Al Basmah International Shipping ships from Dubai to Lebanon three ways: by sea in a container from Jebel Ali to Beirut port in roughly 3 to 4 weeks, by road in a closed trailer in transit through Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria in roughly 8 to 14 days, and by air for urgent parcels in about 2 to 4 days. We collect from your home anywhere in Dubai, pack, list, ship and deliver to your address in Lebanon. Orders come in on WhatsApp +971557643821 at any hour, and our branch is in Deira on Port Saeed Street.
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This guide is written for a kind of move we see a lot from Dubai: a carefully designed apartment with original paintings, sculptures, velvet sofas and marble tables, and sometimes a convertible the owner has no intention of leaving behind. None of this gets packed in cardboard and cling film like ordinary furniture, and none of it is delivered in Achrafieh the way it would be at a villa with a wide entrance. Below you will find how we handle each piece, the paperwork you need, and how everything gets up the narrow stairs of an old Beirut building.
Your art in wooden crates
- Paintings and sculptures travel in wooden crates built to the size of each piece, with foam inside so nothing moves.
- Velvet, marble and glass each get their own packing method, and every piece is photographed and numbered before the lid goes on.
- A convertible moves inside Dubai on an enclosed carrier, then sails to Beirut in a container.
- Delivery in Achrafieh uses a smaller truck and hand carrying, or a furniture hoist, depending on the stairs and lift.
- Insurance is optional: ask the team about it before booking. Price: send the details on WhatsApp and we send you the price.
What do we ship from Dubai to Lebanon?
We ship from Dubai to Lebanon everything a home or office move normally involves, with extra care for valuable and delicate pieces. These are the items Dubai residents heading to Beirut and Mount Lebanon ask for most:
- Complete apartment furniture: bedrooms, living and dining rooms, home offices, with dismantling and reassembly.
- Oil and watercolour paintings, framed photographs, large mirrors and sculptures of every kind.
- Velvet and leather sofas, designer pieces, marble and stone tables, chandeliers.
- Handmade rugs, antiques, silverware, crystal and dinner sets.
- Home appliances and electronics, which work in Lebanon without converters because the supply there is 220–230 V / 50 Hz, the same as the UAE.
- Generators, solar panels and inverters, keeping in mind that batteries have their own transport rules.
- Cars, including convertibles, classics and luxury models.
- Commercial goods, parcels and documents, with urgent parcels by air.
Full or shared load
A full container for your apartment, or space in a consolidated shipment if you have only a few items.
Door to door
We collect in Dubai and deliver to your address in Lebanon, or to the port if you prefer to clear it yourself.
WhatsApp updates
The team messages you at loading, sailing or crossing, arrival, clearance and delivery.
Deira branch
Dubai – Deira – Port Saeed Street, plus a second branch in Sharjah – Industrial Area 18.
Moving paintings, sculptures and designer furniture from Dubai to Lebanon
An original painting or sculpture does not cope well with pressure, long vibration or humidity, so it never goes in between the furniture boxes. Each artwork gets its own crate, and each high-end piece gets packing that suits its material. This is the work we do in the apartment before anything goes into the truck.
Wooden crates built to the size of each painting
We measure the painting with its frame and build a wooden crate slightly larger on every side. The surface is first covered with acid-free paper or a wrap that will not stick to paint, the corners get cardboard or foam protectors, and the piece is held inside the crate with foam so it stays put even if the crate is turned over. Front glass gets a grid of tape so that, if it ever cracks, the shards stay in place. The timber used is heat-treated and stamped to ISPM 15, the international standard for wood packaging in shipping, so the crate does not cause delays at inspection. Each crate is marked with a number, an arrow for “this way up” and a fragile label.
Sculptures are handled the same way with one important difference: protruding parts, such as an arm or a thin edge, are supported by foam cut to their shape, and the base is fixed to the floor of the crate. Heavy bronze pieces go in a crate on a pallet base so they are lifted by forklift, not by hand.
