International Shipping

Household Goods & Personal Effects

• Container Dimensions • Packing Tips

Whether you are shipping furniture to a relative in San Juan, Puerto Rico or moving the entire contents of your home to your new residence in Johannesburg, South Africa, All Shore Forwarders, Ltd provides the necessary international moving services to meet your requirements. We offer both LCL (less than container load) as well as FCL (full container load) international moving services.

The smallest shipping container measures 20' / 8' / 8' on the outside and has an inside capacity of approximately 1,100 cubic feet if you were to fill the shipping container with sand or water. However, most shippers have no desire to fill the container with sand or water. They typically prefer shipping household goods, furniture & boxes of personal effects.

When loading boxes and furniture in a steamship line container, there is always wasted space and you will normally wind up with approximately 1,000 cubic feet of usable space. If you are able to fill half the container (500 cu ft) with your personal belongings, it would be more advantageous to ship your belongings in the 20' container as opposed to an LCL shipment. When shipping a full container (20' or 40'), you will pay a flat amount for the shipment of the container from point A to point B. The amount of personal belongings which are shipped in the container will not affect the shipping costs. Whether you fill 10% of the container or 100% of the container, your shipping costs would remain the same.

The most affordable method for shipping household goods in an FCL shipment is for the shipper to wrap, pack & load the container themselves. On the day of your move, we would deliver the container directly to your residence for loading and once you have completed the loading, we would then return the container to the port for shipment overseas.

Furniture which is shipped in an exclusive full container should be protected with a soft wrap padding which can be purchased from moving supply stores such as U-Haul. Moving supply stores can also provide you with the various boxes and packing supplies needed to pack & label your personal belongings.

Shippers who do not have a large amount of furniture to ship or are only considering shipping boxes overseas, an LCL shipment may be more appropriate for your needs. In an LCL shipment, you simply pay for the amount of space which you utilize in the container, subject to a minimum of 35 cubic feet. Please note however, that furniture which is shipped in an LCL shipment must be export crated prior to the arrival at the shipping line's warehouse. Personal belongings must be packed in strong boxes which are in proper shipping condition. The boxes must also be properly labeled with your name, overseas address, telephone number & box number.