FREIGHT FORWARDING... I thought that was just for commercial purposes, not moving abroad!

Road Home

To be honest, not many international freight forwarders handle household goods & car shipping overseas, and most moving abroad end up using actual moving services. Seems like an intuitive decision, doesn't it?

Well, it wouldn't be the most illogical assumption I've heard, but unfortunately for those wanting to ship their household goods overseas, a move like that could be a rather costly one.

Why would moving services be more expensive?

First, most movers are not really wired for international moves. This means that they don't have a lot of experience with customs or many of the other issues that only come with transferring belongings over borders and oceans. It also means that they don't have the overseas freight network to provide the best rates, deal with port fees, foreign clearance, and delivery & unpacking with inside delivery to meet high standards of services.

- Which means they need somebody else to do the heavy lifting for them. And really what that translates to is having an extra cook in the kitchen (the moving company), which still wants to get paid.

Why freight forwarders are the better way to go

Many have already found a far less expensive method to ship their household goods & vehicles overseas! Not every forwarder offers it, but some will give you exactly what you envisioned when you set out on this quest, providing things like packing, warehousing, loading, shipping overseas clearance & delivery.

Moving things like personal effects and household goods are different from repeat commercial accounts. It must be overwhelming to even consider something that is normally known for commercial and industrial applications, but it must also give you heart palpitations to deal with anybody for such an important move. It's not like you can drive your car from California to Australia, like you might do if you were only moving to a different state.

But because this is such a big move, you're dealing with quantities that may actually compare to something you'd see in a commercial shipment, and the reality is that your moving service is going to be using the exact services I'm describing to you, but with a mark-up and lack of understanding of how the process should go.

Because of this, I imagine you're pretty stressed. It's not like you're going to be doing this a lot, so to go out and learn the ins and outs of this industry is likely a long shot.

This is why you require a friendly hand from inception to explicitly provide clear answers to your many questions & always making sure that each shipping step, customs, packing, loading, booking with the carrier all fall within a time line that the you must follow. It often starts with a detailed quotation that will show all of the services priced and itemized.

At GO TRANSPORT CANADA we combine both worlds as we are both Freight Forwarders & Movers!

For safety & cost-effectiveness, choose our team to handle your international move!