China’s reputation as a top industrialized country makes it a major destination for shippers from around the world. However, international shipping from China to the US or any other part of the world can be tricky and costly for those without adequate knowledge of ways of shipping from China. This is what we help you understand better in this post.
Here are the four major ways of shipping from China to US :
- Regular Post
- Express Freight
- Air Freight
- Ocean Freight
Regular Post
Regular post is ideal for shipping small individual items or parcels from China. Delivery for a regular post may take 2 – 3 weeks to arrive from China. So, this method is not suitable for shipping with an urgent need or large volume items. Meanwhile, if you don’t mind, any of these regular posts is the cheapest way of shipping small items from China.
Express Freight
This shipping method involves couriers services for shipping. Express freight is best for shipping small items on short notice. It is time-efficient and cost-effective. Goods shipped with express freight from China takes between 2 – 5 working days to be delivered to any part of the world. This shipping method is suitable for beginners in the shipping business. Examples of famous couriers are FedEx, DHL, UPS and many more.
Air Freight
Air freight is the most suitable method of shipping time-sensitive shipments because it is the fastest shipping of high volume goods from China. Delivery time for air freight varies depending on airline schedule and destination airport, but it is between 2 – 10. This is faster than ocean freight, which may take 20 – 30 days of transit duration. Apart from being fast, air freight is safe and reliable but has a more expensive freight rate.
Shipment weight and volume determine air freight rates. Typically, carriers charge by either dimensional weight or actual weight, depending on a more expensive figure. Additionally, air freight rates include extra charges such as fuel surcharge, security surcharge, airport transfer charges, terminal handling charges, custom brokage fees, pick up and deliver cost, etc.
Further, unlike express freight, where the courier handles documentation and customs clearance when the goods arrive destination airport, you are expected to do these yourself or your freight forwarder.
Ocean Freight
If you are looking to ship a massive amount of goods from China at an affordable rate, sea freight is the perfect option. Little wonder why it is the most popular way of shipping from China globally. Ocean freight also requires you to take care of documentation, customs clearance, and shipment transportation from the port to the warehouse. But you can be relieved of this stress if you opt for door-to-door delivery.
Due to ocean freight heavy duty, it has a longer transit duration compared to express and air freight. Ocean freight may further be categorized into two. These are:
- Full Container Load (FCL)
- Less than Container Load (LCL)
Full Container Load (FCL): FCL is large shipment orders that fully occupy an entire shipping container, either 20′ or 40′ long. FCL is the ideal option for you. If you are shipping high volume goods from China, either the container is full or not.
Less than Container Load (LCL): shipments categorized under LCL are not large enough to fill an entire shipping container. Thus, the shipments are combined with other shipments to fill up the container. Therefore, LCL shipping is usually slower and involves a high risk of damage and loss of goods.
Additional costs included in ocean freight shipping rates are custom security surcharge, LCL consolidation charges, terminal handling charges, insurance cost, fuel surcharge, routing charges, storage charges, pick up/delivery charges. Suppose you are not too experienced in international shipping from China. In that case, you can contact your ocean freight from China to Amazon FBA logistics, an independent China freight forwarder, or an international shipping company.
