With Gulf International Shipping, furniture moving from Saudi Arabia to Tunisia starts at your front door in any Saudi city: our crew dismantles each piece, wraps it for a sea voyage and records it on a detailed inventory; a closed truck then takes everything to Jeddah Islamic Port, where the box crosses the Suez Canal on a vessel bound for a Mediterranean relay port and a feeder ship takes it the last stretch to Radès, Sfax or Sousse, and once cleared we deliver and reassemble it in your Tunisian home. Expect five to seven weeks in all with a container of your own, and six to eight when your goods share one. Our starting prices: a personal-effects carton (10–20 kg) SAR 230, a sofa SAR 735, a living-room set SAR 780 and a complete bedroom SAR 1,655, while a container booked for you alone begins at SAR 5,520 (20 ft) and SAR 7,360 (40 ft).
Most people who ask us about moving furniture to Tunisia are Tunisian families going back after years of living in Saudi Arabia, an employee sending part of the household ahead, or a graduate packing up after university. Two questions come up every time: when will the furniture really arrive, and will Tunisian customs charge duty on it? This guide answers both with figures, shows how to build the inventory your customs declaration depends on, which container suits your home, and what has to stay out of the shipment.
At a glance
- How it travels: by sea in a container leaving Jeddah Islamic Port; there is no road route for household furniture from Saudi Arabia to Tunisia
- Arrival ports: mostly Radès, or Sfax and Sousse depending on the shipping line and your city
- Time to your door: five to seven weeks with your own container, six to eight when sharing one
- Starting prices: bedroom SAR 1,655, living room SAR 780, fridge SAR 550, 20 ft container SAR 5,520, 40 ft container SAR 7,360
- Tunisians returning for good: a family allowance capped at 50,000 dinars, usable once and never renewed, as Tunisian customs decides
- Appliances: one of each type, listed on the inventory with make, model and serial number
- Urgent items: flown from Jeddah to Tunis-Carthage and delivered in 3–7 days; SAR 17 a kilo upward, minimum charge applies
Path: packing at home in the Kingdom → truck to Jeddah → Suez → transfer in the Mediterranean → Radès → delivery in Tunisia · Time: 5–8 weeks · Contact: 0568829975
Can furniture go overland from Saudi Arabia to Tunisia?
No. There is no overland furniture service from Saudi Arabia to Tunisia. The two countries are about 3,270 km apart as the plane flies from Jeddah, and a road journey would cross several countries with no regular household-goods freight running on it. If an advert promises a truck that loads your bedroom in Riyadh and unloads it in Sfax a week later, it is selling a route that does not exist.
The real journey has two truck legs and one sea leg: a truck from your home to Jeddah Islamic Port, a ship carrying the container from Jeddah to the Tunisian port, and another truck from that port to your door. Air freight suits suitcases, light cartons and documents, but not a whole household: at per-kilo rates a single bedroom would cost more than a container.
From dismantling to reassembly: how many weeks does your furniture take?
In numbers, a furniture move from Saudi Arabia to Tunisia lasts somewhere between 30 and 47 days with a private container, depending on your loading city, and 40–55 days when sharing, because a shared box waits until it fills with other Tunisia-bound loads. The reason is that no direct line runs from Jeddah to Tunisian ports, so the container is relayed onto a smaller vessel at a Mediterranean hub. The table spreads the journey across the weeks so you can plan housing and school places on a realistic basis:
Add roughly 3–5 days for southern Tunisia such as Djerba, Tataouine or Tozeur. Every figure here is an estimate that shifts with sailing dates, the wait at the relay port and how quickly clearance goes, so we confirm the actual sailing before loading day and check the schedules of lines crossing Suez from Jeddah before every shipment.
Approximate prices for moving furniture from Saudi Arabia to Tunisia
Gulf International Shipping set its prices after reviewing what competitors publish for Tunisia from Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Makkah, Tabuk and other cities, placing our starting figure for each item below the lowest published rate. They are “from” prices and rise with the actual volume, the distance of your Saudi city from Jeddah and the distance of your Tunisian town from the port.
Note: by sea your furniture reaches your Tunisian home in about 30–47 days in a private container or 40–55 days in a shared one, with 3–5 extra days for the southern governorates; air parcels need 3–7 days.
