Sometimes the whole move is fifteen boxes. Books, clothes, kitchen things and the objects you would not replace. That is a real shipment and it does not need a container to make it one.
We connect your enquiry with a vetted international moving company from our network that handles small consignments alongside full removals.
The choice is time against money. By sea you wait weeks and pay comparatively little. By air you wait days and pay considerably more per kilo, especially if the boxes are bulky rather than heavy.
boxes travel by sea for weeks at low cost or by air in days at a higher one. Either way they need the same customs declaration as a container, and the same real descriptions on the inventory.
Send after you arrive rather than before. A shipment landing at an address where nobody has moved in generates storage charges from day one, and those accumulate faster than the freight cost.
Sea is the default for anything that can wait. The cost per box is low, the journey takes weeks in line with any other sea shipment, and for books and clothes that is usually fine.
Air makes sense where the timing has got away from you, or where the boxes hold work equipment you need immediately. It is priced on chargeable weight, so bulk matters as much as weight.
Many people use both, sending the bulk by sea and a single box of essentials by air. On a small shipment the difference in total cost is often modest and the difference in convenience is not.
| ❗ | Use proper export cartons rather than supermarket boxes, which fail when stacked. |
| ❗ | Small boxes for heavy contents, larger boxes for light ones. |
| ❗ | Fill each box completely so it does not collapse under weight above it. |
| ❗ | Tape the base along and across the seam, not just the top. |
| ❗ | Number the boxes and keep a matching list of what is in each. |
| ❗ | Keep liquids, aerosols and anything perishable out entirely. |
Both sea and air pricing rest on it, and a guess produces a quote that changes later.
Customs reads the inventory rather than the room name, and a vague list raises the chance of an inspection.
Delivery to an address where nobody has arrived is the most common cause of an unexpected storage bill.
Yes. Small consignments are a normal service, by sea for economy or by air for speed, and no container is involved.
Usually by a wide margin, particularly by sea. Airlines price extra bags at rates that make freight look reasonable.
Weeks, in line with any other sea shipment on the route. Plan for it rather than hoping it arrives quickly.
Yes. Goods arriving separately from you need the same declaration as a container, including the one year use test.
By contents, numbered, with a matching list. Customs reads the inventory, and kitchen tells an officer nothing useful.
They will usually go into storage at your cost. Time the shipment so it lands after you have moved in.
Yes, and many people do. The bulk goes by sea and one box of essentials goes by air.
Liquids, aerosols, perishables and anything flammable, along with the restricted items that cannot travel in any shipment.
There is no fixed number. Below about ten it is worth pricing against a courier, and above that a consolidated service is normally cheaper per box.
Send your collection address, your US delivery address, when you need the boxes and roughly how many there are. A moving company from our network prices sea and air.
Send your move detailsA Working Member of AGM Group. Enquiries are connected with vetted FIDI FAIM certified and BAR Overseas accredited international moving companies from the network.
We are an enquiry service and do not carry shipments. Boxes are collected and shipped by the moving company you are introduced to.
Written by Darren Benjamin, Founder.