- April 16, 2024
When it comes to moving, there’s only one thing that is a constant truth – MOVING IS STRESSFUL. Beyond that, each move can (and in our opinion) should be uniquely tailored to the needs of the family. At Earthrelo, we’re excited to meet your family – no matter the size – to discuss your unique moving needs and help you get through this! We’ve put together some facts about move types and sizes – because one size does NOT fit all.
Move Types (Air, Sea, Land, Storage)
Land Shipments
For international moves, you typically have 3 main moving options depending on the origin and destination countries. For land connected moves from the US (Canada or Mexico), your first option is a LAND move. This type of move is typically done by (INSERT TEXT) – . This move type is also popular for intra -European moves.
Air Shipments
Air shipments are generally used to ship small volumes of items that are needed immediately at destination. See our “WHAT TO INCLUDE IN MY AIR SHIPMENT” guide. Because air shipments are charged by volumetric weight, it’s important to ship only the items that you absolutely cannot do without.
Sea Shipments
Sea shipments are those shipments that are packed into shipping containers and moved by ocean vessels to their destination. In general, a sea shipment will depart from a major sea port so there are often other logistics involved in preparing the shipment for travel such as trucking and rail travel prior to leaving the origin country.
Sea Shipments come in many sizes, but the standard container sizes are 20 foot and 40 foot. A general rule of thumb is about 7000 lbs of household items can fit in a 20 foot container – 14,000 for a 40 foot.
The transit times for sea shipments will vary greatly depending on origin and destination, but a general rule of thumb is between 4-6 weeks from the US to Europe and Asia.
Storage Shipments
Sometimes when you go on an international move, you’re not ready to move all of your belongings. That’s where storage comes in. Storage can be used in several ways, while most people use storage as a long-term solution while they’re in their new country, some may wish to use Storage in Transit (SIT) which is a short-term solution that can range between 30-120 days.
This allows the family to get to their destination, apply for any import licenses needed to accept household goods, and also allows them to decide when they’re ready for the items to arrive.
SIT can be applied at either origin, destination or even both – if required.
Move Sizes (LV, FCL, LCL, Groupage)
If you’re not quite sure what size your move should be, remember that our dedicated move coordinators can help. The first step is scheduling your pre – move survey. Once we know about your inventory, we can assist you in getting the right size shipment for you! Here’s a few common move sizes that we use here at Earthrelo:
FCL – Full container load. When your shipment is large enough to take the space of a full container, this option can be used.
LCL – Less than container load. Many shipments in the same container that may be going to different places. This requires a different style of loading and unloading at the ports because the pallets must be combined and placed into the containers and then deconsolidated and prepared for deliver to final destination.
LiftVans – Your items will be placed in wooden crates and marked with your specific shipping details. These crates will then be placed into a container and shipped along with other shipments.
Groupage – several shippers grouped into 1 container going from and to the same place (this allows us to get better pricing when a full container isn’t required). By sharing the cost across multiple shipments, your cost goes down.
Your dedicated move coordinator will help you understand which method and size is right for your shipment needs, budget, and schedule.
Interested in learning more about shipment sizes? Check out THIS guide. (Insert a container size sheet)
