Specialist removals to Phuket and Krabi handled end-to-end from our Lower Dicker depot — full and shared-container sea freight, air freight, export-grade tropical packing and full Thai customs clearance. BAR member, fully insured for the Andaman coast.
Removals to Phuket from the UK take a Sussex household to the Andaman coast — Patong and Kata on the west, Rawai and the quieter south, the villas of Bang Tao, and over to Krabi and Ao Nang. Phuket draws retirees, villa buyers and remote workers after island life with an international airport on the doorstep. The Andaman side is the most humid stretch of our Thai routes, which makes export packing and desiccant matter more here than anywhere, and it is still a sea-freight move cleared through our Bangkok partner depot. We are a BAR Overseas Group member, fully insured for the voyage. See our removals to Thailand from the UK guide for the full shipping and customs picture.
Your move is priced mainly on volume, where you are in the UK and where in Phuket you are going. We publish our full rate card for the Bangkok route, and it is the honest starting point for a Phuket quote too: from £290 for a small groupage shipment of two tea cartons, up to £3,790 for a sole-use 20ft container delivered to a Bangkok residence, standard customs clearance included. You can see the full price table on our Thailand page.
There is no UK VAT to add. International removals are zero-rated for UK VAT, so unlike a domestic house move there is no 20% on top — the figure we quote is the figure you pay. Thai import duty and 7% Thai VAT are separate, assessed by Thai customs on arrival if you do not qualify for residence-transfer relief.
For Phuket itself the price is quoted on application, and we would rather say that than publish a number we would have to walk back. Phuket is roughly 850km south of the port by road, so the final leg is a genuine haul and adds close to a week to the Bangkok timeline. That leg is real work with a real cost, and it varies with your exact address and access — so we price it properly rather than guessing. Ask us and you will get the figure the same way our Bangkok customers do: itemised, with the freight, the packing, the customs work and the Phuket delivery each shown separately.
You do not have to live in Sussex, and you do not have to get your goods to us. Our published rates run from our Lower Dicker depot (BN27 4EL), and we quote collection from anywhere in the UK as a separate line so you can see exactly what the UK leg costs against the shipping. We have vans around the country most weeks, which usually makes that leg cheaper than people expect — and on a sole-use container we can collect from your home well ahead of the booking date and hold everything at the depot, with the first month of storage free.
Services are quoted the same way, so you take as much or as little as you want: export packing and crating, a custom ISPM-15 crate for anything wooden, antique or high-value, fragile-only packing if you will do the rest yourself, or a full packing service covering the whole house. Packing it yourself? We deliver export-grade packing materials to any UK address for a nominal charge.
Phuket is the most developed of Thailand’s islands — an international airport, international schools and hospitals, a large expat community and a property market that runs from beachfront condos to hillside pool villas in Bang Tao and Rawai. Krabi and Ao Nang across the bay offer a quieter, more dramatic-landscape alternative. Most of our Phuket movers are furnishing a villa or condo for a long stay or retirement, bringing full households where local replacement would cost far more. The island setting and the heavy Andaman humidity are the two things that shape how we pack and deliver.
Phuket’s heavy Andaman humidity shapes the packing list as much as the villa does. Solid, well-made furniture, books, kitchenware and personal pieces are worth the freight when they are packed to survive the climate; soft furnishings come with vacuum-bagging and desiccant; and anything that would struggle in damp heat we flag at the survey. British electricals run on the local supply with an adapter, while heavy white goods are often cheaper to buy on the island. We give an honest room-by-room view of what to bring, what to sell, and what to replace once you arrive. Wine, antiques and artwork travel in custom crates, documented for customs, and restricted items are identified before packing.
Phuket delivery means villas up steep, narrow lanes and condos with the usual lift bookings, plus the strongest humidity on any of our Thai routes. We pack accordingly — export double-wall cartons, moisture-barrier pad-wrap, vacuum-bagging for soft furnishings and generous desiccant inside the container — because the Andaman climate is unforgiving on under-protected goods. For hillside villas a full lorry often can’t make the final climb, so we transfer to a smaller vehicle, included in the quote. Our crew places furniture, removes the wrapping, reassembles the big pieces and clears the packaging. Krabi and Ao Nang are handled the same way with a short additional road leg.
The map below shows Phuket, Thailand — one of the destinations we deliver UK household shipments to from our Lower Dicker depot in East Sussex.
