Atlanta International Movers

Atlanta is one of the busiest relocation hubs in the Southeast, but it has no port of its own. Every international shipment that starts here, whether it’s headed to Europe, Asia, or the Middle East, has to reach a coastal terminal or an air cargo facility before it ever leaves the country, and that routing shapes your cost and timeline more than most movers explain up front. SDC International Shipping is a licensed door-to-door moving company serving all 50 states, and we’ve handled enough Atlanta moves to walk you through that routing honestly rather than just quoting a price. Call 877-339-0267 to get started.

How an Atlanta Shipment Actually Leaves the Country

Because Atlanta is landlocked, sea freight moves by truck to the Port of Savannah’s Garden City Terminal, roughly 250 miles and about four hours down I-16. Garden City is the busiest single container terminal in the country by volume; the Georgia Ports Authority moved 5.67 million TEUs through the port system in fiscal year 2026. That volume generally works in your favor, more weekly sailings and more carrier options than a smaller port offers, but it also means container space during peak season fills up faster than clients expect, so booking early matters more for an Atlanta move than one starting from a port city. Once loaded, ocean transit time to Europe generally runs six to eight weeks door to door, and eight to twelve weeks to most of Asia, though port congestion at either end can extend that.

Air freight routes through Hartsfield-Jackson’s Air Cargo Complex on the airport’s south side, a dedicated facility separate from passenger terminals. Air makes sense for smaller, time-sensitive shipments. A full household almost always ships by sea, since air freight costs several times more per pound.

Household Goods and Vehicles

We ship the full range of household items, furniture, appliances, electronics, and personal belongings, and we ship vehicles exclusively in containers loaded alongside a household shipment. We do not offer standalone, vehicle-only shipping, and we do not handle pet relocation directly. We can refer you to a specialist for that, but it books separately from your household shipment, not as part of it. If you’re shipping a car along with your household goods, budget for a US import duty of roughly 2.5% of the vehicle’s declared value for passenger cars; trucks and other vehicle classes are taxed at different rates, so confirm your vehicle’s category before you ship. See our international household movers page for the full scope of what’s included.

Certain items can’t ship regardless of which mover you use, since the restriction comes from US import law rather than company policy: aerosols and pressurized containers, flammable or toxic materials, firearms and ammunition, perishable food and plant material, and prescription medications.

Customs and What Qualifies Duty-Free

Household goods you’ve owned and used for at least a year generally qualify for duty-free entry under US Customs rules; new purchases and anything intended for resale don’t. Our full customs guide covers the documentation in detail. In practice, the thing that trips up Atlanta clients most isn’t the duty calculation, it’s an incomplete inventory list. A vague or inconsistent packing list is one of the more common reasons a shipment gets pulled for physical inspection at the port, and that alone can add a week or more to an already long transit.

Packing, Storage, and Insurance

Most Atlanta clients pack the bulk of a move themselves and have us handle only fragile or high-value pieces, though full-service packing is available if you’d rather not deal with it. If your new home isn’t ready when your container arrives, our storage keeps your shipment secure until you are. For protection against loss or damage in transit, our moving insurance offers two main tiers, all-risk coverage for most forms of damage or partial loss, and total-loss coverage for a shipment that’s lost entirely, so the right choice depends on what you’re actually worried about.

Local Considerations Around Atlanta

Most of the friction on an Atlanta move happens at the front door, not at the port. Midtown and Buckhead high-rises typically require a Certificate of Insurance and an advance elevator reservation before a crew can bring anything up, and a building that doesn’t get advance notice will turn the crew away on moving day rather than make an exception. In denser intown neighborhoods, the moving truck itself sometimes needs an on-street parking permit from the building or the city, which is worth confirming well before your move date rather than discovering it the morning the truck shows up.

Areas We Serve

We serve Atlanta and the surrounding metro, including Midtown, Buckhead, and downtown, plus Sandy Springs, Marietta, Brookhaven, Decatur, Roswell, and communities further out like Peachtree City, Alpharetta, and Johns Creek.

Have questions before you commit? Call 877-339-0267, or request a free quote and we’ll price out your specific move.