International Container Shipping Costs and Rates in 2024

• The cost of shipping is affected by weight, transport type, distance, and destination
• Sharing shipping containers helps reduce what you spend
• Shipping costs continue to fall, as of October 2024

The cost of shipping a container internationally can range widely and it depends on a number of factors. As a rough estimate, it should cost somewhere between £2,900 (GBP)  and £11,000 (GBP) to ship a 20ft (TEU) container from one country to another.

In this article, we’re going to cover all current international container shipping rates and costs, so you have the clearest possible picture of what you might spend. 

Rates always fluctuate though, due to factors such as fuel costs, global supply chain issues, and demand changes, which we’ll explain in detail too.

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Before you go on and read, allow us to explain the basics of international container shipping costs:

How much does a shipping container cost?

It isn’t necessary to buy your own shipping container (our suppliers will provide one for you), however some people decide that they can get multiple uses out of one.

A shipping container is not just for shipping; once its career on the sea is over, a container can be used for many things. Arty people have transformed these big steel boxes into mini homes, trendy offices, garden sheds, swimming pools and pop-up cafes. The only limit is your imagination.

The average cost of a new or barely used (i.e. one-trip) 20ft container is around £2,100 ($2,726). Once you start looking at second-hand containers, the price will fall to around £1,250 ($1,622) or below.

If you’re looking to go supersize and get a 40ft container, these cost around £3,750 ($4,864) brand new or barely used, while second-hand containers are about £2,495 ($3,236).

How long will a shipping container last? Well, a container that spends its whole life on the ocean will be useful for about 10-12 years, but let it rest and its lifespan will grow to 25-30 years. Containers are windproof and watertight, but sadly they are not immune to rust.

International shipping container rates

Container shipping rates from the UK

Are you moving from the UK overseas? Then you’ll need the latest costs for container shipping rates from the UK. The table below is up-to-date as of October 2024 and is based on shipping household goods worth a typical £51,000 via either a 20ft or 40ft FCL (Full Container Load).

Container shipping rates from the US

If you’re leaving the US for a new home overseas, you’ll want to know how much this’ll cost you. See below for the latest container shipping rates from the US (based on the typical value of household goods in the US of $60,000).

Container shipping rates from Australia

Moving overseas from Australia? Here’s our up-to-date table of container shipping rates to destinations around the world, based on shipping either a 20ft or 40ft FCL of household goods worth a typical $102,000 (AU$).

Container shipping rates from Canada

Here are the latest container shipping rates from Canada, so you can get a rough idea of what it might cost to move to destinations around the world. Rates are based on shipping a 20ft or 40ft FCL of household goods worth around $60,000 (CAD).

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How are container shipping costs calculated?

Shipping companies use five factors to calculate their costs. These are as follows:

The volume or weight of the goods

It’s not officially one or the other because it depends on what type of shipping you’re using. When it comes to sea freight, the dimensions of your goods are the most important, while air freight cares more about the weight of your goods. The more goods you have, the more it will cost to ship them to your new home.

The type of transport

Will your goods be flying or sailing? The mode of transport will determine both the price and the time it takes for your belongings to arrive. Air freight tends to be the quicker and more costly alternative to sea freight, so if you’ve got time to spare then you should definitely opt for the ocean. Sea freight is usually around five times cheaper than air freight. 

The journey distance

This one is pretty self-explanatory. If you’re shipping your stuff halfway across the world then it’s going to cost more than a short trip across the Mediterranean.

Whether your move is port-to-port or door-to-door will also affect costs; if your shipping company is going to transport your goods all the way from your old front door to your brand new one then this will bump up the price.

Despite this, we thoroughly recommend door-to-door services as they can prevent logistical headaches.

The destination port

Customs duties and service charges are unavoidable but they will vary from country to country.

Naturally, the arrival destination of your goods will determine how much you have to pay in the way of customs and taxes. Check out our breakdown of these various charges near the end of the page.

The time of year

International shipping has peak seasons, just like any other industry. These generally occur in the summer (between August and September) and just after the Chinese New Year (between January and February).

During peak season, demand is greater, prices are higher and capacity is more limited. It’s best to avoid shipping at these times if you want the lowest prices.

Other shipping costs to consider

It doesn’t stop there. Once you know the volume and/or weight of your goods, the container size, whether it’s an FCL or LCL shipment and what kind of transport you’ll be using, there are still a few additional shipping costs that you need to think about. 

These are: customs duties, container inspection fees, General Rate Increase (GRI), inland delivery charges, quarantine fees, and insurance cover.

With the technological advance of electronic scanning machines, it’s unlikely that your container will be physically inspected. In the USA, just 5% of inbound containers receive physical inspection, and it’s even less common in European ports.

However, if the scans give customs staff any reason to be suspicious then your container will most likely be opened and investigated. In this scenario, shipping companies will usually ask you to cover all the charges incurred by this process.

Container inspect fees can cost between £10 and £135 ($13–$175), but this can be more depending on how many containers need to be inspected.

