International Moving Costs: What Sets the Price
International moves are priced on cubic volume, not weight and miles, so the $14,490 – $19,320 domestic 3-bedroom figure from our model does not carry over.
Published September 24, 2026 · 7 min read · By My Fast Movers
An international move is priced on volume, container type, and destination charges, and none of those appears in a domestic quote. Our published model prices a three-bedroom home moving 2,800 miles within the US at $14,490 – $19,320 with full-service movers; an ocean move of the same home is built from a different set of parts, and we do not publish a model for it, because the parts are set by ports, currencies, and customs authorities rather than by weight and miles.
What follows is the structure of an international quote: what each line is, what moves it, and how to compare two quotes that were not built the same way.
Volume, not weight
Interstate movers in the US price on weight and distance. International movers price on volume, in cubic feet or cubic meters, because the constraint is the container: a 40-foot box holds a fixed amount of space regardless of what it weighs, and the ocean carrier charges the forwarder for the box, not for the pounds inside it.
That changes what a survey is for. A domestic survey estimates weight; an international survey estimates cubic volume after export packing, which is larger than the volume of your furniture because everything is wrapped, boxed, and in some cases crated. Two surveyors can look at the same home and produce different volumes, and every downstream line in the quote scales from that figure.
Ask for the surveyed volume in writing, in the same unit from every mover, and ask whether it is before or after packing. A quote with a low total and a low volume is not cheaper; it is a different shipment.
Full container or shared container
The second decision sets the pricing basis for the freight itself.
| Basis | How the freight line is priced | What you are exposed to |
|---|---|---|
| Full container (FCL) | A flat rate for the whole container on the route, whether you fill it or not | Paying for empty space if your volume is well under the box |
| Shared container (LCL) | A rate per cubic foot or cubic meter of your consolidated share | Waiting for consolidation, handling at both ends, and a per-unit rate above the full-container rate per unit |
| Air freight | Per kilogram, or per volumetric weight if the shipment is light for its size | Very high cost per unit; only for a small essential shipment |
A full container has a crossover point: below a certain volume a shared shipment is cheaper, above it the flat container rate wins. Where that point falls depends on the route and the month, which is why a mover should quote both bases for a mid-size household rather than assume one.
Origin services and the freight line
Everything before the ship sails is either labor at your home or the carrier’s rate for the box, and the two should be shown separately.
Origin services
Everything the origin mover does at your home is a line: export packing labor, packing materials (double-wall cartons, liftvans, crates for art and glass), special crating, appliance servicing, disassembly, and any access charges (stairs, elevator, long carry, a shuttle truck because a container cannot reach your street). Export packing is more labor and more material than a domestic pack of the same home, and the quote should show it apart from the freight.
Ask whether the container is loaded at your home (a live load) or at the mover’s warehouse. Warehouse loading adds a handling charge and a short local move, but it lets the mover pack over several days and load a full container on the sailing date.
Ocean freight and its surcharges
The freight line is the carrier’s rate for the box or the share, booked by a forwarder or NVOCC that the Federal Maritime Commission licenses, and it comes with surcharges that the forwarder passes through. The ones you will see named:
- Fuel or bunker surcharge. Tracks marine fuel prices and is revised by carriers on a schedule.
- Currency adjustment factor. Compensates the carrier for exchange-rate movement on routes priced in one currency and paid in another.
- Peak-season surcharge. Applied on some routes in months when container demand is high.
- Terminal handling at origin. The port’s charge to lift and move the container.
Because these move, a quote is valid for a stated window and is usually re-priced if you book outside it. Ask which surcharges are included and which are passed through at cost at sailing. A quote that fixes the freight line is worth more than one that lists a base rate with surcharges as applicable.