Prices for single pieces and appliances
If you are leaving most of the household behind and sending selected pieces, these are the starting prices per item in shared sea freight:
Not included in the freight: Tunisian customs duty and VAT, if any falls due on your goods, are paid to customs and have nothing to do with the shipping rate. Clearance in Tunisia and cargo insurance are priced on the value and size of the shipment, so message 0568829975 on WhatsApp and you will get each charge listed line by line before any payment. See every Tunisia category with its starting price on our page about shipping prices from Saudi Arabia to Tunisia.
20 ft, 40 ft or groupage? Start with the number of rooms
Inside, a 20 ft box offers roughly 33 m³, which normally covers a home of two or three bedrooms, kitchen and cartons included. The 40 ft size gives about twice the room (some 67 m³) and is the right call for a villa, a big family house, or a car travelling alongside part of the furniture. With groupage (LCL) you are billed only for the space your own goods take up, loads from other families fill the rest, and that is the sensible choice for a room or two or a batch of cartons.
The advantage of a full container is not just space: it is loaded and sealed in front of you, the seal number goes on the bill of lading, and nobody opens it before inspection at the Tunisian port. In groupage your goods pass through the consolidation warehouse in Jeddah and are unloaded at our agent’s warehouse in Tunisia before reaching you, which is why every carton carries a number, your name and your town in clear lettering.
The room-by-room inventory Tunisian customs relies on
The inventory is not a formality clipped to the shipment; it is what Tunisian customs compares against the container contents. Our crew therefore writes it during packing, not afterwards: every carton by number and content, every piece of furniture by quantity and condition, and every electrical or electronic item by make, model and serial number, photographed from the rating plate on the back. The practice in Tunisia is that appliances, electronics and computers are accepted one of each type among used household goods, and new ones are dutiable.
We prepare the list in Arabic, add French if the clearing agent in Tunisia asks for it, and send you an electronic copy before the container is closed so you can check and sign it. If you are claiming the definitive-return allowance, this same list is what you will copy into the household-effects declaration at customs.
Keep receipts for new items in one folder
Anything you bought new shortly before leaving, whether a TV, a washing machine or furniture, keep the invoice and leave the labels on inside the carton. An invoice lets duty be assessed on the real purchase price rather than a customs estimate.
Customs relief for Tunisians returning home for good: the essentials before you book
A Tunisian who has spent two years or more in Saudi Arabia, and kept time in Tunisia to 183 days a year or less, normally qualifies for the definitive-return benefits. One point catches many families out before they book: for customs, your return date is simply the most recent day you entered Tunisia, and it becomes official when you lodge the household-effects declaration (“déclaration des effets et objets mobiliers”) with the regional customs office covering the address shown on your national ID card.
- The allowance: a returning family’s personal goods are exempt from duty and tax until their total value reaches 50,000 dinars, and the benefit can be used only once.
- Documents usually requested: a copy of your CIN, copies of the passport pages showing your latest entry (plus every passport you used over the last two years), a fiscal stamp worth 5 dinars, and the application form bearing a signature authenticated at the municipality or the Tunisian embassy.
- New goods: anything above the allowance, or new, is subject to customs duty and 19% VAT.
- Embassy and consulate: the Tunisian Embassy in Riyadh and the Consulate General in Jeddah certify signatures and powers of attorney if someone needs to act for you.
Conditions are confirmed before shipping
This is a practical summary and does not replace Tunisian customs confirming your own case. We review your documents with you before booking, and the full procedure is set out step by step in our guide to returning to Tunisia from Saudi Arabia.
Not returning for good? Residents, students and family gifts
Not everyone sending goods to Tunisia is resettling. A Tunisian still working in the Kingdom who sends cartons and appliances to the family home usually benefits from an annual allowance for personal and family effects capped at 5,000 dinars for each person every year; any unused balance lapses rather than rolling over, and commercial goods are excluded. Anything above that is assessed by customs on what the goods are and what state they are in.
If you are not Tunisian, for example an employee relocating to Tunisia for work, customs works out the duty item by item, looking at what each thing is and how new it is, and new items carry 19% VAT. Either way we ask you to describe your situation precisely before booking, because your residence status, not the size of the furniture, decides how the declaration is made and what clearance costs.
Packing for a voyage with two ports and many crane lifts
A furniture move to Tunisia runs weeks longer than a move to any Gulf country, and the container is lifted by crane in Jeddah, again at the transshipment port and again in Tunisia, spending days in Red Sea heat and Mediterranean humidity. Wrapping pieces in plastic, as for a local move, is not enough. This is what we do for Tunisia-bound furniture:
- Wood and polished surfaces: bubble wrap, then corrugated board, then stretch film, with cardboard corner guards.