Velvet, marble and other delicate pieces
A velvet sofa is never wrapped straight in plastic, because moisture trapped over weeks at sea marks the pile. We wrap it first in breathable fabric or paper, then in blankets, then in an outer dust cover. A marble table top is taken off its base where possible and travels standing on its edge in a wooden A-frame, because marble lying flat with weight on top can snap across the middle. Chandelier crystals are removed and wrapped one by one, and large mirrors are crated like paintings.
| Item | Packing method | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Framed painting with glass | Non-stick wrap + corner guards + custom wooden crate | Grid of tape on the glass |
| Sculpture | Foam cut to shape + crate with fixed base | Heavy pieces on a pallet |
| Velvet sofa | Breathable fabric + blankets + outer cover | No plastic directly on the pile |
| Marble top | Corner guards + wooden A-frame, standing on edge | Nothing stacked on top |
| Crystal chandelier | Crystals removed and wrapped singly + small crate | Numbered for reassembly |
| Handmade rug | Rolled, not folded + moisture-proof wrap | Cleaned before shipping if possible |
Inventory and photos before closing
Before any crate is closed we photograph the piece from two sides and note its condition: an old scratch, a crack in the frame, anything worth recording. Every crate and parcel gets a number, and the inventory lists number, description and piece count. We send you the list and photos on WhatsApp, and you keep a copy. The same list helps at clearance in Beirut, where customs ask for a clear contents list, and it helps you at delivery to check that everything has arrived.
Optional insurance
Insurance on the shipment is optional. If you have artwork or valuable pieces, ask the team about insurance before booking, and prepare an estimated value for each piece along with purchase invoices if you have them. The photographed inventory we make during packing is the basis for any cover.
Pickup areas in Dubai
We collect from every part of Dubai, and the team coordinates with the building or community management before loading day: booking the service lift, getting a truck access permit and agreeing where it parks. These are the areas we most often ship to Lebanon from:
- Dubai Marina, Jumeirah Lake Towers (JLT) and Palm Jumeirah: towers that need the service lift booked in advance.
- Downtown Dubai, Business Bay and DIFC: high-end apartments with plenty of artwork.
- Jumeirah, Umm Suqeim, Al Barsha, Dubai Hills and Arabian Ranches: villas and homes with full furniture.
- Al Quoz and Dubai Design District (d3): studios and galleries where we collect artworks and design pieces.
- Jumeirah Village Circle (JVC), Motor City, International City and Mirdif.
- Deira, Bur Dubai and Al Garhoud, closest to our Port Saeed Street branch.
- Free zones: Jebel Ali (JAFZA), DMCC and Dubai Airport Freezone, for commercial shipments.
If you live in Sharjah or Abu Dhabi, each has its own guide: shipping from Sharjah to Lebanon and shipping from Abu Dhabi to Lebanon. For the overall picture across the emirates, see the UAE to Lebanon shipping guide.
The three ways to ship from Dubai to Lebanon
The right method depends on the size and type of your shipment and how soon you need it, and the team recommends one at booking. For an apartment with artwork we usually lean towards a sea container, because the crates are loaded once in Dubai and not opened until Beirut, except for inspection.
| Method | Approximate time | Best for | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sea (Jebel Ali → Beirut or Tripoli) | Roughly 3–4 weeks including clearance | Full apartments, crated artwork, cars | 20 ft or 40 ft container, via the Red Sea and the Suez Canal |
| Road in transit (Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria) | Roughly 8–14 days door to door | Medium loads and goods that need to arrive sooner than by sea | Needs complete documents to cross several countries |
| Air (Dubai airports → Beirut airport) | About 2–4 days | Urgent parcels, documents, small items | Not for furniture; priced by actual or volumetric weight |
Sea freight from Jebel Ali
The container is either loaded outside your building, or your belongings go to the warehouse and are loaded there, and it then heads to Jebel Ali port. It sails through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal to Beirut or Tripoli port, roughly 3 to 4 weeks including clearance. If your belongings do not fill a container, they go in a consolidated shipment with other customers’ goods; it costs less, but the sailing date depends on the container filling up.
The road route from Dubai to Lebanon
The closed trailer leaves Dubai heading west to the Al Ghuwaifat border, enters Saudi Arabia at Al Batha under sealed transit, crosses into Jordan at Al Omari, then into Syria in transit at the Nasib/Jaber crossing, and enters Lebanon at the Al Masnaa border in the Bekaa, continuing to Beirut and the rest of the country. The distance from Dubai is roughly 2,900 to 3,200 km, and door to door takes around 8 to 14 days including border clearances.
On the road we use closed trailers of 12 to 13.6 m for large loads and dynas for smaller loads inside the UAE. Crossing several countries means every document must be complete and correct before loading, so the team reviews your shipment and confirms road is the right option before booking. For large, delicate artworks we usually prefer the sea container, as the road is long and has several inspection points. Since Jordan is part of this route, you may also find the Dubai to Jordan shipping guide useful.
Air freight from Dubai to Lebanon
Air freight from Dubai to Lebanon suits whatever you need quickly: official papers, clothes for the first weeks, small devices, trade samples, or a small painting you would rather not wait for the container. The shipment leaves Dubai’s airports for Beirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport and takes about 2 to 4 days door to door including clearance.