Destination charges: the lines that surprise people
The destination side is where quotes diverge most, because some movers include these charges and some list them as excluded.
| Charge | What it is | What moves it |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal handling (destination) | The arrival port’s charge to unload and release the container | The port’s tariff |
| Customs clearance | The broker’s fee to file the entry and any duty-relief application | Complexity of the entry; whether relief applies |
| Customs examination | The cost of an inspection if customs selects the container | The country’s exam rate and whether the container must be unloaded for it |
| Port storage, demurrage, detention | Daily charges when the container sits at the port beyond the free days, or is returned late to the carrier | Customs delays, document errors, delivery scheduling |
| Delivery access | Shuttle truck, stairs, long carry, parking permits at the new home | Whether a container truck can reach your door |
| Unpacking and debris removal | Labor to unpack and take away the packing material | Whether it is in scope |
Duties and taxes, where the household-goods relief does not apply, are always on top and are never in a mover’s quote. Neither, usually, is the exam charge, because no one knows in advance whether customs will pick your container.
Marine insurance
Insurance is priced as a percentage of the value you declare, so the premium is set by you as much as by the underwriter. All-risk cover pays on damage and loss and is the one to buy for a household; total-loss cover is cheaper and pays only if the entire shipment is lost. Check the deductible, whether pairs and sets are covered, and whether owner-packed cartons are covered at all, since many policies exclude them. The how it works guide explains why the carrier’s own liability will not replace a household.
How to compare two quotes
Quotes only compare when they were built from the same inputs and the same scope. Line them up on these six points before you look at the total:
- Same volume. Both quotes on the same surveyed cubic figure, or ask the higher-volume mover to explain the difference.
- Same container basis. Full container against full container, shared against shared.
- Same scope. Door-to-door means delivered and unpacked at the new home; door-to-port means you, or an agent you hire, take over at the arrival port and everything in the destination table above is yours. Port-to-port is freight only.
- Same exclusions. Duties, exam charges, port storage, and shuttle delivery listed the same way on both.
- Same insurance basis. Same declared value, same cover type, same deductible.
- Same validity. Both quotes fixed for the same window, with the same surcharges included.
If the cheaper quote is door-to-port and the dearer one is door-to-door, the difference is not savings; it is the destination side you will pay separately, in a country whose port tariff you have not seen.
The international moving hub covers the rest of the process, and if you are pricing a domestic leg first, the moving cost calculator prices any US route by home size.
Questions people ask
How much does it cost to move internationally from the US?
There is no single figure, and we do not publish a model for it, because the price is built from surveyed cubic volume, the container basis, ocean freight with its surcharges, and destination port and customs charges that vary by country. For scale, our domestic model prices a three-bedroom home moving 2,800 miles within the US at $14,490 – $19,320 with full-service movers; the same home going overseas is priced on an entirely different basis.
Why are international moves priced by volume instead of weight?
Because the constraint is the container. The ocean carrier charges for the box or for a share of it, and a box holds a fixed volume regardless of what it weighs. An international survey therefore estimates cubic feet or cubic meters after export packing, and every downstream line scales from that figure, which is why you should get the surveyed volume in writing from each mover.
Is a shared container cheaper than a full container?
Below a certain volume, yes: you pay a per-cubic-unit rate for your share instead of a flat rate for a whole box. Above that crossover, the full container wins even with empty space. The per-unit rate for a share is higher than the per-unit rate of a full box, and a shared shipment waits for consolidation and is handled at both ends.
What destination charges are not included in an international moving quote?
Commonly excluded or listed as pass-through: customs duties and taxes where the household-goods relief does not apply, customs examination fees if your container is selected, port storage and demurrage if clearance runs past the free days, and delivery access charges such as a shuttle truck or stairs. Ask for each one to be shown as included or excluded.
What is the difference between door-to-door and door-to-port?
Door-to-door means the price runs to delivery and unpacking at your new home. Door-to-port stops at the arrival port, so terminal handling, customs clearance, port storage and delivery are yours to arrange and pay separately. A cheaper door-to-port quote is not a saving; it is a shorter scope.
How this was written. Every cost figure in this article comes from the same published model that powers the calculator, so it cannot disagree with the tool. We do not operate trucks and nobody pays us for placement.