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Shared Container Shipping From the UK

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Shared container shipping lets you move household goods overseas without paying for an entire shipping container. Your belongings share container space with other customers’ shipments, and you pay for the space your own packed shipment occupies.

Also known as groupage, part-load or LCL shipping.

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Why Choose Shared Container Shipping?

The main advantage is simple:

You only pay for the space you use.

Shared-container shipping is particularly suitable for:

  • Studio and 1-bedroom moves
  • Flats and apartments
  • Smaller 2-bedroom moves
  • Furniture shipments
  • Boxes and personal effects
  • Customers taking only part of their household overseas

How Does 1st Move Shared Container Shipping Work?

Collection and Professional Packing

We collect your belongings from your UK home and professionally export-pack furniture, boxes and personal effects for international sea freight.

Your Shipment Is Palletised Separately

Your belongings are secured onto their own numbered pallet or pallets, rather than being loaded loose amongst other customers’ possessions.

Each completed pallet is bubble-wrapped, cardboard-skinned and covered with a heat-treated protective bag, before being securely strap-banded and security-sealed for the journey.

Packed to Minimise Wasted Space

With shared-container shipping, unused air space still takes up volume — and volume affects what you pay.

1st Move has been using its palletised shipment method for over 28 years, and our packing teams are experts in reducing unnecessary dead air space.

Where appropriate, furniture can be dismantled on request, and available space is used intelligently — including beneath tables and chairs, inside wardrobes, drawers and suitable cabinets. Smaller securely packed items can also be positioned within available spaces where appropriate. The aim is simple:

Less wasted space, a more efficient packed volume and a fairer shipping cost.

We Measure the Finished Shipment

Shared-container shipping is normally priced according to the cubic volume of the finished shipment, measured in cubic metres or cbm.

An inventory or home survey can provide an estimate before collection, but an estimate is not the same as the final packed volume.

At 1st Move, we measure your shipment after professional packing and palletisation, so the final volume reflects what is actually being shipped.

We Photograph Your Finished Pallet

Once packing and palletisation are complete, we photograph the finished shipment before container loading.

This gives you visible evidence of how your belongings have been packed and the finished volume being shipped.

Your Volume Guarantee Certificate

Customers receive a Volume Guarantee Certificate confirming the final measured cubic volume of the completed shipment.

When volume affects what you pay, it is worth asking your mover:

How and when is my final shipping volume established?

Scheduled Shipping

Once completed, your palletised shipment is booked onto the appropriate scheduled shipping service for your destination.

After arrival, the shipment is cleared through local customs and prepared for onward delivery according to the service booked.

How Does Shipment Volume Affect the Price?

For shared-container removals, volume is one of the biggest factors affecting the final price.

As a simple illustration, a professionally packed door-to-door shared-container move can average around £400 per cubic metre.

That means relatively small differences in the finished packed volume can have a noticeable effect on the overall cost.

Illustrative Shared-Container Costs

Shipment VolumeApproximate Cost
2 cbmaround £800
5 cbmaround £2,000
10 cbmaround £4,000
12 cbmaround £4,800
15 cbmaround £6,000
18 cbmaround £7,200
20ft full containeraround £7,200
Illustrative shared-container shipping costs by cubic metre compared with a 20ft full container

These figures are average door-to-door guide estimates for illustration only. Actual prices vary according to UK collection location, destination, shipping route, route demand and the services required.

A standard 20ft shipping container has an internal capacity of approximately 33cbm, although the practical amount of household goods that can be loaded will depend on the items being shipped and how they are packed.

When Does a Shared Container Stop Being the Best Value?

Shared-container shipping is usually most economical for smaller and medium-sized moves because you pay according to the amount of space your shipment uses.

As the volume increases, the cost of paying by the cubic metre can begin to approach the price of a dedicated container.

Using the illustration above, 18cbm at around £400 per cbm is approximately £7,200 — around the same illustrative price as a dedicated 20ft container.

That does not mean 18cbm is always the point at which you should choose a full container. Container rates, shared shipping rates, collection costs and final delivery charges vary by destination.

18cbm is a comparison point, not a fixed cut-off.

Once your shipment approaches this size, we can compare the shared and dedicated-container options for your move.

How Can I Reduce My Shipping Volume?

Because volume affects price, deciding what is genuinely worth taking can make a real difference to the cost of your move.

Before shipping an item, consider:

Do I really need it? Is it worth replacing? How much shipping space will it use?

A few practical ways to reduce your volume:

  • Declutter before your survey. Check garages, lofts, spare rooms, cupboards and storage areas for belongings you no longer use.
  • Think carefully about older bulky furniture. Sofas, wardrobes, bookcases and inexpensive flat-pack furniture can occupy considerable shipping space.
  • Compare value with replacement cost. Quality, valuable or sentimental furniture may be well worth shipping. Older low-value furniture may not be.
  • Ask us to dismantle suitable furniture. Beds, tables and other items can often be dismantled so they can be packed more efficiently.
  • Don't pay to move things you no longer want. An overseas move is a good opportunity to dispose of belongings that have been sitting unused for years.