- The price is based on actual weight or volumetric weight, whichever is higher; volumetric weight = length × width × height in cm ÷ 6000.
- Example: a 60 × 50 × 40 cm carton has a volumetric weight of 20 kg, so if it actually weighs 12 kg it is charged at 20 kg.
- Air does not suit furniture or large wooden crates, because their size pushes the volumetric weight up sharply.
- Lithium batteries, liquids and perfumes are restricted on air freight and cannot go as general cargo.
Shipping convertibles and luxury cars from Dubai to Lebanon
We never put a convertible on an open carrier inside Dubai, because dust and sun damage a fabric roof and leather. It goes from your home to the port on an enclosed car carrier under a fitted cover, is then driven into a container, its wheels are secured with straps and wooden chocks, and the roof is closed and windows sealed before the doors shut. For convertibles and classics a container is better than RoRo: a RoRo car is driven onto the ship and parks on an inner deck with others, while a container stays closed all the way to Beirut.
Lebanon applies customs duty and fees on cars according to their value and type, with conditions on age and specifications. We do not quote figures from memory; the team checks your car’s conditions and expected costs before shipping, so you do not land in Beirut and find that bringing it in costs more than you expected. Before handover in Dubai:
- Empty the car completely of personal belongings; no bags or boxes travel inside it.
- Leave only a little fuel in the tank, and tell us if the alarm needs a particular way to switch off.
- Photograph the car from every side before loading; we photograph it too and send the pictures on WhatsApp.
Door to door, or door to port?
You choose how far the service goes. Door to door: we collect from your Dubai apartment, clear customs in Beirut and deliver to your address; this is the easiest option for artwork, as the crates pass through fewer hands. Door to port: we ship to Beirut port and you or your clearing agent handle clearance and local delivery. Port to port: you hand over packed belongings in Dubai and your agent receives them in Beirut. Ask the team about extras such as dismantling and reassembly, short-term storage if your home in Lebanon is not ready, and delivery to two addresses.
Documents needed to ship from Dubai to Lebanon
Personal effects and used furniture
A Lebanese citizen returning for good after living abroad for at least about three years can usually bring in used household goods duty-free once, if they arrive within a short period after the owner (around three months) and the papers are complete. The exemption is not automatic, and the team checks your case before shipping. The usual papers:
- Lebanese passport.
- A letter from the Lebanese consulate confirming your residence abroad and your return.
- A detailed, authenticated contents list, which is the inventory we prepare with you during packing.
- Proof of your address in Lebanon.
Artworks and recently bought new pieces may be treated as new goods, and new goods usually pay customs duty with VAT added. Keep the invoices for valuable pieces; they help at clearance and with insurance.
Commercial goods
- Commercial invoice and packing list.
- Certificate of origin; goods of Arab origin may benefit from the Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA) duty exemption.
- Importer details in Lebanon.
Cars
- Ownership papers in the shipper’s name.
- Export certificate from Dubai and plate cancellation.
- Owner’s passport.
- A car empty of personal belongings.
Prohibited and restricted items for Lebanon
- Prohibited: narcotics, weapons and ammunition without permits, counterfeit goods, gambling equipment.
- Prior permit needed: drones, some medicines and wireless equipment.
- Restricted on air freight: lithium batteries, liquids and perfumes.
Warning: Do not put anything in the furniture boxes that is not on the contents list. One undeclared item can hold up the whole shipment at inspection in the port or at the border.
Prices for shipping from Dubai to Lebanon
We do not publish a fixed price list, because a load with ten paintings in wooden crates is a completely different job from ordinary cartons of the same volume. For every service: send the details on WhatsApp and we send you the price.
- Full apartment in a container: send the details on WhatsApp and we send you the price.
- Wooden crates for paintings and sculptures: send the details on WhatsApp and we send you the price.
- Car in a container with enclosed transport inside Dubai: send the details on WhatsApp and we send you the price.
- Road freight in a consolidated load: send the details on WhatsApp and we send you the price.
- Air freight for parcels: send the details on WhatsApp and we send you the price.
Photograph your rooms and artworks, note the number of paintings with rough sizes and the area in Lebanon, and send them on WhatsApp, or use the quote request page.
What decides the price?
| Factor | How it affects the price |
|---|---|
| Shipping method | Sea is usually best value for homes, road is faster, air is for small parcels only |
| Volume or weight | Cubic metres for furniture; actual or volumetric weight for air |
| Container size | A full 20 ft or 40 ft container, or space in a consolidated load |
| Packing | Custom wooden crates and marble frames cost more than standard packing |
| City and access | Achrafieh and the mountains may need a smaller truck, a hoist or hand carrying |
| Documents and clearance | Shipment type (personal, commercial, car) changes the papers and fees |
| Car value | Lebanese charges on cars are linked to value and type |
Delivery in Achrafieh and Beirut’s older buildings
Many of our Dubai shipments are bound for Achrafieh, where the old buildings are beautiful but the stairs are narrow, lifts are small or missing, and the streets will not take a long trailer. So the team calls the receiver before arrival and asks: which floor? Is there a lift, and how big? Does the balcony allow lifting? Where can the truck stop?
