Dedicated freight
Full households, furniture, commercial stock. A 20ft holds 28-30 m³, a 40ft 56-58 m³. Transit 6-8 weeks from the UK and US, 4-6 weeks from Australia. Air for the urgent fraction at USD 5-15 per kg.
Alternatives
Four ways to get your things to Bali, honestly compared
Freight is not always the answer. Sometimes the answer is extra baggage, a courier, or buying the thing again in Kerobokan.
Get a quoteIn short
Dedicated freight wins on volume, baggage wins on the first fortnight's essentials, courier wins on documents and small urgent parcels, and buying locally wins on bulky low-value furniture — so most sensible moves use two of the four.
- Sea freight: 6-8 weeks, cheapest per cubic metre for households
- Courier: 3-7 business days door-to-door, premium per kilo
- Buying new: a two-bedroom villa furnished locally runs IDR 100-250 million
Dedicated freight versus the alternatives
Cost for volume
- Dedicated freight
- Cheapest per m³ above about 1-2 m³
- Baggage, courier or buying new
- An extra 23kg bag from Australia is USD 150-300
Speed
- Dedicated freight
- Sea 6-8 weeks; air 3-7 days
- Baggage, courier or buying new
- Baggage arrives with you; courier 3-7 days
Size limits
- Dedicated freight
- A 40ft takes 56-58 m³
- Baggage, courier or buying new
- 23-32kg a bag, 158cm total linear measurement
Surfboards, bikes
- Dedicated freight
- Routine, crated
- Baggage, courier or buying new
- Oversize fees, often substantial
Customs exposure
- Dedicated freight
- Declared, cleared, duty settled on your behalf
- Baggage, courier or buying new
- Personal allowances only; commercial quantities get caught
Irreplaceable items
- Dedicated freight
- Crated, insured at 1% to 3% of declared value
- Baggage, courier or buying new
- Buying new cannot replace an heirloom at all
Comparison is against typical market practice rather than any named carrier or retailer, and reflects our own experience of the market.
The four options
When each one is actually right
Including the two cases where we are not the answer.
Checked and excess baggage
One or two bags at 23kg economy or 32kg business, within a 158cm linear limit. Arrives with you, no separate clearance. An extra bag from Australia is USD 150-300. Surfboards and bicycles fall outside the allowance and get charged as oversize.
Courier (DHL, FedEx, EMS)
Documents, samples, small urgent parcels. Door-to-door to almost any Bali address in 3-7 business days — New York to Denpasar is typically 4-6. Priced on actual or volumetric weight, so it is expensive for anything bulky.
Buying new in Bali
ACE Hardware and IKEA near Ngurah Rai for ready-made; makers in Kerobokan and Gianyar for teak and rattan, custom, 2-6 weeks. Furnishing a two-bedroom villa runs IDR 100-250 million — roughly USD 6,500-16,000, which can exceed a 20ft container.
What the hybrid actually looks like
This is what most moves settle into, and it is worth planning deliberately rather than arriving at by accident.
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Carry
Documents, medication, a fortnight of clothes, laptop and camera. In your bags, with you, no customs file of their own.
-
Fly
The handful of things you need in week one but cannot carry. 3-7 days door-to-door, minimum charge USD 200 to 500.
-
Sail
Furniture, books, art, kitchen. A 10 m³ shared load from Sydney is around USD 1,500-2,500 and 20-30 days — the part that benefits most from the slow route.
What does not work is paying air rates on a whole household because three boxes were urgent. Split it at the quoting stage, not at the airport.
Read next
Tell us what you are weighing up
Send the list and the date. If the answer is extra baggage or buying it in Gianyar, we will say so — a shipment we talk you out of costs us less than one that disappoints you.