Nobody enjoys deciding what to do with their possessions before an international move, which is why most people leave it until three weeks before the flight and then make expensive, panicked choices. The shipping decision deserves better, because it is one of the few parts of moving abroad where a few hours of arithmetic can save several thousand euros.
The four options, honestly compared
There are really only four ways to move your belongings, and they suit very different situations.
- Excess baggage on your flight. Airlines charge per additional bag, typically between eighty and two hundred euros for twenty-three kilograms depending on route and airline. It is expensive per kilo but instant, and your things arrive when you do. For anyone moving with two or three suitcases of clothes and personal items, this is usually the cheapest total answer.
- Unaccompanied air freight. Charged by weight, arrives in about a week, and works out cheaper than excess baggage above roughly a hundred kilograms. You deal with customs at the destination, which is a half-day of paperwork rather than an ordeal.
- Sea freight, shared container. Charged by volume, takes four to ten weeks depending on route, and becomes economical somewhere above two cubic metres. This is the option for people moving a household rather than a life in suitcases.
- Sea freight, full container. Only sensible for a genuine family relocation with furniture. Below about fifteen cubic metres you are paying for empty space.
The break-even points move with fuel prices and season, so get two or three quotes rather than trusting a rule of thumb. But the shape of the decision is stable: small volume favours air, large volume favours sea, and the crossover is somewhere around one hundred and fifty kilograms.
The calculation almost nobody does
Before shipping any individual item, compare the cost of moving it against the cost of replacing it at the destination, and remember that shipping cost is not just the freight quote. It includes packing materials, insurance, destination handling fees, customs clearance and the final delivery to your door. Those additional charges routinely add forty per cent to the headline quote and are the reason so many people feel cheated at the far end.
Once you use the true landed cost, the answers change. Furniture almost never justifies shipping unless it is genuinely irreplaceable, because European flat-pack retailers sell a full apartment’s worth of adequate furniture for less than the freight on the equivalent volume. Kitchen appliances rarely justify it either, and often will not work: much of Asia and the Americas run on different voltage and plug standards, and a transformer for a washing machine costs more than the machine.
What does justify shipping is anything with high value per cubic centimetre and anything with no replacement at any price. Documents, photographs, jewellery, specialist tools, professional equipment, books you actually reread, and objects with family meaning.
Things that will not work when they arrive
Check the destination’s electrical standard before you pack a single appliance. Most of Europe runs on 230 volts at 50 hertz with type C, E or F sockets, while the UK and Ireland use type G and much of Asia and the Americas run 110 to 127 volts at 60 hertz.
Modern laptops, phone chargers and camera equipment handle both, and you only need a plug adapter. Hair dryers, kettles, irons, microwaves, vacuum cleaners and anything with a heating element or a motor generally do not, and running them through a transformer is inefficient and sometimes unsafe. Televisions usually work but may not receive local broadcast standards, and streaming devices bought abroad can be region-locked in irritating ways.
Customs, and the rule that saves you money
Most European countries allow returning residents and new immigrants to import personal effects duty-free, provided the goods have been owned and used for at least six months and are imported within a defined window around the date of relocation, usually six to twelve months.
This relief is not automatic. It requires an application, a detailed inventory, and proof of your change of residence, typically your residence permit and registration certificate. Miss the deadline or the paperwork and your household goods are taxed as commercial imports, which on a container of furniture is a serious sum.
Two practical consequences follow. Register your address at the destination promptly, because that certificate is the document customs wants. And do not ship goods long before you have status, because the relief is tied to your relocation, not to the shipment.
The inventory is not optional
Every shipping company will ask for an itemised inventory with declared values. People treat this as a formality and write “kitchen items, one box”. This is a mistake for two reasons. Customs may open a box and compare it to the declaration, and vague declarations invite scrutiny. More importantly, insurance pays out against the inventory. An item not listed is an item not covered.
Photograph the contents of each box as you pack it, number the boxes, and keep the list in a spreadsheet with a declared value per line. It takes an afternoon and it is the difference between a claim being paid and a claim being argued.
What people regret leaving and what they regret bringing
After the dust settles, the regrets are remarkably consistent.
- Regretted leaving: photographs and physical documents, cooking equipment specific to their cuisine, spices and ingredients that are expensive or unavailable abroad, comfortable bedding, and one or two objects of no practical use that made a rented flat feel like home.
- Regretted bringing: furniture, appliances, large quantities of clothing suited to a different climate, books they had not opened in years, and paperwork that turned out to be irrelevant.
The climate point is worth dwelling on. People moving from warm countries consistently under-pack for European winters and then discover that proper winter clothing is one of the more expensive early purchases. Conversely, shipping a wardrobe of lightweight clothing to Finland is paying freight on things you will wear for six weeks a year.
A workable plan
Ten weeks out, sort everything into keep, sell, give away and discard, and be ruthless. Eight weeks out, get three shipping quotes with all destination charges itemised in writing, and compare the total against replacement cost. Six weeks out, book the shipment and start the inventory. Four weeks out, sell or donate what is leaving.
Ship the sea freight before you fly if you can, because it arrives weeks later. Carry documents, medication, and enough to live on for a month in your luggage, and assume the container will be late. It usually is, and the people who cope well are the ones who packed as though it would be.