What Could Reducing Your Volume Save?

Using the broad £400-per-cubic-metre illustration:

  • 1cbm could represent around £400
  • 2cbm could represent around £800
  • 5cbm could represent around £2,000

These are guide figures rather than guaranteed savings, but they show why efficient packing and accurate measurement matter.

We professionally pack your belongings, work to reduce unnecessary dead air space, palletise the finished shipment and then measure the actual completed volume.

Does a Shared Container Have to Wait Until It Is Full?

Not necessarily.

Some traditional groupage services involve collecting enough household shipments for a particular destination before a mover can fill and dispatch its own container.

That can add waiting time before the sea journey begins.

1st Move operates differently.

Because our customers’ shipments are individually palletised, they can be booked onto regular scheduled consolidation services rather than waiting until we have accumulated enough household removals to fill our own container.

One of the most useful questions to ask any international mover is:

When will my shipment actually leave the UK?

Departure frequency and transit times vary by destination, so we publish route-specific shipping information and sailing schedules.

View shipping schedules

What Can I Ship in a Shared Container?

Shared-container shipping is suitable for most normal household goods and personal effects, including:

  • Furniture
  • Beds and mattresses
  • Clothing
  • Books
  • Kitchenware
  • Artwork and mirrors
  • Bicycles
  • Sports equipment
  • Boxes and personal belongings

Import restrictions vary by destination.

Food, alcohol, plants, medicines, weapons and other controlled or restricted goods may require additional documentation or may not be permitted.

Always check the customs requirements for your destination before packing.

Shared Container Shipping Destinations

1st Move provides shared-container removals from the UK to major destinations worldwide.

Popular routes include:

USA · Australia · Canada · New Zealand · South Africa · Dubai & UAE · Cayman Islands · Bahamas · Bahrain · Caribbean · Central America · Cyprus · Malta

Our individual Container Shipping pages compare shared-container, 20ft and 40ft options together with route-specific prices, departure information, transit times and destination guidance.

Trustpilot

Real Shared-Container Moves

Packed. Measured. Photographed. Certified.

These are genuine 1st Move customer shipments, photographed after professional packing and palletisation and before container loading.

For each move, you can see the actual number of pallets, measured cubic volume, destination and shipment reference.

Every palletised shared-container shipment is also issued with a Volume Guarantee Certificate as standard, confirming the final measured cubic volume after packing.

When volume affects what you pay, you should be able to see how your shipment was packed, how much space it actually occupies, and have that final volume confirmed in writing.

1 pallet, 3.721 cbm, shipped from the UK to Litchfield, CT, United States by 1st Move International

1 pallet · 3.721 cbm · UK to Litchfield, CT, United States · PFX/102946

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1 pallet, 2.893 cbm, shipped from the UK to New York, NY, United States by 1st Move International

1 pallet · 2.893 cbm · UK to New York, NY, United States · PFX/102894

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1 pallet, 2.006 cbm, shipped from the UK to Hastings on Hudson, NY, United States by 1st Move International

1 pallet · 2.006 cbm · UK to Hastings on Hudson, NY, United States · PFX/102932

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Shared Container Shipping FAQs

Shared container shipping allows several customers’ shipments to travel inside the same shipping container.

Instead of paying for the entire container, you pay according to the amount of space your own shipment uses.

The terms are often used interchangeably.

You may also see the service described as part-load, part-container or LCL shipping.

The way individual removal companies pack, consolidate and schedule shipments can differ.

As a broad illustration, a professionally packed door-to-door shared-container move can average around £400 per cubic metre.

For example, 5cbm would equate to approximately £2,000 and 10cbm to approximately £4,000 using this guide.

Actual costs vary according to UK collection location, destination, route and services required.

We measure the finished shipment after professional packing and palletisation, so the final cubic volume reflects what is actually being shipped.

No. Each 1st Move customer’s belongings are professionally packed and palletised separately before container loading.

Our packing teams have more than 28 years’ experience using our palletised shipping method.

Suitable furniture can be dismantled on request, while available spaces beneath furniture and inside wardrobes, drawers and suitable cabinets are used intelligently to reduce unnecessary dead air space.

It is the certificate we issue after packing confirming the final measured cubic volume of your completed palletised shipment.

It can if a mover waits until it has enough household shipments to fill its own container.

1st Move’s individually palletised shipments can instead be booked onto regular scheduled consolidation services.

Once a shipment approaches around 18cbm, it is sensible to compare the shared-container quotation with a dedicated 20ft container.

18cbm is a guide rather than a fixed cut-off because costs vary by destination and route.

Get a Shared Container Shipping Quote

The right shipping service depends on how much you are moving and where it is going.

For smaller and medium-sized moves, shared-container shipping allows you to pay for the space you actually need.

And because we have spent more than 28 years refining our palletised packing method, we do more than simply estimate how much space your belongings might occupy.

We work to:

Pack it efficiently. Reduce wasted space. Measure the finished volume. Photograph it. Certify it.

Packed. Palletised. Measured. Photographed. Certified.

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