General Rate Increase (GRI)

A General Rate Increase (GRI) is the average rise in base shipping rates implemented by shipping companies. They are designed to cover the continually increasing costs faced by freight carriers and they occur regularly (sometimes once a month).

A continual cycle occurs: shipping companies implement GRIs, demand falls, they lower their prices, demand rises and another GRI is implemented. This is what makes container shipping prices so volatile.

Consequently, once your Cargo Ready Date (CRD) has been agreed with your shipping company, be sure to check whether it falls before or after a new GRI as this can make a significant difference to the price.

As of October 2024, the GRI is around 5.9%. So shipping a container worth £1,000 ($1,296) would cost £1,059 ($1,372) under the current GRI.

Inland delivery charges

You need to make sure that your shipping company is clear with you about what service they are providing. They might only be offering you a port-to-port rate, which means they’ll deliver your container to its destination port and then you’ll have to deal with it after that.

This can often be more costly than opting for a full door-to-door service and it’s logistics that you probably don’t want to deal with. Be kind to yourself and make sure your container is being taken all the way to your new home.

Quarantine fees

Quarantine fees sound like a thing reserved solely for animals, but this is not the case in some countries. In Australia, for example, people there are worried about foreign pests (eg. insects or bacteria) disrupting their ecosystem.

Officials will inspect all items coming into the country, looking for unclean pieces of furniture and outdoor equipment. This inspection comes with a fee, along with further charges if they find something that shouldn’t be coming in.

It’s important that you know about any quarantine process before you start packing your belongings, so speak to your shipping company.

If you’re moving to Australia, expect to pay between £512 ($663) and £800 ($1,037) in quarantine fees for your pet.

FCL vs LCL

There are at least 16 different kinds of shipping containers, but luckily there are only two that you need to know about: the 20-foot and the 40-foot. The rest are generally for business-related and industrial moves.

As for FCL vs LCL, well this depends on the volume of goods you want to ship. You may not need to pay for the use of a whole container, so this is where an LCL comes in.

Shipping companies have devised a system for people with smaller amounts of cargo where several customers can share the space of a single container. This is called a ‘Less Than Container Load’ (LCL) or a part-load shipment.

Typically, people who are moving the contents of a one-bedroom flat can opt for LCL, but volumes greater than that will usually require a whole container.

This is called a ‘Full Container Load’ (FCL) or sole-use shipment. It’s a bit like the difference between a private taxi and a bus.

Why choose Full Container Load?

It’s better value. In terms of cost per cubic metre, you get more bang for your buck with an FCL. The shipping company will charge you a flat rate for the use of the container rather than making you pay for the specific volume of your goods.

It’s faster. When you’re sharing a container with other people’s cargo, there’s more waiting involved. Belongings have to be loaded and unloaded at each port and then placed on separate trucks. However, an FCL shipment doesn’t need to be opened until it’s at your new house. The extra time required by LCL can vary, ranging from 4-5 days to a couple of weeks. It all depends on where you’re going and the company you’re shipping with.

Your goods are safer. With all the extra handling, LCL comes with an increased risk. The loading and unloading that happens at each port means that LCL shipments are moved around more often than FCL shipments. Naturally, this puts your belongings at greater risk of being damaged. FCL is much more advisable if you have fragile goods to bring with you.

You can ship a car. If you’re sharing the use of a container with other people, transporting a car is too risky. Cars are very safely secured in shipping containers but they are big and heavy things, meaning there is always the potential for damaging other people’s cargo. FCL is the solution here.

It costs £1,780 ($2,311) on average for a 20ft shipping container, and roughly £2,997 ($3,891) for 40ft containers.

Why choose Less Than Container Load?

It’s the cheapest way to ship small volumes. If you don’t actually have that much stuff to bring with you, it would be silly to hire a whole container. Everything will just rattle around once it starts moving.

LCL is the most cost-effective method for smaller moves and it’s quite common that someone will have only a couple of boxes to bring. Students who are travelling abroad just for a year or so regularly opt for LCL.

However, there is a point where you should switch from LCL to FCL, even if you don’t have enough to fill a container. Shipping companies advise that any shipment over 15 cbm should be sent by FCL, as this is actually more economical.

Another option is to hire part of a FCL, which some companies offer. What they’ll typically do is fill a portion of an FCL with your belongings, then make up the rest of the space with consolidated freight. This is often a more cost-effective method than hiring out an entire container.

It costs around £163 ($212) on average per cbm. This is based on shipping from New York to London.

How big is a 20ft container?

A 20-foot container will typically hold the contents of a three-bedroom house. This means stuff like furniture, beds, fridges, TVs and storage boxes. If you live in a one or two-bedroom house, you might want to consider hiring part of a container instead of a full 20ft or 40ft container. This’ll be more economical.

