Luggage Shipping to Germany

The best method for luggage shipping to Germany is via a Personal Shipping Service like that provided by PSS.

With the help of our experienced team, sending luggage to Germany is a straightforward process.

It all starts with a quote. We assess your consignment and determine what items you would like to send. We recommend our cartons/boxes, but you can use your own bags and suitcases.

After this, you choose which freight type will work best for you, your time-scale and your budget; air freight or road freight. Air freight will get your baggage there faster, but at a higher price. Road freight is the cheaper transportation method, but it can take longer to arrive.

The freight method you choose depends on costs and urgency:

• Road Freight: your possessions are sent in a shared container with other people’s boxes and belongings moving to Germany. This is the cheapest, but the slowest method.
• Standard Air Freight: If you need your luggage to arrive sooner then air freight can be a good option.

The fastest way to send luggage to Germany is to fly it via air freight. This can cost more than our road freight service depending on the size of your consignment, but it is still much cheaper than airline excess baggage rates. Air freight prices are calculated by volumetric weight – a combination of volume and weight in kilograms. Many customers choose to send the bulk of their goods by land and then ask us to fly the possessions they need more urgently.

Thanks to over three decades in the industry, we know how to transport baggage to Germany from the UK with ease. This means we can handle everything from packing, handling customs, transportation and delivering, all on a door-to-door basis. Our experts will instruct you on what customs forms and documentation need to be completed when sending luggage to Germany, and we will handle the rest upon arrival. 

The whole process is very easy! 

Airlines charge very high excess baggage fees when you go over your baggage allowance for your luggage.

Our baggage service has a number of advantages:

• Firstly it is a lot cheaper than sending as excess baggage or unaccompanied luggage. We also offer different options – the cheapest is to send your luggage by sea freight. We also offer express air freight which is still cheaper than airline unaccompanied baggage services.
• Also, you can send more volume and weight of personal belongings for less. With PSS your boxes or bags can weigh up to 25kg where excess baggage is often limited to just 23kg.
• We offer volume discounts where the more you send, the less per kg / cubic foot you pay.
• We also provide export quality boxes and packing materials to keep your belongings safe.
• Some items that can’t be sent by air can be shipped by sea.
• Best of all it’s a door to door service – we pick up from your door in the UK and deliver to your address in Germany!

Baggage shipping to Germany doesn’t have to break the bank. Sending bags with PSS means you get a quality shipping service at an affordable price. How high your luggage shipping rates are will depend on a couple of variables.

The best option for cheap shipping to Germany from the UK is by road freight using our personalised service. We transport your possessions in a shared container together with other customers’ belongings bound for Germany so that everyone saves money. This is known as a ‘groupage service’ and is much cheaper than traditional excess baggage and courier services.

As PSS are one of the leading UK shipping companies for Germany, we can get the best road freight rates due to the high volumes we forward and so are able to offer cheap prices to our customers. However, if you need your suitcases and other luggage to arrive sooner, then our air freight options are a cost effective alternative to expensive airline excess baggage fees.

The cost will also depend on the volume of boxes/bags you are forwarding and whether you are using road or air freight.

To get an initial price for excess baggage shipping to Germany we recommend using our free online cost calculator available on this page. Our Move Managers will also be able to tailor your quote to meet your personal requirements.

But you can be assured that PSS is widely regarded as the cheapest and best company for sending your items to Germany. We are confident that we can give you a very good quote without compromising on service.

Please note that road freight costs are based on volume whereas air freight rates are calculated by volumetric weight – a combination of weight and volume.

Our quote is for a full door to door collection and delivery service to your address in Germany.

There may, however, be additional customs charges e.g. customs duty, GST, inspection and quarantine fees.

These will need to be paid when your consignment arrives in Germany.

NB: Customs Duty and GST are not usually charged for returning citizens and migrants with permanent resident visas who have been away for over 12 months.

Check out our Customs Information page for more details on customs charges and what you can/can’t take to Germany.

Average shipping times to Germany from the UK

The table above gives you an estimate of how long it will take to ship your luggage and boxes to Germany. Delivery times will vary depending on where in Germany you are moving to.

Please note: These times are for arrival in your destination port – you will need to allow additional time for customs clearance.

If you’re flying with an airline, you’ll have a baggage allowance – usually 20kg in weight. Anything else, that you pack in addition to this agreed upon weight, would be classified as excess baggage. Fortunately, shipping excess baggage to Germany is cost-effective and easy when using PSS.

You can ship any size of suitcase or bag to Germany but it should weigh less than 25kg for health and safety reasons.

