What you should know about shipping cargo from China to United States?

Do you have any doubt about the regulation or transport method when you are import products from China to USA? So we wrote this article what is focus on international shipping from China to US and hope it can help you understand and give you some advice for your business. Our expert’s experience on the Chinese market allows us to give the most reliable and professional answers to your logistics needs. If you still have a doubt after reading this page, feel free to contact our experts, they are here to follow up on all your needs and give you the best!

Let’s dive right Sea Freight first.....

Top sea ports in US

  • The US ports are divided by West coast, East coast and Gulf coast:
  • West Coast: Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle etc.
  • East Coast: New York, Houston, Miami, Savannah etc.
  • Gulf Coast: Chicago, Ontario, Detroit, Texas etc.

Transit time from China to US by sea freight

Normally, it will take around 25-30 days to East coast and 15-18 days to West coast by sea freight. Of course the transit time will be depends on what carriers used and also do not account for the delays for some busy seasons or festival days. Moreover, 1-2 weeks will be required for the internal delivery within US after the goods arrived the destination port.

What cost will be considered for sea freight from China to US?

When shipping from China to US by sea freight, there will be various fee need to considered.

We make a list for these fee to help you understand each step of the logistic process and your sea freight quotations.

Here are some of the main costs that come with your shipment:

  • Delivery or picking up to POL (port of loading) at origin(based on EXW term)
  • Customs clearance (export)(based on EXW term)
  • Freight rate
  • Insurance
  • Import customs clearance
  • Customs duties (if any)
  • Delivery to the agreed final location

As mentioned earlier, Freight Solution is truly committed to provide tailored-made solutions. As the final cost of your shipment depends on the type of service that you require, we’ll make sure to adapt our offer accordingly.

How to choose the sea freight method between the FCL & LCL?

FCL = Full Container Load

LCL = Less than Container Load or Consolidation

When your cargo quantity is large enough to fill one or more containers. In this case, the freight is calculated on the basis of the whole container.

But if small cargo like the volume less than a full container loading,

  • If 1cbm~8cbm, choose LCL.
  • If 8cbm~15cbm, do some research to see what’s the most effective solution.
  • If over 15cbm, choose FCL without any hesitation.

Normally, there are three most common container types list below for your evaluation. Most businesses importing from China are only concerned with these three standard sizes that make up most of the container volume shipped worldwide.

Full container load 20”GP   40”GP 40”HQ
CBM contained 28CBM 58CBM 68CBM

Generally, FCL shipment will be loaded and sealed at origin by your supplier or the manufacturer, then shipped by a combination of ocean, road or/and rail to your final destination. And then The bill of lading of FCL shipment will be issued directly by the official shipping line.

What’s more, FCL can be tracked directly from the shipping company. You can track the location and estimated arrival date of your container shipment from China, through the shipping carriers’ websites.

In order to track your goods, you need to know the name of shipping line which is transporting your cargo, and the container number, booking number or document number (one of them is enough).

The more important point is that buy FCL means your shipment will be safer than by LCL. In the LCL arrangement, the shipper is required to deliver the cargo to the forwarder’s warehouse for containerization. The forwarder will use the same container to pack in more cargo from other shippers to make a complete container load at the warehouse. This action is also called freight consolidation.

Maybe sometimes, you just want to buy small order which not a large enough volume to make a FCL shipment, so LCL will be the best choice for you, that means your shipment will be combined with other shipping consignments headed for the same destination. Unlike FCL, LCL will be charged by volume (cubic meters or weight (1cbm=363kgs),at the same time it almost always cheaper than air freight.

When buy LCL, the bill of lading will be issued by freight forwarder instead of shipping line, please pay more attention to shipping mark which is mandatory for LCL shipment as symbol are printed on the outer package to identify your cargoes from others consignments.

There will be some advantages to buy LCL shipment:

The delivery time will be shorter than FCL shipment and you not need to wait the enough quantity to fill in one container.

Sometime, a small trial order can reduce your sourcing risk, also which can prove if the product is qualified and the supplier is experienced.

