A Guide To Shipping Furniture Internationally in 2024

• You should expect to pay anywhere between £1,300–£6,000 to ship your furniture overseas
• You’ll need to make sure your belongings are packed efficiently to avoid any damage costs
• Moving furniture by sea is much cheaper than by air

Moving abroad often means shipping some or all of your furniture along with you, and this can be daunting, especially if you haven’t done it before.

Fret not, because we’re here with a comprehensive guide on how to do so with ease.

Read on for essential information on how to ship furniture overseas, including tips on the best ways to pack, whether you should leave items behind, and the must-have materials for packing your belongings.

Don’t have time to scroll through the internet, finding shipping prices? Try using our simple quote tool to speed up the process. All you have to do is tell us a bit about your trip, and we’ll pass it on to our expert suppliers, who’ll be in touch with free quotes, tailored to your move.

By doing this, you could save up to 70% on the removal costs of moving abroad.

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How much does it cost to ship furniture overseas?

It’s hard to give you an exact price, but you should expect to pay anywhere between £1,300 (GBP)  and £6,000 (GBP)  to ship your furniture overseas.

How much you’ll pay will depend on several factors, such as how much furniture you’re moving, where you’re moving it to and from, and whether you move it by sea or air.

Speaking very generally, it will cost about £2,445 (GBP) to ship the contents of a three-bedroom house by sea from London to New York, while it will cost around £2,000 (GBP) to ship a 100 cm x 100 cm x 100 cm box* (one cubic metre) on the same route by air.

The table below gives you a rough estimate of how much it costs to move your furniture abroad from the UK by air and sea. 

Cost of add-on services

Costs updated October 2024

Common types of furniture being shipped

When you move abroad permanently, you might want to bring most of your furniture with you. Generally though, there are some items of furniture that are more commonly shipped:

• Tables: all types of tables, including dining room tables, coffee tables, and bedside tables, are commonly shipped abroad. Tables can be difficult to ship, especially if they’re large or fragile. The best option is to carefully disassemble them, use the right boxes, blankets, and bubble wrap, and use a trusted shipping company.

• Sofas: sofas can be difficult to ship due to their size, so consider how attached you are to your sofa and how much it’s worth. Consider using a freight forwarder or packing service with experience of shipping furniture.

• Outdoor furniture: outdoor tables, hammocks, a garden bench – there are many types of outdoor furniture you might want to bring with you to your new home.

• Chairs: these can usually be easily dismantled and are among the most common items of furniture to be shipped abroad.

• Bedroom furniture: bed frames, nightstands and wardrobes are all up there with the items of furniture most likely to be shipped abroad.

• Wardrobes and shelves: wardrobes, shelves and chests of drawers are commonly shipped. After all, you’ll want places to store all the other items you’re shipping.

Which shipping options are best for shipping furniture internationally?

Choosing the right shipping option for your furniture depends on your budget, how quickly you need the furniture to arrive, and the amount of furniture.

Your main options are ocean and air freight. Let’s look at the pros and cons of each:

Ocean freight shipping

Ocean freight shipping is the best option if you have large items of furniture that you don’t need to arrive at your new home quickly. Sofas, wardrobes, and other bulky items that you won’t need the moment you arrive are best left for ocean freight.

You’ll almost always spend less on ocean freight and it’s a much more cost-effective way to ship large items of furniture.

Want to know more about what you might spend on shipping? We have a comprehensive guide on international shipping costs detailing everything you’ll need to know.

Full Container Load (FCL) vs. Less than Container Load (LCL) for shipping furniture

When shipping via ocean freight, you’ll typically use either Full Container Load (FCL) or Less than Container Load (LCL). The key difference is that shipping via FCL means hiring an entire shipping container for your belongings alone, and using LCL means sharing space in a container with other peoples’ belongings.

FCL is more cost-effective if you have enough belongings to fill up either an entire 20ft or 40ft container. A 20ft container has a capacity of 32.6 cubic metres, which works out at a loadable volume of 25-28 cubic metres. This will usually be enough for the contents of a three-bedroom house. A 40ft container has a loadable volume of 55-58 cubic metres. LCL is the more cost-effective option if your items take up 15 cubic metres (cbm) or less.

Air freight shipping

If speed is of the essence, then air freight is the way to go. Naturally, this added convenience comes at a cost, so unless money isn’t an issue, air freight is best avoided for large items of furniture.

It can be a good option for smaller, high-value, or time-sensitive furniture shipments, and if the items are below 500 kg, air freight can actually be a cost-effective choice.

We can help with your move here at MoveHub, making sure your furniture arrives safely by using our network of trusted shipping companies. Fill in the webform below and start your moving process today!

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Should I choose a moving company or a shipping company?

Moving companies and shipping companies are different entities, despite both being focused on getting your belongings to your new home.

A moving company will handle the on-ground packing and transport of household goods. They’ll move goods to and from the port/airport and can also help with the packing process.

Shipping companies (also known as international shipping companies) on the other hand, will handle the shipping of goods internationally.

