Shipping Methods and Real Transit Times
Sea, rail, road or air. You decide what matters for this consignment — margin or speed.
There is no “best” way to ship from China. There is a trade-off between money and time, and the right answer depends on what you’re moving and why.
A test batch for a product launch and a container of seasonal stock for Q4 call for different decisions. Below are honest transit times for each method, plus the one rule that affects your rate more than the choice of transport does.
Transit times by destination
Times are door-to-door and exclude production and warehouse consolidation. Count from the moment the consignment is assembled and handed to the carrier.
| Destination | Sea | Rail | Road | Air |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 13–32 days | — | — | 5–12 days |
| Canada | 20–55 days | — | — | 7–15 days |
| European Union | 40–60 days | 28–35 days | 20–25 days | 8–15 days |
| Saudi Arabia | — | — | — | 7–12 days |
| UAE | — | — | — | on request |
| EAEU — Russia, Kazakhstan | — | on request | primary method | on request |
Cost ratios, so you know the order of magnitude. Sea is the cheapest and the slowest. Rail and road to Europe run roughly twice the cost of sea and arrive in about half the time. Air is roughly three times rail — and it is the only option when the goods have to be there by a date.
For the EAEU the primary method is road, from $0.84/kg to Kazakhstan and $1.75/kg to Russia. The exact figure for your weight and volume is calculated in the cart. For destinations outside the EAEU we quote on request.
What a DDP rate includes
On destinations where DDP is available, the per-kilo rate already includes Chinese export clearance, international freight, customs clearance in your country, and all duties and taxes.
That is the entire point of DDP: the figure you see at checkout is the final one. No separate broker invoice, no duty bill arriving a month later.
The 100 kg rule — the biggest single factor in your rate
Competitive door-to-door rates with clearance included start strictly at 100 kg. That condition is printed in every Chinese forwarder’s rate sheet. It isn’t ours, and it can’t be argued around.
Anything under 100 kg is billed at a small-consignment rate — two to three times the base — or simply rounded up to 100 kg. Either way you pay for air.
Which is why we give you 30 days of free consolidation at our warehouse in China. That’s enough time to add the items you need, from us or from other suppliers, build an LCL consignment to an efficient weight, and ship it all at the proper rate. Thirty days is the market norm — our site is a transit hub, not a storage locker.
How to choose
Testing a niche, launching a listing. Take air and ignore the rate. You’re not paying for shipping, you’re paying for speed of validation: one week versus forty days decides whether you make the season.
Working on margin, no deadline. Sea or rail, 100 kg and up. Here every percent of the freight rate is margin on your shelf.
Regular supply into the EAEU. Road, consolidating monthly. The most predictable balance of time and cost on that lane.
Seasonal stock for Q4. Count backwards from your selling date and build in slack: before the season, warehouses and carriers are both loaded, and it’s the one time of year when everyone’s transit times slip.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which shipping method is the most cost-effective?
It depends what you’re moving. Sea is cheapest and slowest, air is the reverse. For Europe, rail or road usually give the best balance; for the EAEU, road.
What do the transit times count from?
From handing the assembled consignment to the carrier. Production and warehouse consolidation are not included.
Are duties and taxes included in the rate?
On DDP lanes, yes — export, freight, clearance and duties are all inside the rate. There will be no separate broker invoice.
Why is the rate so much higher on a small shipment?
Cheap DDP rates start at 100 kg. Below that, a small-consignment rate or rounding up to 100 applies — a carrier rule, not ours.
Can I combine several orders into one shipment?
Yes. That’s exactly what the 30 days of free consolidation at our Chinese warehouse are for. You can add goods from other suppliers too.
Do you ship to my country?
Main lanes are the EAEU, Europe, the US, Canada and the Middle East. For anything else, just ask — if there’s a working route, we’ll quote the rate and the transit time.