- Glass, marble, mirrors and paintings: made-to-measure wooden crates, padded inside.
- Mattresses and fabric sofas: sealed plastic covers against damp and dust, then moving blankets.
- Beds and wardrobes: dismantled with panels numbered and screws bagged and labelled with the piece name.
- Inside the container: moisture-absorbing bags, the heaviest pieces at the bottom, and lashing straps that stop movement when the box is lifted.
At the back of the container, by the doors, we put a carton marked “open first” holding what you need on the first night: bedding, basic kitchen items, the tools for reassembly and chargers.
Appliances: what to do before loading day
Appliances that were not prepared for travel are what most often gets damaged on long furniture voyages. Empty and unplug the fridge 48 hours before loading and leave the door open until it is completely dry, or it will arrive in Tunisia smelling of mould. Drain every drop from the washing machine and, if the original shipping bolts are still in a drawer somewhere, lock the drum with them. For a split AC, a qualified technician first traps the refrigerant inside the outdoor unit and only then separates the pipework; we wrap indoor and outdoor units separately.
Note too that mains power in Tunisia runs at 50 Hz while the Kingdom uses 60 Hz. Most modern appliances are rated for both, but check the rating plate on motor-driven appliances and clocks before paying to ship them, as buying a replacement in Tunisia may work out cheaper.
Prohibited and restricted items to keep out of the furniture container
The main items Tunisia bans or restricts in household shipments:
- Prohibited: narcotics, weapons, ammunition and explosives, counterfeit goods, cultural artefacts, pornography, certain dog breeds and falcons.
- Prohibited and relevant to senders from Saudi Arabia: henna, and palm trees and their products, according to the Tunisian list.
- Licence required, may be held: satellite receivers, walkie-talkies, fax machines and telephones.
- Certificates required: medicines, plants (phytosanitary certificate) and live animals (health certificate and vaccinations).
- On the Saudi side: weapons and antiquities cannot be exported, and some subsidised goods face export limits.
Ask us first about henna or palm products
Henna and dates are among the most common gifts returning families carry, and the Tunisian list includes henna and palm trees and their products among prohibited goods. Ask us about each item before packing, since a single non-compliant carton can hold up inspection of the whole container.
Which Tunisian port will your furniture reach, and where do we deliver?
Most of our containers are discharged at Radès, the country’s principal box port on the southern edge of Tunis. When the line serves Sfax or Sousse, delivering from there may be closer for homes in the centre, the Sahel or the south. The final port is set by the line’s schedule at booking, and we tell you which one along with the bill of lading number.
Delivery day: unloading and assembly in your Tunisian home
Once customs has finished its inspection, we call you to set a delivery day. In newer districts our truck can park right by the entrance; in the narrow lanes of the old medinas of Tunis, Sousse or Sfax we transfer the furniture to a smaller vehicle first. The crew carries everything up to your floor, reassembles beds, wardrobes and tables, sets every carton down in the room marked on its label, and leaves with all the wrapping.
At handover, match the carton numbers against your copy of the inventory before the crew leaves, and write any remark on the delivery receipt. Those few minutes are your protection should anything later need an insurance claim.
Air freight from Saudi Arabia to Tunisia for the first few weeks
Because the container takes more than a month, air freight covers what cannot wait: seasonal clothes, official papers and children’s school records, a laptop and the first kitchen basics. There are nonstop flights from Jeddah to Tunis-Carthage, including a daily Saudia service and Tunisair flights, with flying times of roughly 4 h 40 min to 5 h 15 min. Shipments from Riyadh and Madinah route through Jeddah.
An air parcel reaches the address in Tunisia within 3–7 days including clearance, and our air rate starts at SAR 17 a kilo, with a minimum chargeable shipment. Details are on our air freight page.
Can the car travel with the furniture to Tunisia?
Yes, if the car qualifies. Under the returning-resident scheme (FCR), Tunisia admits a car aged five years or less belonging to someone who has spent two years or more abroad, and the benefit renews once a decade. In a 40 ft container we lash the car with straps and wheel chocks at one end and stack part of the furniture at the other, but each has its own file at customs. Read the full conditions and costs: car shipping from Saudi Arabia to Tunisia.
Which Saudi city are you moving from? Distance to Jeddah port and transit time
All Tunisia-bound furniture passes through Jeddah Islamic Port, whatever your city. Customers in Dammam, Al Khobar and Al Ahsa are no exception: their furniture is trucked west across the Kingdom to Jeddah and boards the ship there.
