International Moving
Door-to-Door International Moving
The turnkey service: from your current living room to your new one, without lifting a finger.
The turnkey service: from your current living room to your new one, without lifting a finger.
Door-to-door moving is our most complete and convenient service: we take care of absolutely everything, from packing at your origin address to delivery, basic unpacking, and removal of packing material at your new home. You never have to coordinate with ports, shipping lines, or customs agents — a single point of contact, your PIM coordinator, is responsible for the entire chain.
For clients who prefer to handle part of the process themselves, we also offer door-to-port (we deliver to the destination port) and port-to-port service, which lower costs in exchange for you taking on certain steps.
Door-to-door covers the survey and quote, the supply of materials, professional export packing, the inventory, loading, the international freight (sea or air), all documentation and customs at origin and destination, last-mile transport, and delivery with basic unpacking. It is, quite literally, a turnkey move.
It's worth being precise about what basic unpacking means, because the term gets used loosely in this industry. We open the boxes, place the furniture where you tell us, reassemble what we took apart at origin, and take away the leftover material. It does not include putting your clothes away or mounting the television on the wall: that kind of help exists and is quoted separately.
It's the option families and expats prefer when they value their time, because it removes the logistical complexity and concentrates the responsibility in a single provider.
The three options differ on one criterion only: the point at which the carrier stops answering and you start. Door-to-door answers all the way to the door of your new home. Door-to-port reaches the destination port, and from there you take on clearance and final transport. Port-to-port covers only the leg between ports: packing at origin and everything at destination is on you.
That "on you" means hiring a local customs broker, presenting a valued inventory in the language of the country, paying whatever duties apply, arranging deconsolidation of the cargo at the terminal and finding a truck for the last mile. None of it is impossible. But you do it in a country you have just arrived in.
Hence a warning: when you compare quotes, check where each one ends. A noticeably cheaper proposal usually covers less of the journey, not a better freight rate, and the difference comes back as destination costs nobody warned you about. We give you all three options with their scope in writing.
The biggest advantage of door-to-door isn't just logistical — it's human. Instead of coordinating on your own with the packing company, the shipping line, the customs agent at origin, the one at destination, and the last-mile carrier — each with its own timeline and its own language — you have a single personal coordinator responsible for the entire chain.
The difference shows most clearly when something goes off script, which on an international move happens more often than the industry admits: a shipping line reschedules a sailing, a random inspection comes up, a local holiday nobody had on the calendar. With one point of contact, you get a call telling you what happened and what the plan is. Without one, you get the silence of five suppliers passing the responsibility between them.
The first phase is the survey. We walk through your home — in person or by video call — and measure the real volume of the shipment in cubic meters (CBM), the unit the whole industry quotes in. Out of that come the recommended route, the container type and a closed quote. It's free and commits you to nothing.
The second is origin. Our crew packs to export standard, builds the inventory piece by piece, and stows the cargo: arranges and immobilizes it inside the container so nothing shifts in transit. It is closed with a numbered seal, the security seal that is only legitimately broken at customs. In parallel we file the export documentation.
The third is destination: our network receives the cargo, handles customs clearance, coordinates the last mile and delivers at your new home. Total time combines the ocean transit with the origin and destination processes (packing, customs, and delivery). We confirm the exact estimate for your corridor in your quote.
Of the whole chain, customs is where a door-to-door service pays for itself. Every country has its own household goods regime, and the cost of getting it wrong is charged as daily storage while the shipment sits held at the terminal.
Panama illustrates the point. Panama recognizes a one-time household goods exemption of B/.25,000 in customs value for a foreign national who can prove they are coming to take up residence, and for a Panamanian who has lived abroad for two years or more (Article 216 of Cabinet Decree No. 41 of 2002). It's a real benefit, but it requires proving you qualify and declaring the household goods correctly. Anything above the exemption has no flat rate: it is assessed by tariff heading, plus ITBMS. And the law requires a licensed customs broker to intervene.
That kind of detail changes the outcome of a move and can't be improvised from another country. In door-to-door it's already included and it already has someone answering for it — the same customs clearance work we handle as a standalone service.
A turnkey service covers the whole chain, but it doesn't suspend the rules of international trade. There are three things no serious company can guarantee. The first is the exact delivery date: we commit to a solid estimate and tell you about any change, but a vessel's departure and the pace of a customs office are not ours to control.
The second is that your container won't be inspected; random checks are a normal part of the system. What we do control is turning up prepared, with an inventory that adds up and paperwork in order: that turns an inspection into a matter of hours rather than a problem of weeks.
The third is that we can take everything. Every country keeps its own list of prohibited and restricted items: perishables, plants, certain liquids and aerosols, weapons, flammables. During the survey we go through your inventory with that list in hand.
Door-to-door is the natural choice for families, professionals and executives who value their time and peace of mind above the marginal saving of handling part of the process themselves. Whether you're moving to the United States or to Spain, if this is your first international move, if you don't speak the language at your destination, or if you'd simply rather focus on your new life, this is the option for you.
Door-to-port and port-to-port, on the other hand, fit better with those who have import experience or local support at destination. In your quote, we show you all three options with their costs and responsibilities, so you can decide with complete clarity.
We handle everything; all you have to do is arrive at your new home.
Your coordinator is responsible for the entire chain, from start to finish.
Door-to-port and port-to-port to fine-tune cost and control.
We deliver, unpack the basics, and remove the packing material.
Clearance at origin and destination managed by our own network.
You know exactly where each option ends before you sign.
About door-to-door international moving.
Door-to-door covers everything, from your current home to your new one. Port-to-port covers only the leg between ports: you handle the packing, destination customs and final transport. Door-to-port is the middle ground: we take the cargo to the destination port and you take on clearance and the last mile.
It includes more services, so its price is higher than port-to-port. But a good part of that difference doesn't disappear in the other options: it comes back at destination as the customs broker, local transport and storage you pay for separately.
It's strongly advisable that you or someone you trust is there at the start and at the close. The inventory is built piece by piece and it's worth reviewing and signing it yourself. It's also the moment to set aside what travels with you: documents, medication, jewelry and anything irreplaceable.
Yes. It can travel inside the same container along with your household goods or separately, depending on the volume and the destination. It needs documentation and a customs process of its own, which we also handle, and we quote it as part of the same project.
It happens often and it has a solution: temporary storage at destination until you can receive. Tell us as soon as you suspect it, because planned storage costs a good deal less than cargo held at the terminal running up demurrage.
Your coordinator reports at every milestone: inventory closed, container sailed, arrival at destination, customs clearance started, delivery being scheduled. You don't have to chase anyone to find out where your home is.
Request a free, no-obligation quote. We respond in less than 24 hours.
Get my quote