This includes household goods and commercial goods. You may have also heard the term ‘freight forwarder’, which is a person or company who organises the movement of goods, coordinating with the shipping companies.

Should I pack furniture myself?

You can save money by disassembling and packing your furniture yourself rather than paying a removals company to do it for you. You just need to make sure you a) buy good quality packing materials, and b) pack your furniture properly.

Whether you should pack your own furniture comes down to whether you’re comfortable doing the heavy lifting yourself. If not, or you’re unsure about how best to pack without damaging your furniture, we recommend using a professional packing service.

Professional furniture packing services vs DIY packing

There are advantages and disadvantages to either using a professional packing service, or doing it yourself. We’ve broken down the pros and cons of each below:

Working with a moving company for packing furniture

Choosing a moving company to help pack your furniture means getting professionals who really know their stuff when it comes to relocating your belongings. They’ll know how to effectively (and efficiently) dismantle your furniture, pack it as safely as possible, and secure it ready for international shipping.

The downside is the cost – a packing service can cost around £250 for 30 boxes of items. It can cost another £800 or so for loading and unloading, plus roughly £125 for disassembling and reassembling items of furniture such as beds.

You’ll save a good deal of time using a moving company, so sometimes the added cost is worth it. It can be particularly worthwhile if you don’t have much time, or if you have large or specialist items to pack.

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DIY packing for an international move

Once you have all the packing materials you need, you should create a plan for your packing. Here’s our plan for how you should create your plan.

1. Check all the details of your new place. Make sure you know about any furniture that’s over there. There’s little point taking a wardrobe to your new home if it’s already got one or more. You also need to know the exact dimensions of your new home, especially the doorways. After all, you don’t want to find that your sofa can’t fit through the front door.

2. Create an inventory of your furniture. Grab a pen and paper and list all the items of furniture in your house. A nice, clear list can really help you get a better understanding of what you need to bring with you. Once you’ve listed everything, you can go through it and cut it down. Look for any duplicates or items you don’t use or no longer need, cross them out.

3. Inspect your furniture. Be sure to check the condition of each item and take photographs of any existing wear and tear. That way, if anything gets bumped in transit then you can prove it and claim on insurance (if you have it). You should also be inspecting your most delicate pieces of furniture and deciding whether they need professional packing.

4. Choose your packing materials. There’s more to this than boxes and tape. Overseas packing presents a whole world of wonderful materials, such as corrugated cardboard sheets, furniture blankets and plastic stretch wrap. Once you’ve decided on which items you want to bring, you should consider the materials you’ll need to pack them (see below for more information). Write it all down and then add a bit more for good measure.

5. Look after your fragile items. When it comes to packing your delicate items, choose the right size of box, so there’s enough space for padding but without empty space for your items to rattle around in. Bubble wrap is great at protecting fragile objects, or for larger items, corrugated cardboard sheets or blankets might be suitable. Remove any glass parts (if possible) from your pieces of furniture and wrap them separately. If they can’t be removed then put cardboard cutouts around them. Tape a big ‘X’ on any glass surfaces so, if they do break, they probably won’t shatter.

6. Don’t overfill boxes. None of your boxes should weigh more than 30 lbs (13.6 kg). Boxes heavier than this probably won’t withstand the weight and you could seriously hurt your back trying to lift them. To avoid putting too much in a box, pack light items in big boxes and heavy items in small boxes.

7. Find some strong friends. If you’ve got friends who are happy to help you, they will be a lot cheaper than hiring professional packers. On the other hand, they won’t be removal experts. If you decide to take this approach, don’t leave it until the last minute to ask them.

8. Get started. A proper plan will make sure you don’t waste any time or money packing stuff that you shouldn’t or can’t bring. It will also prepare you with all the right materials and assistance. Then all you need to do is get packing!

Must-have materials for packing

You need to wrap and pack your furniture properly, which means having the right materials is essential.

What you need

Here are some must-have packing materials you’ll need to make your furniture ready for its move abroad:

When to leave furniture behind

The less you bring, the less you pay. Obviously there will be some pieces of furniture that you just won’t be able to leave behind, but you’ll probably find you can part with some of your stuff. Have a think about these questions before you prepare your final list of items to ship abroad. To find other ways to cut costs when moving furniture overseas, check out our guide to the cheapest ways to move abroad.

Will it be cheaper just to buy it again in your new country? Some things are irreplaceable, but other things can easily be replaced. Consider the cost of shipping something versus the cost of buying it new.

What will the weather be like? Wooden furniture is very sensitive to the weather, and so is leather. If you’re going somewhere humid then your antique pieces might suffer, while very dry weather is not good for fine furniture. New, sturdy furniture is your best all-rounder here.

Will it actually fit? Make sure there’s space in your new home for every item you want to bring. Checking the width of your new doorways is a must.

Do you really need it? Has a bulky kitchen appliance been collecting dust in the back of a cupboard? If you can think of a friend who might make better use of something than you are, maybe it’s time to hand it over. It’s easy to sell your stuff on websites like Gumtree and eBay.

How to pack specific pieces of furniture

We’ve also got some great tips on how to pack specific items for their move abroad. Sofas, mirrors, tables – we’ve got you covered.

