Commercial · International shipping from the GTA, worldwide
International shipping from Toronto is four different jobs wearing one name: a full container by sea, a few pallets consolidated into a shared container, a time-critical shipment by air, and a trailer across the U.S. border. Most international shipping companies in Toronto sell one of them and broker the rest. We run all four from the same North York warehouse, with our own crews loading the freight and our own trucks taking it to the rail terminal or the airport, and we quote them side by side so the mode is a decision, not a default.
This page is the map: what each mode is good for, where we ship from Canada and how long it takes, what an international shipment actually costs, and the paperwork a shipper needs. The ocean, air and cross-border pages go deeper on each; one quote form at the end covers them all.
An international logistics company moves your goods from a door in Southern Ontario to a door abroad and owns every hand-off in between: the pickup, the receiving and packing, the container or air booking, the paperwork, the rail or road leg to the gateway, the customs entry at destination and the final delivery. The difference between companies is how many of those steps they perform and how many they subcontract. A broker-style forwarder performs none of the physical ones. We perform the origin side ourselves and manage the rest through named carriers and partner agents we have worked with for years.
In practice that means your freight is collected on our straight truck, counted and photographed on our dock, packed or crated by our crew where it needs protection, loaded and braced into the container by the same people, and drayed to CPKC Vaughan or CN Brampton on our chassis against the rail cut-off. One dispatch desk sees it from your plant to the vessel, and one invoice itemizes it.
Choosing the mode is the first decision and the one that sets the price. Ocean is the default for anything over a pallet that can wait a few weeks; air is for the shipment whose delay costs more than the freight; road is for the United States, where a trailer is both the fastest and the cheapest option; and LCL consolidation is the way a small export sails without paying for a whole container. We quote the ocean price beside the air price whenever the choice is real.
| Mode | Best for | Typical transit from Toronto | How it's priced |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ocean, full container (FCL) | Ten pallets and up, machinery, fragile or high-value goods, dangerous goods, a fixed sailing | 9–16 days to the UK and Northern Europe · 14–28 days to East Asia · 25–40 days to Australia, plus 1–7 days of rail to the coast | Per container: 20′, 40′, 40′HC, open-top or flat-rack |
| Ocean, consolidated (LCL) | One to eight pallets, samples, spare parts, small exports | The same sailings, plus 3–7 days at each end for consolidation | Per cubic metre or weight-measure, with a minimum |
| Air freight | Urgent parts, launches, perishables, high-value electronics, anything under a tonne that cannot wait | 1–5 days airport to airport from Pearson, door to door in about a week | Per chargeable kilogram (actual or volumetric, whichever is greater) |
| Cross-border road (USA) | Any freight to or from the United States, full or partial trailer | 1–3 days to the Northeast and Midwest · 5–10 days to the West Coast and Sun Belt | Per trailer (FTL) or per pallet and lane (LTL) |
Every international shipment from Toronto leaves through one of three gateways. Montreal and Halifax take the Atlantic trades: the UK and Europe, the Mediterranean, the Middle East, India and Pakistan, Africa and South America's east coast. Vancouver and Prince Rupert take the Pacific: China, Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand. The U.S. is reached by road at Fort Erie or Windsor. The container travels to the coast by CN or CPKC rail from the GTA intermodal terminals, and the routing is chosen for the carrier's service and the cut-off you need, not by habit.
The table shows typical port-to-port ocean times by region. Add one to seven days of rail at origin, consolidation time for LCL, and customs and delivery at destination for a door-to-door estimate; the ocean freight page has the lane-by-lane detail.
| Destination region | Canadian gateway | Typical ocean transit | Common cargo from Ontario |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom & Ireland | Montreal / Halifax | 9–16 days | Machinery, building products, retail goods, household goods |
| Northern Europe (NL, DE, BE, FR) | Montreal / Halifax | 10–16 days | Industrial equipment, automotive, project cargo |
| Mediterranean (ES, IT, PT, GR, TR) | Montreal / Halifax | 18–30 days | Equipment, food products, personal effects |
| Middle East (AE, SA, QA, IL) | Montreal / Halifax | 25–40 days | Project cargo, machinery, household goods |
| India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka | Montreal / Halifax | 30–45 days | Machinery, scrap and recyclables, personal effects |
| China, Korea, Japan, SE Asia | Vancouver / Prince Rupert | 14–28 days | Lumber, agricultural products, returns of equipment |
| Australia & New Zealand | Vancouver | 25–40 days | Machinery, vehicles, household goods |
| West & South Africa | Montreal / Halifax | 25–40 days | Used equipment, vehicles, project cargo |
| South America (east coast) | Montreal / Halifax | 20–35 days | Industrial equipment, project cargo |
| United States | Fort Erie / Windsor by road | 1–10 days | Everything: FTL, LTL, consolidated loads |
An international shipping quote has the same anatomy whatever the mode. The freight itself, ocean, air or road, is the largest line and rarely the whole story. Around it sit the pickup, the receiving and packing at our warehouse, the drayage to the terminal, the terminal handling and documentation at the Canadian gateway, the carrier's surcharges at its current tariff, and at destination the terminal charges, the customs entry and the delivery. For LCL add the consolidation and deconsolidation charges that make small shipments feel expensive per cubic metre; for air add the airline's fuel and security surcharges and the airport handling at both ends.
