Full Container Moving: Dedicated 20ft and 40ft Moves

By the FixMyMove editorial team. Last updated 1 November 2026.

A dedicated container is one that’s loaded with your belongings only, sealed at your door, and not opened again until it reaches your new home. No sharing space with other shipments, no consolidation at a warehouse along the way. It’s the option most families choose for a full household move abroad, and the one HR teams default to for relocating staff with a complete home to pack up. If you’re moving a two-bedroom flat or smaller, a shared container usually makes more financial sense. For anything from a three-bedroom house upwards, sole use starts to pay for itself in speed and simplicity.

What full container moving actually means

In the trade this is called FCL, full container load, as opposed to LCL (less than container load, what most people mean by groupage or shared container). With FCL household goods, the moving company brings an empty 20ft or 40ft steel box to your property, loads it there in front of you, and seals it with a numbered security seal before it leaves your street. That seal stays intact through the port, the sea crossing, and customs, and is only broken when the container reaches your new address or a bonded customs area for inspection.

This matters for two reasons. First, your things are never handled, unpacked, or repacked at a hub along the way, so there’s less risk of damage from repeated loading. Second, your container travels on a fixed sailing schedule rather than waiting for a consolidator to fill space from other customers, which tends to make transit times more predictable.

20ft container moving vs 40ft container moving

The two standard sizes cover almost every household move. A 20ft container holds roughly 28 to 30 cubic metres of usable space, which in practice means around 25 to 30 cubic metres of household goods once you allow for packing and awkward shapes. That’s typically enough for a two to three-bedroom house with standard furniture: sofas, beds, a dining table, wardrobes, washing machine, and a reasonable number of boxes.

A 40ft container (the “high cube” version is common and gives extra headroom) holds around 58 to 60 cubic metres of usable space. That suits a four-bedroom house or larger, or a smaller home where the owner is also shipping a car, motorbike, or a large amount of furniture they’re not willing to leave behind. Some moving companies also offer a 40ft “standard” container with slightly less height than the high cube, worth asking about if you’re shipping tall items like wardrobes or a grandfather clock.

As a rough guide for planning purposes:

• One to two-bedroom flat: often better suited to a shared container or groupage, covered on our apartment move page.
• Two to three-bedroom house: 20ft container, sole use.
• Four-bedroom house, or a smaller home plus a vehicle: 40ft container.
• Large family home with a full garage and garden furniture: 40ft, sometimes with a second 20ft if volume runs high.

These are starting points, not firm rules. A moving company will usually do a video survey or home visit to measure actual volume before confirming which size you need, and this is one of the first things they’ll clarify once you get moving quotes through FixMyMove.

Who sole-use container moving suits, and who it doesn’t

It suits anyone with a full household of furniture moving on a fixed timeline: expats starting a new job on a set date, families emigrating permanently, HR teams relocating an employee where the company is paying and wants a clean, trackable shipment. It also suits people moving pets, a car, or valuable or fragile items they’d rather not have handled at a consolidation warehouse.

It doesn’t suit someone moving a studio flat’s worth of belongings, in which case you’ll pay for space you don’t use. It also isn’t the right fit if your moving date is flexible and your budget is tight, since a shared container, air freight for a small amount of essentials, or our wider household move options might work out cheaper for a partial load. If you’re not sure which category you fall into, a quick comparison across all our moving services is worth five minutes before you commit to a size.

How a dedicated container move works, step by step

The process is fairly consistent across moving companies, though the detail varies by route.

1. A survey, usually by video call, to confirm volume and agree 20ft or 40ft.
2. Booking a sailing slot with the shipping line, typically 2 to 4 weeks ahead in normal season, longer around Chinese New Year or the summer peak out of European ports.
3. Packing at your home, either by the crew on the day or by you if you’ve chosen a self-pack option (check insurance terms carefully if you pack yourself).
4. Loading the container street-side or in a driveway, with the mover’s team building the load to use space efficiently and protect furniture.
5. Sealing the container with a unique numbered seal, recorded on your paperwork.
6. Haulage to the departure port, loading onto the vessel, and the sea crossing.
7. Arrival, customs clearance (see below), and final delivery, either kerb to kerb or with the moving company unpacking and placing furniture inside your new home.