And if you’re starting to feel overwhelmed, take a breath and download our handy moving abroad checklist to make sure you’ve got everything covered.

Packing a mirror

Broken mirrors are said to bring bad luck, so you don’t want to be sending one to your new home! Firstly, it’s important that you tape a big ‘X’ on the surface of your mirror. This way, if the mirror cracks then it’s much less likely to shatter.

Cover your mirror in bubble wrap, lay a sheet of corrugated cardboard on either side and then secure everything with tape. You can then wrap it in a big blanket for extra protection. Don’t forget to put separate pieces of thick cardboard around each corner of the mirror.

Packing a lamp

Lamps can be fragile, so you’ll want to do your best to avoid damaging it. Start by removing the bulb and the lampshade, and then pack them separately.

You’ll be left with a headless lamp and a long wire. Wrap the wire around the body of the lamp and secure everything with masking tape. Cover the lamp with bubble wrap and place it in a suitably-sized box. You’ll want to cushion the lamp with some crumpled newspaper, too.

Packing a sofa

If you’re bringing your sofa, the first thing you need to do is try to remove its legs if possible, which will help you get it through all the doorways.

Take off all the covers and cushions and pack them separately along with the legs. After that, things get a bit fiddly, but it’s all necessary.

You need to disassemble the frame. Turn the sofa on its back and remove the staples at the base with a flat-head screwdriver.

This should allow you to take off (or at least roll back) the upholstery, exposing most of the sofa’s frame. Using a screwdriver or an Allen wrench, remove the screws and bolts that hold the arms, the seat and the back of the sofa together.

You should be left with a pile of upholstery, pieces of wooden frame and screws. Make sure everything is wrapped thoroughly and safely – a dismantled sofa is still prone to damage if it isn’t packed properly. We recommend taking photos while you work, too, so you know how to reassemble the sofa again once it’s in its new home.

Packing a desk chair

If you work from home (and your work involves a desk) then a quality desk chair is a big priority. Fortunately, most desk chairs are really easy to disassemble.

Start by pulling off the wheels – most desk chairs have wheels that pop off easily. After that, there should be a knob on the bottom of the seat that you can turn until the seat is loose enough to remove. Do the same with the back of the chair.

You’ll then be left with just the chair’s central structure. Cover each part in bubble wrap and box it all up. If your chair looks difficult to disassemble then simply refer to the original instruction manual (if you still have it).

Packing a table

This is quite easy. Turn the table upside down and remove all the legs. They should be pretty easy to unscrew, but it may take a bit of elbow grease. Most table legs are attached by something called a ‘leg assembly’, which is a combination of screws and braces.

Go at it with a decent screwdriver and you should be done in no time. Once the legs are off, wrap them in a combination of cardboard and bubble wrap.

The table itself should be protected by a thick blanket and a few sheets of corrugated cardboard. Make sure you’ve done everything properly; if your table gets damaged on the way then you might be eating your first meal in your new home off the floor.

Other stuff

You’ll have other belongings that don’t classify as furniture but are still worth a quick mention. It’s fairly simple: if the item is small enough, just put it in a box.

Dishes, glasses and crockery should go in robust cardboard boxes, although you shouldn’t put too many things in one box. Use blankets and newspapers to make sure small delicate items won’t hit each other during their time in transit.

Dish towels and kitchen rolls are also useful ways to create buffers without adding too much weight to your cargo. Similarly, books should go in boxes, but never too many in the same box as it will become too heavy to carry.

Cleaning your furniture

Some countries, such as Australia, have serious restrictions on the cargo that people import, and they can have issues with unclean furniture. Small things like bits of dust, dirt and mould can have a damaging effect on local ecosystems, so you need to arrive with your cargo looking pretty spotless.

If a customs official finds one dirty item of furniture then they might end up unpacking everything, and you don’t want that. Obviously gardening items such as tools and outdoor furniture are the main culprits for bringing dirt into other countries, but all your indoor furniture needs a proper inspection too.

Certain materials, such as wood, can be home to damaging insects, so you need to check it for signs of infestation (such as tiny holes).

The other incentive to dust and clean your belongings is that it reduces the chances of stains and scratches during transit. It’s worth cleaning your furniture for your sake, and potentially that of the environment around your new home.

Next steps

We hope this page has made you feel confident about packing your furniture yourself, if that’s the route you want to take, but we also understand that professional assistance during a busy and stressful time is invaluable.

If you decide to pay for the packing option, a moving company will come round to your house and do the relevant preparation, assessing all the items you’d like to bring and deciding what materials are required.

After that, they’ll pack everything with great care and load it onto the container for you.

A key way to make sure you end up with the best shipping deal, and trusty movers, is to shop around for the quote that most suits your needs. Rather than leaving you in the lurch to do this on your own, we’ve created an easy-to-use tool that can do this for you!

Simply provide a few details about your move, and let us take the reins. We’ll pass on your details to a handful of our trusted suppliers, who’ll then be in touch with free quotes for you to check out – it’s never been easier to move your stuff halfway across the world.