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A quote for a UK to Thailand move is not one price. It is eight separate charges added together, and two firms can hand you the same total with very different things inside it. This page opens the number up so you can see which parts are fixed, which are negotiable, and which are simply the wrong month.
Everything in an international relocation starts with volume. A surveyor converts your house into cubic metres and the rest follows. Below about fifteen cubic metres you buy space in a shared container. Above seventeen you take a container to yourself, which by then costs much the same and handles your goods less.
Bands below are door to door by sea, before marine insurance and any duty. They come from three published UK price lists read in August 2026.
| What you are sending | Volume | Shipped as | Indicative cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| A few boxes and a bike | 2 to 5 cbm | Shared container space | From about £650 |
| Studio or one bedroom | 8 to 15 cbm | Shared container space | £1,600 to £2,800 |
| Two to three bedroom house | 25 to 33 cbm | 20ft container to yourself | £4,100 to £4,800 |
| Four bedroom or larger | 50 cbm and up | 40ft container to yourself | From about £7,300 |
Shipit lists Thailand moves from £636 for a small shared load, £4,119 for a 20ft container and £7,277 for a 40ft. MoveHub quotes £4,309 to £4,761 for a 20ft. Swift Cargo Solutions publishes a line by line breakdown at £40 to £80 per cubic metre for shared sea freight, plus £1,200 to £2,200 all in for a 20ft container and £1,800 to £3,200 for a 40ft. The shared bands above apply those per cubic metre rates to a typical load: an eight cubic metre shipment works out at roughly £320 to £640 of ocean freight before surcharges, handling and delivery. Read August 2026, re-checked annually.
Ask any firm for this breakdown. If they will not give it, that itself tells you something.
| Charge | What it is | Roughly |
|---|---|---|
| Ocean freight | The base rate, priced per cubic metre or per container | £40 to £80 per cbm, or £1,200 to £2,200 for a 20ft |
| Origin handling | Receiving a shared load into the UK consolidation warehouse | £8 to £15 per cbm. Not charged on a sole use container |
| Bunker adjustment | Fuel surcharge, moves with oil prices | £30 to £80 per cbm, or £200 to £500 per container |
| Low sulphur surcharge | Emissions surcharge on this trade | £20 to £60 per cbm, or £100 to £200 per container |
| Cape routing | Applies while vessels route round the Cape | £50 to £150 per cbm, or £200 to £500 per container |
| Peak season | July to September, and around Chinese New Year | £100 to £400 per container |
| Destination handling | Charged at Laem Chabang on arrival | £80 to £115 for a 20ft, £125 to £185 for a 40ft |
| Marine insurance | Never included in a freight quote | 0.3 to 0.8 percent of declared replacement value |
Relief on used household effects depends on your visa, not your goods. Retirement visa holders are normally assessed for duty rather than cleared free, and no freight quote includes that. If you are retiring, work out the duty exposure before you commit to a volume. The customs page covers who qualifies.
The first month in Thailand is the expensive one: deposit, rent, utilities, all in baht. Moving that through a high street bank is where people quietly lose several hundred pounds. Currency exchange comes as part of the service through trusted partners. Experts in currency exchange, no hidden fees, 5-star consumer ratings and a competitive exchange rate. Rates move daily so we do not publish one.
As market information for August 2026: from about £650 for a few boxes in shared container space, £1,600 to £2,800 for a studio or one bedroom, £4,100 to £4,800 for a 20ft container carrying a two to three bedroom house, and from £7,300 for a 40ft container. Those are published UK figures from three sources, not a quote.
Almost always because different things are inside them. The usual gaps are marine insurance, destination handling at Laem Chabang, and the final inland delivery. Ask both firms for the eight line breakdown on this page and the difference normally explains itself.
Anything outside July to September, which is peak season on this trade and adds roughly £100 to £400 per container. Chinese New Year causes a second smaller squeeze. If your date is flexible, this is the largest saving available and it costs you nothing.
No. Marine cover is always quoted separately, normally at 0.3 to 0.8 percent of the replacement value you declare. Declare what the goods would cost to replace in Thailand rather than what you paid in the UK, or you will be underinsured on the one shipment where it matters.
It saves a few hundred pounds and it is the most common false economy on this route. A container is handled several times and owner packed cartons are the ones that fail. Insurers treat them differently and routinely exclude them from breakage cover. A part pack, where the crew do only the fragile items, is the sensible middle.
No, and it cannot. Duty depends on your visa when the goods clear, not on the shipment. Relief is aimed at one year work permit holders and returning Thai nationals. Retirement visa holders are normally assessed. Work that exposure out separately before you decide what to ship.
For flat pack furniture, white goods and anything with a local equivalent under a few hundred pounds, buying in Thailand usually wins once you account for the cubic metres. For solid wood, antiques and anything you actually care about, shipping wins. The furniture page goes item by item.
Treat it as a starting point only. Volume is what sets the price and nobody can judge cubic metres from a phone call. A firm quoting a firm price without a survey, in person or by video, is either guessing or leaving room to revise upwards later.
Every firm in the network holds FIDI FAIM certification. Ernst and Young audit them against more than two hundred criteria on a three year cycle: financial standing, insurance, customs competence, staff training and how claims get handled. On a route with a sea leg and a clearance in the middle, that audit is what separates a problem being solved from a problem being argued about.
We have run this service since November 2010 and have handled over 850,000 enquiries in that time. We are a Working Member of the AGM Group network, agm.group. We are not a removal company and we do not own a lorry: your details go to one vetted firm and they survey and quote directly.
Send the UK collection postcode, the destination address, a rough inventory, the access at both ends and your date. One vetted moving company surveys it and quotes properly.
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Written by Darren Benjamin, founder of International Removals Companies. Darren has run this service since November 2010 and has overseen more than 850,000 moving enquiries.
Costs on this page were checked in DATE against three published UK sources: Shipit, MoveHub and Swift Cargo Solutions. They are re-checked every year. Rules and prices change, so confirm your own position before you ship. Questions: 07551 855 064 or WhatsApp. Read our Google reviews.
A free enquiry service run by DATACONTEXT (UK) LTD, and a Working Member of the AGM Group network, agm.group. We are not a removal company.
Use this page to prepare the enquiry, then deal directly with the moving company we introduce before you book anything.