- Goods move from the port or warehouse on a smaller truck that fits the narrow streets.
- If the stairs are tight and the floor is high, we use an external furniture hoist up to the balcony or window.
- Small items and medium crates are carried up the stairs by hand.
- A large sofa may need dismantling before it goes up, and we tell you in advance.
- Art crates are opened inside the apartment, not on the street, and paintings are hung or leaned where you want them.
Lebanese winters are rainy, with snow in the mountains. On wet days we cover pieces as they go from the truck to the entrance, and we avoid leaving wooden crates outside. We also deliver across the rest of Lebanon:
| Region | Examples | Delivery note |
|---|---|---|
| Beirut | Achrafieh, Hamra, Verdun, Ras Beirut, Mar Mikhael, Badaro | Older buildings and narrow stairs; usually a smaller truck |
| Mount Lebanon | Baabda, Jounieh, Jbeil/Byblos, Aley, Broummana, the Metn, the Chouf | Winding mountain roads and winter snow |
| North | Tripoli, Batroun, Zgharta | Close to Tripoli port |
| South | Sidon/Saida, Tyre/Sour, Nabatieh | Delivered after clearance in Beirut |
| Bekaa | Zahle, Chtaura, Baalbek | Close to Al Masnaa for road shipments |
How to ship from Dubai to Lebanon, step by step
- Send photos of the rooms and artworks with rough sizes and your address in Lebanon on WhatsApp.
- The team suggests the shipping method and container, and tells you which papers your case needs.
- We set the packing date and coordinate with your Dubai building to book the lift and truck access.
- We pack, build the wooden crates and list every piece with a photo and number, then send you the list.
- We load the container or truck, and you receive a photo of the sealing on WhatsApp.
- The container sails or the truck crosses, and the team updates you at each stage.
- Clearance in Beirut with the papers we prepared together.
- Delivery to your address in Achrafieh or elsewhere, unpacking the crates and checking against the list.
Tips before shipping your Dubai apartment
- Clear out what you will not use in Lebanon before shipping; every cubic metre less lowers the cost.
- Time your flight close to the shipment’s arrival so it does not sit at the port collecting storage fees, and so you stay within the returning-citizen window if your case qualifies.
- Tell your Dubai building management your move-out date early; some towers require the lift booked days ahead.
- Arrange someone in Lebanon to receive the goods if you are not there, and send us their name and number.
- Keep important papers, jewellery and medicines in your own luggage, not in the container.
- Ask about optional insurance before booking if you have artwork.
A painting that was not photographed before closing has no record of its condition after arrival. Ask for the inventory photos and check them before the container is sealed.
Frequently asked questions about shipping from Dubai to Lebanon
How long does shipping from Dubai to Lebanon take?
By sea roughly 3 to 4 weeks including clearance, by road roughly 8 to 14 days door to door, and by air about 2 to 4 days. The final time depends on clearance at the borders and the port.
Do you ship original paintings and sculptures?
Yes. Each piece goes in a wooden crate built to its size with foam inside, and is listed with a photo and number before closing. You can ask the team about optional insurance.
Can I ship a convertible from Dubai to Beirut?
Yes. It moves inside Dubai on an enclosed carrier and sails to Beirut in a closed container. The team checks your car’s entry conditions and costs for Lebanon before shipping.
How do you deliver to an old building in Achrafieh with no lift?
We use a smaller truck for the narrow streets, carry by hand on the stairs, and for large pieces use a furniture hoist to the balcony. All of this is agreed with the receiver before delivery day.
Is my used furniture duty-free in Lebanon?
A Lebanese citizen returning for good after at least about three years abroad is usually exempt once, if the papers are complete and the goods arrive within about three months of the owner. The team checks your case; the exemption is not guaranteed before that.
How will I know where my shipment is?
The team sends you a WhatsApp update at each stage: loading, sailing or crossing, arrival, clearance and delivery.
Can I ship just a few items?
Yes. They join a consolidated load by road or sea, and small urgent parcels can go by air.
Is your Dubai apartment ready to move to Beirut?
Photograph the artworks and rooms and send them on WhatsApp, and we will send you the price and the suggested shipping method.
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