Also, luggage that is overfilled and too heavy is more liable to split.

When calculating the size of your suitcases you may need to convert their volume in litres to cubic feet which is the measure used by international shipping companies.

1 litre is about 0.035 cubic feet – but you will need to allow extra if the size in litres is for the internal capacity rather than the size of the suitcase. The table below is a rough guide:

If possible we recommend sending your personal possessions in boxes rather than bags or suitcases.

We provide a variety of different cartons, including small and large boxes, as part of your quote. All our cartons are of high quality and designed specifically for international box shipping.

Economy Carton

Size: 46 x 46 x 46cm

Description: Standard size box that is suitable for most items.

Tea Carton (Tea Chest)

Size: 46 x 46 x 51cm

Description: Large box that is suitable for bigger and bulkier items such as clothes and bedding. This is about the size and volume of the traditional tea chest.

Book Carton

Size: 46 x 46 x 31cm

Description: Smaller box that is suitable for books, paperwork and heavier items.

Bike Carton

Size: 148 x 22 x 96cm

Description: Specialist box specifically designed for transporting cycles/bicycles.

Custom Packages

You can also enter the dimensions and weight of customs packages on our cost calculator to get a price estimate.

If you have an oversized suitcase that is very large or weighs over 25kg, we can help you ship it to Germany using our oversized baggage service. Please speak to our team for more details.

For large items such as furniture which require more than one person to lift, we provide an international removal service.

Our box/baggage shipping service is suitable for sending all manner of household items and personal effects to Germany.

This can include clothing, shoes, books, souvenirs, toys, small items of furniture and more. In fact, any of your personal possessions and goods can be boxed and shipped to Germany as long as they meet customs requirements.

Our company is used by thousands of migrants, families, expats, students and also Germans returning home from the UK to transport all their boxes of goods.

Popular items that can be shipped via our box/baggage shipping service include:

• Suitcases and luggage
• Guitars (use a hard case)
• TVs
• Computers & monitors
• Golf clubs and bags
• Skis and ski bags
• Surfboards
• Snowboards
• Other sports gear and equipment
• Tool boxes / tool bags
• Pictures/mirrors
• Vinyl Records / LPs

For larger items and furniture you will likely need to use our removals to Germany service.

Although PSS like to be a lenient and inclusive excess baggage company, there are of course some prohibited and restricted items when shipping baggage to Germany. These are due to both local customs regulations and international air freight regulations.

Including any of these in your luggage or boxes can cause potential problems with customs on arrival resulting in delays and additional costs.

Prohibited items when sending luggage via air freight include:

• Fireworks, ammunition, firearms or explosives
• Cylinders of compressed air, oxygen or liquid petroleum gas (LPG)
• Any type of aerosol can (e.g. deodorant, shaving cream, hair spray, paint etc
• Camping stoves, cigarette/pipe lighters or cigarette lighter refills
• Cosmetics (e.g. nail polish, colognes, perfumes, nail polish remover)
• Paint, fuel or paint thinners
• Matches
• Dry Ice, specimens or samples
• Detergents, bleaches, drain or oven cleaners
• Fibreglass repair kits, adhesives and puncture repair kits
• Medicines of any type
• Any type of chemical, pesticides, herbicides etc
• Camping equipment (e.g. gas stoves, gas cylinders)
• Diving equipment (e.g. air tanks)
• Batteries of any type
• Machinery with internal combustion engines such as chainsaws, lawnmowers or garden trimmers
• Printer ink cartridges of any type
• Food of any type

NB: The above is not intended as a comprehensive list, but as examples of the kind of items that are prohibited/restricted. If you are at all unsure please check with your Move Manager.

In addition, if you are sending your luggage and belongings by air, you need to comply with the IATA Dangerous Goods regulations. Failure to comply can lead to your consignment being rejected by the airline. For more details please check our guide Air Freight Prohibited Items. For more comprehensive information on what you can and cannot ship to Germany we therefore highly recommend you check our Fidi Customs Guide.

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At PSS we do our very best to take great care of your belongings, so whilst we are confident that your goods are in safe hands, unfortunately, accidents do happen that are beyond our control.

So, in the same way, you have car insurance, travel insurance and home contents insurance to protect you as well as your belongings in the unlikely event that you should need to claim, we recommend for peace of mind, that you take out shipment protection cover. We offer a flexible and independent shipment protection cover through Basil Fry & Company, the UK’s leading insurance broker for international removals and shipping.

The most popular comprehensive cover (Standard Liability including damage) is calculated at 5% of the total value you declare.

For more details ask your Move Manager at the time of booking.