer to be registered, the declaration forms to be completed before arrival, and the inventory to be specific. Miss a step and your goods sit in a container yard while the daily charges mount.
Port congestion at Durban and Cape Town has been a persistent problem for several years, and it is not something any mover can promise away. What we can do is route you through the least congested option for your destination, tell you honestly what the current position is, and build a realistic date into your quotation rather than an optimistic one.
Cape Town · Johannesburg · The bushveld
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 · groupage or LCL
You pay for the space you occupy in a container shared with others bound for the same South African port. Economical for part loads, but on this route it carries a real cost: shared loads clear as a group, and one incomplete set of paperwork holds everyone.
Roughly 1,000 cu ft · one to two bedrooms
Yours alone, sailing when it is loaded and clearing on its own entry. Given the congestion risk, the independence is worth more here than on most routes.
Roughly 2,200 cu ft · three to five bedrooms
The usual choice for a family home. South African houses are generally larger than British ones and come less often with fitted storage, so freestanding furniture that would be surplus elsewhere often earns its place here.
Priced by weight · 5–8 days
For what you cannot wait two months for. Also worth considering for genuinely valuable items you would rather did not sit in a container yard.
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 | £650–£2,000 | Quoted per move |
| 20ft containerTypically a three-bedroom house | £5,000–£8,500 | About £2,010 |
| 40ft containerFour bedrooms and upwards | £8,500–£12,000 | 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 South African address. Planning figures rather than guarantees — port congestion is the largest and least predictable variable.
| Destination | Shared container | Sole-use container |
|---|---|---|
| Cape TownPort of Cape Town · Southern Suburbs, Atlantic Seaboard, Winelands | 7–10 weeks | 6–8 weeks |
| Durban and KwaZulu-NatalPort of Durban · Umhlanga, Ballito, Pietermaritzburg | 7–10 weeks | 6–8 weeks |
| Johannesburg and PretoriaInland by road from Durban | 8–11 weeks | 7–9 weeks |
| Eastern CapeGqeberha and Ngqura · East London, Garden Route | 8–11 weeks | 7–9 weeks |
| Air freightAll major cities | 5 | & |
The sea leg is around four weeks. Gauteng is landlocked, so containers for Johannesburg and Pretoria clear at Durban and travel up by road, which adds a week in normal conditions and more when the port is backed up. We quote against your actual address rather than the nearest port.
Quoted as one price, delivered as one service. Anything not on this list is named in your quotation rather than discovered later.
Nothing on this route is difficult in itself. What catches people out is sequence: several of these things must be done before your container arrives, and cannot be fixed afterwards without cost.
We prepare the declarations and tell you which documents you personally need to obtain. Start them early: a permit that takes three weeks is only a problem if you apply for it in week eleven.
South African import requirements and port conditions change. We confirm the current position for your destination at survey and tell you in writing what to expect.
Direct sailings to three coasts, with road delivery inland. Gauteng is the exception: it is landlocked, and everything reaches it by road from the coast.
Port of Cape Town, WC
Our busiest South African destination, serving the Atlantic Seaboard, Southern Suburbs, Northern Suburbs and the Winelands. Steep, narrow streets in Bo-Kaap and along the mountain need an access survey and often a shuttle vehicle.
Inland from Durban, GP
The economic capital and a common corporate posting. Landlocked, so allow the extra week for road transport from Durban. Estate and complex access usually needs arranging with security in advance.
Port of Durban, KZN
The busiest container port in the country, serving KwaZulu-Natal and the road corridor to Gauteng. Also the port most affected by congestion, which we watch and route around where we can.
Inland from Durban, GP
Serves the administrative capital and the diplomatic community. Handled the same way as Johannesburg, with clearance at the coast and road delivery inland.
Gqeberha and Ngqura, EC
The Eastern Cape ports serve Port Elizabeth, East London and the western end of the Garden Route. Sailings are less frequent, so allow additional time.
Garden Route, bushveld, smallholdings
Rural and small-town addresses are all served by road from the nearest port. Long farm tracks and weight-limited bridges are the usual constraints — tell us early and we will plan the vehicle around it.
Working backwards from your flight.
Book the survey and confirm the quotation. Begin SARS importer registration and, if a vehicle is going, start the ITAC permit now.
Decide what travels. Gather passport, visa and residence documents for the declaration.
We complete the P1.160 declaration and your valued inventory. Separate air freight and anything you want to carry.
We pack, inventory and load across one to three days, with descriptions written for a customs officer.
We lodge the entry, manage inspection, monitor the yard and book delivery once the shipment is released.
Volume first, then port, then how far inland. Cape Town and Durban are comparable; Johannesburg costs more because of the road leg. Use the volume estimator on our home page for a sense of scale, then let us survey and quote in writing.
They have been significant at Durban and Cape Town for several years and they fluctuate. We build a realistic figure into your quotation and tell you the current position rather than a best case. Where routing through a different port helps, we will suggest it.
Not if you qualify for change of residence relief and the declaration is complete and lodged correctly. New, unused items and goods for resale fall outside it, and there are conditions about keeping the goods rather than selling them on.
Only with an ITAC import permit, which is generally available to returning South African citizens and permanent residents rather than to people on temporary visas, and usually limited to one vehicle per family that you have owned and used abroad. If you do qualify, the car itself fits: South Africa drives on the left.
Not for the clearance, but your documents do. Many people fly ahead, and the shipment follows. What matters is that the paperwork was completed before arrival and that someone can accept delivery.
They need their own permits, applied for well ahead, and they do not travel in the household container. Tell us at survey and we will explain the process rather than discovering it at the port.
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, applied for before your goods arrive. We handle the application alongside the move.
Tell us where you're heading and roughly when. A consultant will come back within one working day to arrange a survey.