By LCL, you only need to pay for the space your cargo used, which will be most cost-effective than FCL at a certain extent.

So if your cargo is more than 15 cubic meters, you’d better to ship by FCL, or small than 10 cubic meters, stick to LCL shipment.

Hope our above article can give you some useful reference for your business. If you have any other question please contact our experts freely at any time by info@myfreightsolution.com, our team will get back to you shortly and give you our reasonable suggestion.

Air Freight from China to US

Air freight is the transfer and ship of goods via an air carrier, which may be charter or commercial. Normally for some high value and time sensitive goods, the airfreight will be the best choice which is a safe and efficient way.

We are handle the air freight shipment from China to US for some time sensitive cargo within your budget and set up the arrangements as per your needs.

By working with Freight Solution will benefit from the support of a dedicated team, expert in its domain. We also provide door to door, door to port, port to port or port to door service by airfreight, added packing service to ensure safety of your products. After the cargo flies from original airport, we will provide you with a tracking number, so that you can keep track of your air shipment at every time till to reach your warehouse.

How long will take by air freight?

The most advantage of air freight is fast and speed. There will two kinds of airfreight, standard air freight and air courier/express.

Generally speaking, it will be take less than 10 working days from China to US by air freight, most it just take around 3-5 days, and by air courier it will take around 3-5 days by International Priority and around 5-7 days by International Economy delivery from DHL, UPS, FedEx and TNT service.

Please pay attention to that the standard air freight is just to-airport delivery and you or the freight agent needs to handle the customs clearance and inland transportation from destination airport to your warehouse after the shipment arrives, while courier services such as DHL/FedEx/UPS/TNT can be the one stop to-door delivery provider from original to destination.

How to calculated the air freight rate?

When it comes airfreight and express freight, you should be pay more attention to the chargeable weight for your cargoes, because there will be come out real/gross weight and dimensional/volumetric weight for them.

Real weight or volumetric weight

Real weight is the actual gross weight of your products, this is very simple. Dimensional weight is is calculated by multiplying the volume (L*W*H cm) by 167. for standard air freight, and (L*W*H cm) by 200 for air courier.

Dimensional Weight = Length(cm) x Width(cm) x Height(cm)/5000.

Dimensional Weight = Length(cm) x Width(cm) x Height(cm)/6000.



The final chargeable weight will be calculated by the heavier one between the gross weight and dimensional weight after measured by carrier.

The minimum chargeable weight is 45 kgs for standard air freight and the rate class is +45kg, +100kg, +300kg, +500kg, +1000kg etc. While for air courier, if the weight is less than 21 kg, then the minimum chargeable unit is 0.5 kg; If more than 21 kg, then 1 kg.

Main airports in US:

  • ORD: O'Hare International Airport
  • ATL: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport
  • JFK: John F. Kennedy International Airport
  • LAX: Los Angeles International Airport
  • SFO: San Francisco International Airport
  • SEA: Seattle-Tacoma / Sea-Tac International Airport

Air cargo tracking

Each AWB has its unique number. You can find this number on the head section. By submitting the number on the tracking page of the airline’s official website, all updated tracking information will be available. The bill format is 2 airline code + 3 numbers as prefix + several numbers. Example, Hainan Airlines, HU as the airline code, 880 as prefix. Some carriers will provide a free service called email alert. When the goods moved, the updated status will be sent to you shortly.

Air freight from China to US has follows main airlines:

MU, F4, BR, QF, Y8, UPS, PO, SQ, CX, KE, OZ, JL, UA, AA, CO, AC, AM, HU, BA, LX, EK, PR, CZ

Freight Solution covers all major airports in China with competitive prices. We will choose the best airport to loading your cargoes with the earliest available schedule to your destination as per your cargo located in China. We rely on qualified partner carriers that are committed to providing safe, efficient and on-time service to clients across the world. Low cost, time definite services, and proof of delivery, that’s we are doing and we are good at it. We are always interested in new opportunities and supporting your business.