Are you moving to French Guiana, whether for a job transfer, a position with CNES in Kourou, a career opportunity in Cayenne or simply a new life in the tropics? The good news is that French Guiana is a French department: no visa, no passport, the euro as currency and French social security that follows you. The less good news is that 7,000 km of Atlantic Ocean separate Le Havre from Dégrad des Cannes, French Guiana’s main port. Shipping your furniture, your car and your boxes therefore requires planning ahead, a substantial budget and a good understanding of container shipping. This guide details your moving options, cost ranges, realistic timings and the formalities you shouldn’t overlook — all with indicative figures, since rates vary widely depending on the carrier, the season and the volume.
Do you really need to take everything to French Guiana?
Before booking a container, the first question to ask yourself is blunt but useful: is it worth shipping your furniture across the Atlantic? Sea freight is expensive, and some of your mainland furniture isn’t necessarily suited to French Guiana’s equatorial climate, hot and very humid all year round.
A few local realities to factor in:
- Humidity is enemy number one. Chipboard furniture (flat-pack type) swells and deteriorates quickly, leather goes mouldy, metal objects rust. Solid wood and synthetic materials hold up better.
- Air conditioning isn’t always there. Many homes in French Guiana rely on natural ventilation or ceiling fans. A thick velvet sofa or an alpine duvet has no place there.
- Some items are worth buying locally. Appliances, hard-wearing garden furniture and “tropicalised” furnishings are available in Cayenne, Matoury or Rémire-Montjoly, which sometimes avoids shipping costs higher than the value of the item itself.
Conversely, anything with sentimental value, quality pieces, books, clothes and reliable small appliances deserve the trip. The decision is made cubic metre by cubic metre.
Sell, give away, store or ship
Make three piles before pricing anything up:
- What you will ship (the heart of your household);
- What you will sell or give away in mainland France (heavy, poorly suited or easily replaced furniture);
- What you will store in a mainland storage unit if your move is temporary or uncertain.
This sorting directly determines the volume to be shipped, and therefore the bill.
Shipping options to French Guiana
Moving to such a distant overseas department almost always relies on sea freight. Air freight exists but remains marginal for a full household.
The sea container: the standard solution
The container is the standard format for an overseas move. Two sizes dominate:
- The 20-foot container (around 33 m³ of usable space) suits a reasonably furnished one- or two-bedroom home.
- The 40-foot container (around 67 m³ of usable space) matches a complete family house, possibly including a vehicle.
There are two ways to use it:
- Full container load (FCL): you book the entire volume for yourself. Ideal for a large volume, with more flexibility on the loading schedule.
- Groupage (LCL, “less than container load”): you only pay for the volume you occupy, shared with other customers. This is the most economical option for a small volume (studio, one-bedroom, a few cubic metres), but the timings are often longer since you have to wait for the container to be filled.
Groupage, often the best choice for a small household
If you’re moving alone or as a couple without a large household, groupage is frequently the right compromise. You pay by the cubic metre, generally within a broad indicative range, and you avoid paying for a half-empty container.
What about the car?
Shipping your car is possible and sometimes worthwhile, as second-hand vehicle prices can be high locally. The car travels either inside the container (taking up part of the volume) or by roll-on/roll-off (RoRo), where the vehicle is driven directly onto a dedicated ship. Plan for the vehicle registration document, an almost empty fuel tank and an interior cleared of all personal belongings (otherwise customs may consider them undeclared freight).
How much it costs: indicative ranges
It’s impossible to give a single price: the cost of a move from mainland France to French Guiana depends on the volume, the format (full container or groupage), the time of year, the carrier and the additional services (packing, carrying, insurance). Here are some purely indicative benchmarks, to be confirmed with quotes.
- Groupage per cubic metre: expect, depending on the provider and the season, several hundred euros per cubic metre, port to port. A small volume of a few cubic metres therefore remains the lightest scenario.
- Full 20-foot container: several thousand euros, excluding options.
- Full 40-foot container: significantly more, depending on the load and the services.
To these “transport” amounts, you almost always need to add:
- Port handling fees at departure and on arrival (Dégrad des Cannes);
- Inland transport from the port to your new home;
- Insurance (often calculated as a percentage of the declared value);
- Any professional packing fees if you don’t pack your own boxes.
What pushes the bill up (or down)
- The season. Periods of high demand, particularly around the start of the school year and job transfers, tend to push prices up. Booking outside peak times can help.
- Door-to-door vs port-to-port. A “door-to-door” quote (collection from your home in mainland France, delivery to your home in French Guiana) is more expensive but far more comfortable than “port-to-port”, where you handle both ends yourself.
- The actual volume. Hence the value of rigorous sorting beforehand: every cubic metre saved shows up on the bill.
Always request at least three detailed quotes, checking what is included and what isn’t (insurance, customs, final delivery, administrative fees).
Timings: allow plenty of margin
This is the point that surprises newcomers the most. Sea freight to French Guiana isn’t fast, and the total time isn’t limited to the crossing itself.
- The sea crossing between a mainland port and Dégrad des Cannes takes, indicatively, in the region of two to three weeks depending on the ship and its port calls.
- Groupage adds a waiting time while the container is filled: your load may sit waiting before it even departs.
- Customs clearance on arrival and inland delivery add several more days.
In total, between collection from your home in mainland France and actually receiving your belongings in French Guiana, it’s wise to plan for several weeks to around two months, format and unforeseen delays included. Never plan your move-in on the assumption that your furniture will arrive quickly.
The direct consequence: plan for a “no furniture” period
Since your belongings will arrive after you, you will inevitably spend a few weeks without your furniture. This is THE reason why temporary furnished accommodation is almost essential on arrival — more on that below.