Door to door transit on a dedicated container typically runs 4 to 8 weeks depending on the route, with longer times on lanes requiring transhipment (changing ships at a hub port) or during peak shipping season when port congestion adds delays. Air freight, by contrast, suits only urgent partial shipments, not full households, because of cost.

What a 20ft or 40ft container costs in 2026

Container shipping prices are built from several components: the ocean freight rate for that lane, haulage at both ends, port and terminal handling charges, customs clearance fees, and any packing or insurance you add. Rates also move with fuel surcharges and seasonal demand, so the only reliable figure is a written quote after a survey. The ranges below are indicative, in GBP, for a door-to-door move from a typical UK origin, assuming standard access at both ends (no long carry, no crane needed) and basic transit insurance.

These figures are a planning guide only. The real number depends on your exact route, the volume confirmed at survey, and local charges at the destination port, which is why moving specialists always issue a written quote before you book anything.

Customs and documents

Every country requires an inventory, a copy of your passport, and usually proof you’re relocating (a work visa, residence permit, or property purchase or rental agreement) to qualify for duty relief on used household goods. Rules differ widely: in the UK, HMRC sets out the conditions for Transfer of Residence relief; in the US, goods are declared to US Customs and Border Protection; in Australia, both the Australian Border Force and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) have requirements, the latter particularly strict on wooden furniture, plant material, and anything that’s been outdoors. Vehicles and pets almost always have separate, more detailed rules and longer lead times.

Because these requirements change and vary by nationality and visa type, always check the official government source for your specific destination before you pack, rather than relying on general guidance. Your moving company will usually prepare the shipping documents, but the visa and customs eligibility is your responsibility to confirm.

Security and practical advantages of sole use

The single biggest practical benefit is that nobody touches your container between your front door and your new one. For anyone moving valuable antiques, artwork, or sentimental items, that matters more than the cost difference versus a shared container. The numbered seal is checked at several points along the route, and any break in that seal before scheduled customs inspection should be flagged by the moving company immediately.

Loading at your home also means the crew can build the load specifically for your furniture: wardrobes upright, sofas on their sides where that protects the frame, boxes packed to use every gap. A shared container, by contrast, is built from several households’ goods at a warehouse, which can mean more handling and less control over how your items are packed in relation to everyone else’s.

Speed is the other factor. A dedicated container ships as soon as it’s full and the sailing slot comes round, rather than waiting for a consolidator to gather enough other shipments to justify a sailing. If your moving date is fixed around a job start date or a school term, that predictability is often worth the extra cost over groupage.

Common mistakes to avoid

Underestimating volume is the most frequent and costly error. People often forget the contents of a garage, loft, or garden shed, and end up needing a second container or last-minute air freight for the overflow, both of which cost more than getting the size right first time. A proper video survey solves this, so don’t skip it to save time.

The second common mistake is assuming all-in pricing covers everything. Ask explicitly whether the quote includes destination port charges, customs clearance, and delivery into the property (as opposed to kerb-side drop-off only), since these are sometimes quoted separately and catch people out when the final invoice arrives. Third, people sometimes book a sailing slot before confirming their visa or work permit is in hand, which is a problem if the move date then has to shift, since container slots are harder to rebook at short notice than a shared container space.

How to prepare for the loading day

Have your inventory finalised at least a week before loading, since this is what customs and insurance both rely on. Decide in advance what you’re selling, donating, or storing rather than deciding on the day, which slows the crew down and can extend loading from a few hours into a full day. Clear access for the container itself: residential streets sometimes need a parking suspension or permit, and a container lorry needs more turning space than most driveways allow, so check this with your mover in good time rather than on the morning of the move.

If you’re moving a car or motorbike inside the container, make sure it’s been cleaned (mud and plant matter cause problems at destinations like Australia and New Zealand) and that the fuel tank is close to empty, as most shipping lines require this for safety. Pets travel separately from household goods in almost all cases and need their own arrangements well ahead of the move.

Getting quotes for a dedicated container move

Because pricing depends so heavily on your exact route, access at both ends, and confirmed volume, the fastest way to get a realistic number is to submit your details once and let moving specialists who cover your route quote directly. You can browse moves by destination on our moving to pages or by specific lane on our routes page, or simply get moving quotes straight away using the form on this site. It’s free, there’s no obligation to book, and FixMyMove itself doesn’t move anything: we just connect you with the specialists who do.