Your move to Canada travels by sea, in a steel shipping container. The main choice is size and how you use it. A 20-foot container holds most two and three-bed homes. A 40-foot is for a bigger home. If you're shipping less, you share a container and pay only for your space. This guide covers the sizes, what fits, how it's loaded and what it costs. We'll connect you with one FIDI-certified mover to handle it, and that part is free.
Written by Darren Benjamin, founder of International Removals Companies, who has arranged international moves for over 15 years. The service has handled 850,000+ enquiries since 2010. Reviewed August 2026.
Two sizes cover almost every household move. Here's what each holds, and the kind of home it suits.
| Container | Capacity | Suits |
|---|---|---|
| 20-foot | About 33 cubic metres | A 2 to 3-bed home |
| 40-foot | About 67 cubic metres | A 4 to 5-bed home |
| 40-foot high-cube | About 76 cubic metres | A large home, tall or bulky items |
| Shared space (LCL) | Per cubic metre | A flat or part load |
A high-cube container is the same length as a standard 40-foot, with around 30cm more height.
Cubic metres are hard to imagine. So here's what tends to go in.
A 20-foot container takes the contents of a typical two or three-bed home. Sofas, beds, wardrobes, a dining set, white goods and a good stack of boxes. For most families moving to Canada, this is the one.
A 40-foot container is roughly double. It suits a four or five-bed house, with room left for garage and garden things, bikes and tools. If you're moving a full home and not parting with much, this is the size.
Not sure where you land? A surveyor measures your home and tells you straight. It's better than guessing and paying for space you don't use.
You'll see two terms thrown around. They simply describe whether the container is all yours.
FCL, a full container load, means the whole box is yours. It's sealed at your door and opened in Canada. Nobody else's goods travel with it, and it ships a little faster.
LCL, less than a container load, is shared space. Also called groupage. Your goods travel alongside other shipments, and you pay only for the volume you fill. It's the cheaper route for a smaller load, with a slightly longer wait while the container fills.
For how the wider move works, see our Removals UK to Canada guide.
A container isn't just filled and shut. A good crew loads it so nothing moves at sea.
Loading usually happens at your home, where the crew packs and stacks the container by hand. If access is tight, it's loaded at a depot instead. Heavy items go low, fragile ones are cushioned, and the whole load is blocked and braced so it can't shift on the crossing. A full container is then sealed for the journey.
From the UK, containers sail from ports like Liverpool, Southampton, Felixstowe and London Gateway. The Atlantic crossing makes up most of the 4 to 8-week transit.
When the container lands, the goods inside are declared to the Canada Border Services Agency, the CBSA. The main form is the BSF186, listing what you've shipped.
For most movers there's no duty to pay. Belongings owned and used for at least six months usually enter as settler effects, free of duty. New items, or anything sold within a year of landing, can attract duty plus GST or HST. A clear, honest inventory keeps the clearance smooth.
The full customs steps, including the former-resident rules, sit on our Removals UK to Canada page.
A container of your whole life deserves a careful crew. The movers we connect you with all hold FIDI FAIM, the global standard, checked by an independent Ernst and Young audit. BAR Overseas covers the same ground in Britain. That vetting covers their loading, their finances and the care they take.
To be clear on our part: International Removals Companies is not a shipping line or a removal company. We're a free service. We tie your enquiry to a single vetted partner, who supplies the container and does the work. And if you'll need Canadian dollars on arrival, we've connected customers with trusted currency-exchange partners, in any currency, for years. We've run the service since November 2010. DATACONTEXT (UK) LTD, company 07425576, ICO ZB022743, Norman House, Saint Saviours Estate, Abbey Street, London, SE1 3DH. Working Member of AGM Group since 2010.
A 20-foot suits most two and three-bed homes. A 40-foot suits four-bed or larger. Shipping less? Shared space fits better. A survey sizes it.
About £3,500 to £6,000 for a 20-foot, rising to £6,000 to £11,000 for a 40-foot, door to door. Shared space is charged by the cubic metre.
FCL is a full, sole-use container. LCL is shared space billed per cubic metre. FCL is faster, LCL cheaper for small loads.
About 33 cubic metres, near enough a two or three-bed home: sofas, beds, wardrobes, white goods and boxes.
About 67 cubic metres, roughly double. A four or five-bed home, with room for garage and garden items.
Yes. Groupage, or LCL, is built for part loads. You pay only for the space you fill, with a slightly longer wait.
Usually at your home, or at a depot if access is tight. The crew blocks and braces the load so nothing shifts.
Usually none on used goods owned six months or more. They arrive as settler effects, declared on BSF186 to the CBSA.
Tell us your UK postcode, your Canadian address, the move date and roughly what you're shipping. One FIDI-certified mover sizes the container and comes back with a price and a timeline. No cost, no obligation.
Get My Container QuoteFree. One FIDI-certified partner mover. DATACONTEXT (UK) LTD, operating since 2010.
We connect container shipments to Canada with one vetted, FIDI-certified partner mover. We don't run removals or shipping lines ourselves. DATACONTEXT (UK) LTD, company 07425576, ICO ZB022743. Norman House, Saint Saviours Estate, Abbey Street, London, SE1 3DH. Working Member of AGM Group since 2010.
Container size, price, transit time, insurance and customs paperwork are confirmed by the mover before you book.