Freight services from China to the world
We handle the whole chain: collecting cargo from your supplier, booking space with the carrier, preparing export documents, clearing the destination country and delivering to the final address. Below is what each service covers and when it is the right choice.
FCL — full container load
FCL means your cargo fills a whole container, or you book one anyway because it works out cheaper. You get a sealed box that only your goods travel in, which means fewer handling steps and less risk of damage.
| Container | Internal volume | Typical payload | When it pays off |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20ft standard | ~33 cbm | ~28,000 kg | Dense cargo, machinery, tiles, heavy goods |
| 40ft standard | ~67 cbm | ~26,000 kg | Bulky but light cargo |
| 40ft high cube | ~76 cbm | ~26,000 kg | Furniture, large flat-pack, e-commerce stock |
As a rule of thumb, once your shipment passes roughly 15 cubic metres, FCL usually beats LCL on cost per cubic metre. Below that, LCL is normally cheaper.
What is included: booking with the carrier, container pickup at the depot, loading supervision at the factory, export customs declaration in China, bill of lading issuance, and coordination of destination clearance and delivery.
LCL — less than container load
LCL means you share a container with other shippers and pay only for the space your cargo occupies. It is the standard choice for first orders, sample runs and anything under about 15 cubic metres.
The trade-offs are real and worth knowing before you book:
- Longer transit. Your cargo waits for the container to be consolidated, and it is deconsolidated at the destination before release. Expect roughly 5–10 days more than FCL on the same route.
- More handling. Cargo is loaded, unloaded and reloaded at the consolidation warehouse. Packing quality matters much more than it does with FCL.
- Charges are per cubic metre or per tonne, whichever is greater. Light bulky cargo is billed by volume, heavy compact cargo by weight.
Air freight and sea-air
When a shipment has to move fast, air freight from major Chinese airports to the USA and Europe runs in days rather than weeks. Sea-air via a hub such as Dubai or Seoul sits in between. Both cost substantially more than ocean freight, so they are usually reserved for high-value goods, urgent replenishment or a production delay you need to recover from.
Customs clearance and documentation
Clearing customs is where most first-time importers get stuck. We prepare and coordinate:
- Bill of lading, packing list and commercial invoice review before the vessel sails
- Certificate of origin and any product-specific certificates your destination requires
- Destination entry filing and duty coordination with a licensed broker in the importing country
- ISF filing for US-bound ocean cargo, which must be submitted before loading
Import rules, duty rates and documentation requirements differ by country and change over time. Always confirm the current requirements with us, your customs broker or the destination customs authority before shipping.
Amazon FBA shipping
For sellers, the last mile is the part that causes the most problems. We collect from your supplier, apply FNSKU labels and carton markings to Amazon's specification, palletise, and deliver to the fulfilment centre — and we check the current receiving requirements for the specific FC before dispatch, because they change.
Need a number for a specific route?
Tell us the origin, destination and cargo details and we will come back with a costed plan.