Moving to Germany from Canada, Door to Door from Toronto

How a move from Toronto to Germany works

It starts with a survey — in person for a house, by video for a condo — so the quote is based on your actual volume rather than a bedroom count. On packing day our crew wraps and packs everything for ocean transit (export-grade cartons, paper, blankets and custom crates for art, mirrors and the TV) and builds the inventory that German customs and your insurer will rely on. The shipment comes to our North York warehouse, where it is loaded into a dedicated 20′ or 40′ container, or consolidated with other Germany-bound shipments if you are moving a smaller volume.

The container is drayed to the CPKC Vaughan or CN Brampton rail terminal on our own truck, railed to Montreal or Halifax, and sails to Hamburg or Bremerhaven — or to Rotterdam or Antwerp with a road leg for the west and south. Our German partner, an IAM member agent, files the customs entry with your relief application and Anmeldung, collects the container, and delivers to your new home with unpacking and debris removal included in the door-to-door service. German apartment buildings often need a no-parking zone (Halteverbotszone) reserved for the truck and an exterior lift for upper floors; the agent arranges both.

1. Free survey (home or video) and fixed door-to-door quote
2. Assemble the customs file — visa or residence permit, Anmeldung, lease, proof of a year outside the EU
3. Packing, crating and inventory at your home in the GTA
4. Loading into a dedicated container or Germany groupage at our warehouse
5. Rail to Montreal / Halifax and ocean sailing to Hamburg, Bremerhaven or a Benelux hub
6. Customs clearance by our German agent under transfer-of-residence relief
7. Delivery to your door with unpacking and packing-material removal

Übersiedlungsgut: how to avoid duty and import VAT on your household goods

Germany applies the EU's transfer-of-residence relief for removal goods (Übersiedlungsgut): household goods you have owned and used for at least six months are free of import duty and import VAT if you have lived outside the EU for at least 12 consecutive months, you bring them in within 12 months of establishing residence in Germany, and you do not sell or lend them within 12 months of import. The relief covers furniture, household items, clothing, personal effects and, under separate conditions, a private vehicle. It does not cover alcohol, tobacco, commercial goods or items bought for the move.

The application is customs form 0350, lodged with your passport and visa or residence permit, your Anmeldebestätigung — the registration certificate from the Bürgeramt or Einwohnermeldeamt where you now live — your lease or purchase contract, evidence that you lived in Canada for the past year, and an inventory of the shipment. Germans returning home use the deregistration certificate from when they left. Because you can only register after you arrive, the container is timed to land after you do, and our agent checks the file before it sails. Without the relief the shipment is cleared as a normal import with duty and 19% import VAT on the declared value.

What it costs to ship household goods to Germany

Cost is driven by volume, so the survey matters. A one-bedroom apartment in the GTA is usually 12–20 cubic metres and ships as groupage (LCL) or a lightly loaded 20′ container. A three-bedroom house is typically 30–40 cubic metres and fills a 20′ container; larger homes ship in a 40′ or 40′ high-cube. Beyond volume, price is affected by access at both ends — a fourth-floor Altbau apartment in Berlin with no elevator needs an exterior lift and a reserved no-parking zone — by the amount of professional packing and crating, and by storage at either end. Note that German apartments are often rented without a kitchen, which changes what is worth shipping.

Our quotes are door to door and itemize what is included: packing and materials, loading, drayage and rail, ocean freight and port charges, German customs clearance, delivery, unpacking and debris removal. The only items outside the quote are duty and import VAT if the relief is refused, inspection fees if customs selects the container, and storage beyond the free period at destination.

Timelines from the GTA to Germany

Ocean transit from Montreal or Halifax to Hamburg or Bremerhaven is 12–18 days, and similar to Rotterdam or Antwerp plus a day or two by road. Around it: two to five days from packing to sailing depending on the rail cut-off, and one to two weeks at destination for customs clearance, container collection and delivery scheduling. A dedicated container typically arrives at your German door five to eight weeks after packing day; groupage shipments wait for the consolidation to fill and add two to four weeks. If your home is not ready, our agent holds the shipment in storage and delivers when you are.

What to leave behind, and what to think twice about

Germany runs on 230 volts, so Canadian 110-volt appliances need transformers or replacement — though a German rental without a kitchen means you may be buying appliances anyway. Mattresses are heavy for their value and German bed sizes differ. Cars can be imported under the relief with six months' ownership, but German registration requires EU type approval or an individual inspection at the TÜV, and Canadian-market vehicles often need lighting and other modifications; it is worth it for some cars and not for most, and we tell you which. Firearms need a permit before they ship, and food, plants and soil stay behind.

• Prohibited or restricted: firearms without a permit, most food, plants and soil, endangered-species products
• Restricted: alcohol and tobacco (duty payable), medicines beyond personal quantities
• Usually not worth it: 110 V appliances, mattresses, bulky low-value furniture
• Vehicles: relief possible at 6+ months' ownership; TÜV inspection and possible modifications afterwards — ask us first

Why families moving to Germany choose Metropolitan Logistics

We are an IAM Core Member with IAMTrusted status and the Receivable Protection Program behind our agent relationships — which means the partner unpacking your home in Munich is vetted and financially accountable. The shipment is loaded in our Toronto warehouse by our own crews, not handed to a consolidator you never meet, and you can see it there before it sails. And because we ship commercial containers to Europe every week, the drayage, rail and ocean legs are the same lanes and carriers we book for exporters — which keeps the cost honest.