the pet usually travels within days of you, while the container takes weeks. Plan the animal around your own arrival and the accommodation, not around the shipment.
The container is the slow part of a move and the pet is the inflexible part. Trying to make one wait for the other is how people end up in a hotel with a confused dog and no furniture.
We connect your enquiry with a vetted international moving company from our network for the household goods, and the sequencing question is worth settling before either booking is made.
Pets travel by air, in days. Household goods travel by sea, in weeks. Those two facts do most of the planning for you once you accept them rather than fight them.
Check that your temporary accommodation accepts animals before booking anything. It is a more common obstacle than the import requirements, and it is discovered later than it should be.
The household goods are collected first, because they need the longest lead time. Once the container has gone, the house is empty and the remaining logistics are about people and animals rather than furniture.
You travel next and take possession of the accommodation, temporary or permanent. That gives somewhere for the pet to arrive into and somebody to receive it.
The pet follows within days, and the container arrives weeks later. Reversing any part of that sequence creates a problem: a pet with nowhere to go, or furniture with nobody to receive it.
It constrains everything else and it is the thing most often left until last.
A few days after you land is usually right. Before you land almost never is.
Plan to live simply for a few weeks rather than trying to compress a sea freight timeline.
| ❗ | Confirm the accommodation accepts pets, in writing, before booking travel. |
| ❗ | Allow the pet to arrive after you rather than with or before you. |
| ❗ | Keep essential pet supplies with you rather than in the container. |
| ❗ | Ask the airline about seasonal conditions that could affect your dates. |
| ❗ | Have a plan for the weeks before the container lands, including beds. |
| ❗ | Confirm who can receive the container if your dates shift again. |
After. Somebody has to be there to receive and settle the animal, and arriving before you creates a problem with no easy solution.
No. Pets travel by air on their own arrangements, and household goods travel by sea on another.
Goods collected first because they take longest, then you, then the pet within days, then the container weeks later.
Temporary accommodation that does not accept animals. It catches people more often than the import requirements do.
Typically several weeks from collection, depending on the route. Plan to live simply rather than expecting the container to catch up.
Essential pet supplies, medication, records and anything the animal needs to settle. Not in the container.
Airlines apply their own conditions at temperature extremes, so check when booking rather than assuming your dates are available.
The pet booking is harder to move than the container. Build slack around the animal rather than around the furniture.
Move the pet booking with them if you can. It is harder to rearrange than the container, so build the slack around the animal.
Send your collection address, your US destination, your own travel dates and details of any pets. A moving company from our network builds the shipment around the sequence.
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 arrange pet travel. Animal transport is booked separately with specialists and carriers.
Written by Darren Benjamin, Founder.