The race, by sea and by air
Thailand to the United States, in days.76 The white bar is port to port. The colored bar is door to door, which is the one that matters to a family waiting on its beds.
Those figures are for the United States as a whole, and the West Coast is the short end. To Houston the usual sailings spend 37 to 42 days on the water.72 71
Texas to Thailand
From Houston a container takes about 44 days to reach Bangkok. From Los Angeles it takes about 38, so it can be quicker to truck freight to California and ship from there.74 Air freight from Houston takes about 8 days.74
When the weather votes
Time on the water is the predictable part. Storms in the Gulf of Thailand can shut Laem Chabang for a day or two and push a sailing back by several days more.77 Do not promise anyone a date in the wet season.
What fits in the box
A standard 20-foot container holds 33.1 cubic meters inside. A 40-foot holds 67.5, and the taller high-cube 40 holds 75.3.83 Slide to the size of your shipment.
On paper it fits. No one packs a container to the last cubic foot, so leave yourself room.
A full box
It is yours alone. You pay for the box whether you fill it or not, and nobody else's freight is loaded or unloaded around yours, which is why it moves faster.75 76
A shared box
The way to send a few pallets or a dozen cartons. You pay for the space you use and wait while the box is filled and emptied at each end.75
Both
Movers who do this for a living split a household in two: what the family needs in the first month goes by air, and the furniture follows by sea.77 It costs less than flying everything and hurts less than waiting seven weeks for the children's beds.
The rule that decides the duty in Thailand
Used household goods can enter Thailand free of duty. Whether yours do depends on who is moving, not on what is in the box.
The allowance covers one shipment by sea and one by air. The goods should arrive no earlier than a month before you do and no later than six months after, and they should be at least six months old.80
For a Thai and American family, the rule says it plainly: the shipment belongs in the name of the Thai citizen who is coming home.
Coming into the United States
American customs has its own rules and its own forms for household goods. We have not checked them line by line, so we will not summarize them. Ask your mover which declaration applies to you, and read what U.S. Customs and Border Protection publishes before you pack.82
