How long does a container take from the USA to Europe?

The port your container sails from matters more than anything else. The closer to Europe, the shorter the voyage, which is why East Coast cargo arrives fastest. The gap is real: the voyage from Los Angeles takes roughly twice as long as from New Jersey.

We pick the port based on where your things are. Our headquarters and warehouse are in Irvington, New Jersey, and we have branches in Savannah and Houston. Door to door, a shipment from New Jersey to an address in Poland usually takes 4–6 weeks. From the other ports the total is longer, and delivery elsewhere in the EU adds the inland leg, so we confirm the exact timing in your quote. Shipping from Canada? Our Montreal branch serves the whole country.

It all starts with a message. Tell us what you want to ship, from where, and when it will be ready, and you will have a free quote within 24 hours. We do not publish prices because they depend on volume and route: a few boxes from New Jersey and a whole house plus a car from Texas are priced very differently.

Once you accept the quote, we book space on a vessel and set the loading date. We file the US export paperwork for you. You sign an Export Power of Attorney and a Shipping Declaration. Download both forms at lesniewski.com/en/forms, fill them in by hand, sign them and email them back or drop them off.

The more detail you give us up front, the fewer loose ends at the last minute. In your request, include:

You have two options. First: we drop a 40' high-cube container at your address and you load it yourself within a set loading window. Extra time beyond that window is billed by the hour, and a partial hour counts as a full hour, so have everything packed and a few friends on hand. If you would rather not do the heavy lifting, our crew can load it for an extra fee. Second: you bring your things to our warehouse and we take it from there.

A car can travel in the same container as your furniture and boxes, and you can even ship a car, a motorcycle and household goods together. There is one rule: the car must be empty. Anything you would normally toss in the trunk or on the back seat goes into boxes that ride alongside it.

Before loading day, check:

Once loaded, the container is trucked to the port and put on the ship. After loading you receive a Bill of Lading number. The Bill of Lading is the core document of ocean freight: it records what is shipping, from where and to where.

With a full container, you can use that number to track it in the carrier's system and see where the vessel is. If your things travel in a shared container, we check the status for you. Either way, keep the number handy and quote it whenever you call us about your shipment, so we can find it right away.

We book directly with ocean carriers, with no middlemen. Once the ship is under way, nobody can make it go faster. That is why what happens before the sailing matters so much: being ready on loading day and having complete paperwork.

The container arrives at the port of Gdynia. We clear your household goods through customs for you and deal with the customs office on your behalf. You sign an authorization for our customs agency and send us your documents. Download the authorization and the inventory at lesniewski.com/en/forms, fill them in by hand, sign them and email them back or drop them off.

If you are moving to Poland for good, your belongings may qualify for duty relief as transfer-of-residence goods (in Polish: mienie przesiedleńcze). In Poland, according to the government portal podatki.gov.pl, the conditions include at least 12 months of continuous residence outside the EU and having used the goods for at least 6 months before the move, and you claim the relief in the customs declaration. Duty relief does not automatically mean relief from VAT or excise; those are assessed separately. Polish customs expects an inventory with quantities and values plus proof that you lived abroad, such as an employment contract or utility bills, so have these ready before the container arrives.

After clearance we deliver to your address. Our Polish base in Krze Duże, near Radziejowice, is a warehouse and a workshop where cars imported through us are adapted to European requirements, lighting for example. If your car is in the container, its clearance and taxes are covered in our separate guides.

A full container (FCL) is a 40' high-cube just for you. You load it at home, or we load it at the warehouse if you bring your things there, and it goes straight to the port. It is the simplest route when you are moving a whole household or a car together with furniture.

Smaller loads travel in a shared container (LCL). You pay per cubic meter of space used, with a 1 m³ minimum charge. We accept boxes and parcels at our warehouse at 918 Clinton Ave in Irvington, NJ, where they are consolidated with other shipments; a few boxes fit within the minimum charge.

With a shared container, allow extra time for it to be filled at the warehouse. If you need your things by a specific date, tell us when you ask for a quote.

You cannot control the crossing or the carrier's schedule, which is why we quote sailing times as ranges. The rest of the trip is in your hands, and it comes down to three things: the port, being ready on loading day, and complete documents.

Port: if you can get your things to New Jersey, the voyage will be shorter than from Houston or Los Angeles. Readiness: the earlier you give us the date everything will be packed, the easier it is to book a vessel and drop the container without delays. Things not packed on time mean extra loading hours or a new date.

Documents: without a signed authorization and a complete inventory we cannot clear your goods, even if the container is already sitting in Gdynia. For a car, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) requires the vehicle and its documents, including the original title or a certified copy, to be presented at least 72 hours before export. That is why we need the title well in advance.