The actual volume of a 20-foot container is 33 cubic metres (cbm), but in reality there is normally only about 25-28 cbm of usable space. If cbm doesn’t mean anything to you then here are some other ways to visualise the space inside a 20-foot container. It’s about the size of a single garage, and it can hold all this stuff (but not all at once):

• 100 washing machines
• 400 flat-screen TVs
• 200 full-sized mattresses
• 50-60 fridges
• 48,000 bananas
• 10 standard pallets

We’ve also made a nice infographic to show you exactly what can fit inside a 20-foot shipping container. If you’re lucky enough to own five bikes then it turns out you can bring all of them.

How big is a 40ft container?

A 40-foot container will give you double the amount of space as a 20-foot container, but it doesn’t come at twice the price. 40-foot containers are definitely better value for money if you have a lot of stuff to bring. Houses with four (or more) bedrooms will most likely need a 40-foot container, unless you have one of those trendy minimalist homes that doesn’t have much furniture.

Can’t leave your trusty four-wheels behind? When it comes to shipping a car, the 20-foot container is big enough but it won’t leave a lot of room for other cargo. Therefore, if you want to bring your car along with the contents of your household then you’ll most likely need a 40-foot container. Here’s our guide to shipping cars.

The 40-foot container technically contains 67 cbm of space, although only about 54-58 cbm ends up being usable. If you want another visual aid, just double the numbers we gave you for the 20-foot container. Here’s another funky purple infographic to show you how much can fit inside a 40-foot container:

Once you’ve chosen a container, you’ll need to pack all of your belongings. Check out our super handy guide to moving furniture abroad.

Sea freight or air freight?

Choice of transport is another big factor when it comes to international shipping costs. It’s all about balancing your priorities.

What’s more important to you, getting your things shipped as quickly as possible or keeping costs down? Moving your belongings by sea and by air are the two most popular options for international moves.

Why choose sea freight?

Sea freight is low cost. On average, sea freight is five to six times cheaper than air freight, according to the Freightos. For instance, shipping the contents of a one-bedroom flat from the UK to Australia by sea costs around £3,100 (GBP) . Ship the same contents by air and you’re looking at a bill of around £8,000 (GBP) . See our price comparison table below for more details.

Container ships are the most eco-friendly option. In contrast to air or road transport, ships on the ocean release the lowest amount of carbon emissions.

Why choose air freight?

Cargo planes are faster. If you’re in a hurry to ship your belongings, transporting them by air is the fastest method of shipping. Between any two global destinations, it will usually take about one to three days. Compare this with a container ship’s journey from the UK to Australia, which takes on average 32 days. The ocean is a big place and a ship full of thousands of steel containers can only go so fast (about 23 mph).

“Sending a container from Shanghai to Le Havre (France) emits fewer greenhouse gases than the truck that takes the container on to Lyon.”

– Rose George, Ninety Percent of Everything

Sea freight and air freight rates

We’ve made another table to give you a better idea of the difference between air freight and sea freight costs. These prices are calculated for some of our most popular routes from the UK (the Port of London / Gatwick Airport).

The rates are based on the port-to-port (or airport-to-airport) shipment of a 250 kg load of household goods worth £15,000 (GBP), and they were last updated in October 2024.

Intermodal transportation

This fancy term basically means the use of several different types of transport. By using steel containers with standardised, universal measurements, the global shipping industry has found a way to move cargo seamlessly between sea transport and land transport without having to unload each time.

The same container can travel by ship, train and truck all the way to your new house. Handling of goods is less frequent which means damages are far less likely. There are 50,000 merchant ships in the world fleet and they have all embraced intermodal transportation.

Tracking

Most international container ships can hold over 10,000 20ft containers with the world’s largest container ship carrying up to 18,000 – the mighty Maersk Triple-E. To put that into context, the biggest container ship in 1956 could hold only 800 containers.

With all the steel boxes on board these modern vessels, it’s vital that they are all accounted for. Most shipping companies use ISO codes (a 4-character ID) to track every container electronically.

Regulation

The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) regulates all global shipping. The sea can be a dangerous place so it is vital that the IMO hold all container ships to rigorous standards.

So, although international shipping is safe, it doesn’t mean that accidents don’t happen. Getting shipping insurance is a sensible option and shipping companies strongly advise it. You can check out our specific guide to international removals insurance.

Do I need container shipping insurance?

In short: yes. International shipping isn’t always smooth sailing, so insuring your cargo is a no-brainer. And it won’t cost you too much either. Shipping insurance is based on the monetary value of your belongings, rather than their weight or volume. So to insure cargo worth £40,000 ($55,000) travelling from the UK to Australia, it would only cost around £700 ($900).

International shipping has become increasingly safe, however, so you shouldn’t worry too much about your possessions getting lost or damaged.

Next steps

Hopefully we’ve made international shipping costs a little easier to navigate. There is a long list of factors and considerations but nothing that MoveHub or your shipping company can’t help you with. The next step is to find your best price.

Luckily, you can speed up the process by popping your details in our quick quote tool. Once we’ve got some information about your move, we’ll pass on your details to our expert suppliers, who’ll be in touch with their best prices. Thank us later!