We itemize all of it on one quote, and we quote the alternative mode beside it when the choice is close. Worked examples with 2026 ranges are in our guides to shipping container costs from Toronto and container sizes and prices in Canada. The one cost that is never on the quote is the one a broker-style forwarder discovers after loading: a re-measured volume, a re-weighed pallet, a demurrage day. Our crews measure and photograph the freight on our dock before anything is booked.
Shipping internationally from Canada is as much a documents job as a trucking job. For exports we review the commercial invoice and packing list, prepare the shipper's letter of instruction, file the export declaration through CBSA's CERS system, submit the bill of lading instructions and verified gross mass (VGM), prepare dangerous goods declarations where applicable, and arrange certificates of origin through the chamber of commerce when the destination needs one. For imports we coordinate the release with a licensed customs broker, yours or one we introduce, time the container pull to the day it grounds, and deliver on our own trucks.
First-time exporters and importers get walked through the set-up: a CBSA business number with an import/export program account, CARM registration for importers, Incoterms that match who is actually paying for what, and the packaging rules, ISPM-15 heat-treated wood above all, that stop a shipment at the far end. The practical guide is here: how to export from Canada.
This is freight logistics: a pallet, a crate, a container, a trailer. If you are shipping a single box abroad, a courier such as Canada Post, UPS, FedEx or DHL will be faster and cheaper than any freight forwarder, and we will tell you so. Our minimum is one pallet or one crate, and the sweet spot is anything from a few pallets of samples to a programme of weekly containers. Household goods and personal effects are the exception, handled by our international moving team with its own survey, packing crews and quote: see international moving costs for what a household move from Toronto costs.
Import & export
The same warehouse, crews and trucks work the lane outbound and inbound, which is why overseas forwarders use us as their Toronto agent.
Your plant to a door abroad
Pickup on our truck
Pack & load at our dock
Rail to the coast
Ocean or air
Cleared & delivered abroad
What it includes
A supplier abroad to your dock, or ours
Origin pickup by our agent
Ocean or air to Canada
Rail to the GTA terminal
Customs release
Our truck to your dock
What it includes
How it works
Four steps, one dispatch desk, whether the freight is going by sea, air or road.
Commodity, pieces or pallets, weight, origin and destination, Incoterm and the date it needs to be there. You get an itemized quote, with the alternative mode beside it when the choice is close.
The vessel, flight or trailer is booked; the freight is collected on our truck or received at our dock, counted, photographed and packed or crated as needed.
Our crew loads and braces the container or builds the air pallet; the export declaration, bill of lading or air waybill and any DG paperwork are filed before it leaves.
Drayed to the terminal or airport on our equipment, tracked to destination, cleared by the broker and delivered by our partner agent, or, for imports, pulled and delivered by our own trucks.
Steamship lines
Ocean freight is booked carrier-direct or through our NVOCC partners, on whichever line fits the lane and the date.
Logos belong to their owners.
The right mode
The premium for air over ocean is often five to ten times the freight. We put the two numbers next to each other so the urgent shipment flies and everything else sails.
A whole container, loaded and sealed on our dock, unopened until the consignee. Cheapest per tonne; two to six weeks door to door.
Your pallets consolidated with other shippers' cargo for the same destination. The way one to eight pallets sail without a container's price.
Packed and palletized here, booked through IATA cargo agents at Pearson, door to door in about a week.
A dedicated or shared trailer to anywhere in the United States, customs entry at the bridge, no port and no ocean.
Dangerous goods ship by ocean FCL with a full IMDG declaration; most LCL consolidators and many airlines refuse them.
Capabilities
The services most forwarders subcontract, performed by our own people in our own building.
Booked with the major steamship lines, loaded at our warehouse, drayed on our chassis.
Export packing and palletizing here, booking through licensed IATA cargo agents at YYZ.
FTL and LTL to and from the USA, consolidated at our dock, customs coordinated door to door.
Export declarations in-house; import release through a licensed broker, timed to the container.
Custom crates, skids, ISPM-15 wood, moisture protection for machinery and electronics.
Receive from several suppliers, hold, consolidate and load one container.
Open-tops and flat-racks with securement designed and installed by our crews.
Door-to-door international moving for families and employees, with its own crews and quote.
In the field
Where an international shipment from Toronto actually goes, and where it starts.
What's included
Built for
Service area: GTA & Southern Ontario
Our facility
A working dock minutes from the intermodal terminals: containers received live or dropped, freight unloaded by our own crews, storage on our racks, and straight trucks loading for delivery — there whenever a shipment needs it.
FAQ
Related services
Commercial quote
Commodity, pieces or pallets, origin, destination and the date it needs to be there. We reply with an itemized quote, the right mode, and the next sailings or flights.
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