Abha, Khamis Mushait and other cities are served the same way: a truck to Jeddah, then the container. Starting prices are the same Kingdom-wide; the difference lies in the inland haul to the port.
Steps to move your furniture from Saudi Arabia to Tunisia
- 1Photograph your home and send the pictures
Room by room on WhatsApp 0568829975, with your Saudi city and the Tunisian town you are moving to. - 2Choose groupage or a container
We estimate the volume in cubic metres and send prices for groupage and for a 20 ft or 40 ft container, plus the next sailing. - 3Check your customs status
Returning for good, visiting, or non-Tunisian: we prepare the paperwork your situation needs before booking. - 4Packing day
The crew dismantles, wraps and numbers, writes the inventory with appliance serial numbers, and loads the truck. - 5Export from Jeddah
Our desk lodges the Fasah export declaration, hands the box over at the port, and messages you its container number and the bill of lading reference. - 6Arrival and clearance
Our agent tracks arrival at Radès, Sfax or Sousse, and you or your representative attend the declaration and inspection. - 7Delivery and assembly
We deliver and reassemble, you check the cartons against the list and sign for receipt.
How is the cost of moving furniture to Tunisia calculated? A worked example
Five factors drive the bill. First comes the volume you fill in cubic metres (weight rarely matters), then groupage versus a full container, your Saudi loading city and its distance from Jeddah, the port and town in Tunisia, and extras such as wooden crates, storage and insurance. In summer, when many Tunisians head home, shared containers fill faster but booking slots get tighter.
Take a Jeddah family shipping one bedroom at SAR 1,655, a living-room set at 780, a dining table at 640, a fridge at 550, an automatic washer at 460, a split AC at 550 and ten cartons at 230 each (2,300). Sent piece by piece, those starting prices total roughly SAR 6,935, against SAR 5,520 or more for a private 20 ft box that takes the lot with space left over. The takeaway: once your pieces total around SAR 5,500, ask about a full container, which is cheaper, faster and opened only in Tunisia.
The cheapest way to move your furniture to Tunisia
- Sell what is easy to replace: big, inexpensive pieces take up cubic metres you pay for, and a replacement in Tunisia may cost less.
- Consolidate small cartons into larger ones: one full, numbered carton is cheaper than ten loose bags.
- Compare groupage with a container: as the example shows, a full container wins at the size of a whole apartment.
- Book early, before summer: the season fills containers and pushes dates back.
- Do not fly furniture: air is for documents, clothes and essentials only.
Mistakes that cost returning families time and money
- Believing the promise that “furniture reaches Tunisia by sea in 10 days”; the realistic door-to-door time is over a month.
- Dealing with anyone selling “overland furniture moving to Tunisia”; that route does not exist.
- Shipping two appliances of the same type, or new appliances without invoices, then facing unexpected duty at customs.
- A vague inventory without appliance serial numbers, which drags out the inspection.
- Packing henna or palm products without asking first.
- Trusting anyone who says “we pay your Tunisian customs for you”; duty is assessed at customs on what is in the container, and nobody pays it on your behalf.
Storage, insurance, tracking and payment
If you must hand back your Saudi apartment before the sailing date, our warehouse keeps the wrapped furniture safe until loading day, charged by volume and number of days. Insurance for the sea leg is your choice; its premium tracks the declared value and appears in the same quote as the freight. We send WhatsApp updates at every stage: loading, sailing, arrival at the transshipment port, arrival in Tunisia, clearance and delivery day. Payment is in Saudi riyals inside the Kingdom.
Why Gulf International Shipping for your move to Tunisia?
Honest timing
We quote 5–8 weeks from day one and confirm the sailing before loading.
Customs-ready inventory
A serial-numbered list written during packing, checked by you before the container closes.
Below published prices
Every starting price sits under the lowest advertised rate for the same item.
One number throughout
Call or WhatsApp 0568829975 at any stage, from the survey in Saudi Arabia to final assembly in Tunisia.
Find out what your move to Tunisia will cost
Share a few pictures of each room, tell us where you live in the Kingdom and where you are heading in Tunisia, and we will come back with the likely volume, a price and the next sailing date.
Related Tunisia guides
- Shipping company from Saudi Arabia to Tunisia and shipping prices to Tunisia
- Returning to Tunisia from Saudi Arabia: household goods and car shipping to Tunisia
- International furniture moving, customs clearance and all destinations from Saudi Arabia
