A Kymdan natural latex mattress or a set of handcrafted wooden furniture is something many Vietnamese families settling in Canada really want to bring with them. However, these are tricky items. A Kymdan mattress is heavy and can get crushed, deformed or mouldy if it isn’t vacuum-packed properly, while wooden furniture is bulky, scratches easily and must pass strict quarantine checks.
To make sure your valuable items arrive in Canada intact, here is the right packing process and how to work out the real cost before you ship.
How to pack a Kymdan mattress and wooden furniture to export standards
For these two items, packing accounts for 90% of their safety on the 7 to 14 day flight from Vietnam to Canada.
1. Kymdan latex mattresses
A Kymdan natural latex mattress is very heavy and flexible. Shipped at full size, it would be extremely expensive because it takes up so much space.
- Vacuum-pack it: This step is essential. The mattress goes into a thick, purpose-made plastic bag and a powerful vacuum removes all the air, flattening it as much as possible.
- Roll and secure it: After vacuum-packing, the mattress is rolled up tightly and taped. This cuts its volume by 3 to 4 times.
- Box it: The rolled mattress is placed in a sturdy carton. At Soleil Transportation, basic packing in a carton is included in the service.
2. Wooden furniture
Wooden tables, chairs, altar cabinets and wooden artwork often have sharp corners and are easily scratched or cracked by knocks.
- Wrap in PE film and bubble wrap: All wooden surfaces, especially corners and edges, must be wrapped in several layers of bubble wrap to absorb shocks.
- Crate or palletise it: Heavy, valuable or fragile wooden items (such as table legs and chair arms) must be packed in a slatted wooden crate or on a wooden pallet. Note: the wood used for crates sent to Canada must be treated or engineered wood, otherwise Canadian customs (CBSA) may refuse entry because of pest concerns.
- Surcharges: Crated, oversized or palletised goods carry a surcharge on top of the basic shipping cost.
How shipping is charged by actual volume
Many customers ask why a mattress that weighs only 40 kg is charged as 80 kg. In air freight, the chargeable weight is the greater of the actual weight and the volumetric weight.
The standard air freight formula for volumetric weight is:
Volumetric weight (kg) = (Length x Width x Height) / 5000 (all measurements in centimetres)
Real example:
You ship a Kymdan mattress that, after rolling and boxing, measures 120 cm long, 60 cm wide and 60 cm high. The box actually weighs 35 kg.
- Volumetric weight:
(120 x 60 x 60) / 5000 = 86.4 kg. - Comparison: 86.4 kg (volumetric) is greater than 35 kg (actual), so the airline charges for 86.4 kg.
Soleil Transportation’s two-way Vietnam–Canada air freight starts at $16/kg (import duties included). Vacuum-packing your Kymdan mattress as tightly as possible directly saves you hundreds of dollars in freight.
How to ship a mattress or furniture from Vietnam to Canada
To keep things simple, just follow these steps:
- Get advice and a quote: Send photos of the item with its approximate dimensions (length, width, height) and weight for an estimated quote.
- Pickup and packing in Vietnam: Soleil Transportation offers pickup at your door. We vacuum-pack your mattress and professionally crate your furniture.
- Final measurement and payment: Once everything is packed at the warehouse, we take the final measurements, send you photos to confirm and issue the invoice. You can pay by bank transfer, credit card, Interac e-Transfer or cash.
- Shipping and tracking: Your goods fly to Canada in 7 to 12 business days on average. You can track the journey online with your order number or receive updates by email, SMS or Zalo.
- Door delivery in Canada: Once cleared, your goods are delivered door-to-door to your home in Canada.
Before you decide to pack and ship, measure your items roughly and call +1 888-998-5199 or email info@soleiltransportation.com. Our team will help you work out the most space-efficient way to pack them.