Honest transit times matter on this route, because the sea leg alone is several weeks and people time visas, tenancies and flights around them. These are the windows we actually work to — the same ones in our brochure, not a best case:
| Stage of your move | Typical time |
|---|---|
| Export packing and UK collection | 1–2 days on site |
| Ocean voyage to Thailand | 5–6 weeks |
| Collection through to arrival at Laem Chabang or the Port of Bangkok | Allow 8–12 weeks |
| Thai customs clearance through to release | Add a further 2 weeks |
| Long road leg south to Phuket and Krabi | Add 3–7 days |
| Door to door by sea freight | 11–15 weeks |
| Air freight, door to door | 1–2 weeks |
Phuket is roughly 850km south of the port by road, so the final leg is a genuine haul and adds close to a week to the Bangkok timeline. A sole-use container sails as soon as it is loaded and booked, so it sits at the shorter end of that window; a shared groupage container waits until it is full before it sails, which is exactly what buys you the lower price.
Once your goods are on the water we email you a tracking link with a live ETA, then update you at each milestone — sailing date, arrival, customs cleared, out for delivery. For the full picture on full versus shared containers, air freight, Thai customs and duty, read our removals to Thailand from the UK guide.
We are a small, owner-managed Sussex firm that has shipped households to Thailand since 2017, not a national franchise selling Thai moves as a sideline. The experienced staff who pad-wrap your furniture in Sussex have done it on dozens of Thai shipments, and our own partner depot clears and delivers in-country — so a question at customs is answered the same day, not across time zones. Every shipment is fully insured for the voyage and held to the same BS 8564 quality standard as a local house removal.
Read what customers say on our reviews page, browse the gallery, or call Mark directly on 01323 848 008 for straight answers about your Phuket move — what is worth shipping, what Thai customs allow, and a realistic timeline.
Door to door by sea, allow 11–15 weeks. That breaks down as 5–6 weeks for the ocean voyage itself, 8–12 weeks from collection to arrival at Laem Chabang or the Port of Bangkok once consolidation and sailing schedules are counted, then a further two weeks for Thai customs clearance through to release. Phuket is roughly 850km south of the port by road, so the final leg is a genuine haul and adds close to a week to the Bangkok timeline. A sole-use container sits at the shorter end because it sails as soon as it is loaded and booked; a shared groupage container waits until it is full, which is what buys you the lower price. Air freight is 1–2 weeks door to door.
Phuket is the most humid stretch of our Thai routes, so packing matters most here. Export double-wall cartons, moisture-barrier pad-wrap, vacuum-bagging and plenty of desiccant inside the container counter the condensation that warps wood and mould upholstery.
Yes. Where the lanes are too steep or narrow for a full lorry we transfer to a smaller vehicle for the final climb at no extra cost, then place furniture, reassemble beds and clear the packaging.
Yes — Krabi and Ao Nang are handled on the same Andaman route with a short additional road leg, and in a few spots a brief crossing. We manage the whole chain door to door.
If you are transferring residence with the right visa and work permit, or returning as a Thai national, one household of used effects is usually duty-free. On a tourist visa, duty plus 7% VAT may apply — we assess it at the survey.
No. International removals are zero-rated for UK VAT, so unlike a domestic house move there is no 20% added to your shipping price — the figure we quote is the figure you pay. That is separate from Thai import duty and the 7% Thai VAT, which Thai customs may assess on arrival if you do not qualify for residence-transfer relief. Those are payable to Thai customs, not to us.
Our published rates run from our Lower Dicker depot in East Sussex (BN27 4EL) through to delivery in Thailand. We quote collection separately — and we collect from anywhere in the UK, not just Sussex. We have vans around the country most weeks, so a collection is often cheaper than people expect. On a sole-use container we can collect from your home ahead of the booking date and hold it at the depot, with the first month of storage free.
Our published rate card runs from £290 for two tea cartons (8 cu ft) up to £3,790 for a sole-use 20ft container delivered to a Bangkok residence, standard customs clearance included and no UK VAT on top. Phuket itself is quoted on application, because the leg on from the port varies with your exact address and access. Tell us what you are shipping and where to, and we will come back with an itemised figure.
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Read article →Call us today for a free, no-obligation quote — or use our online form. Whether it’s a shared-container part-load or a full home shipped to Phuket, we’ve handled it before and we’ll handle yours with care.