Shipping Costs from China
What freight really costs — and where the extra fees hide.
Everyone shops on the ocean rate and almost nobody pays the ocean rate. The number you saw in a quote is one line of a five-layer landed cost: product, export fees, freight, duties and taxes, final delivery. This section is where we publish our own rate references — the same ranges our quotes are built on — and the fee structures other forwarders leave off the page.
The honest version: rates move with fuel, season and geopolitics, so every number here is a reference range, not a promise. The way to actually save money isn't finding a magic cheap quote — it's comparing quotes that list every fee, and knowing the three ways low headline prices become high invoices: unquoted destination charges, chargeable-weight math, and "cheapest" quotes that exclude customs.
The questions this section answers
- ?How much does shipping from China cost?
- ?What is the cheapest way to ship from China to the USA?
- ?How much is sea or air freight from China per kg or per CBM?
- ?How much does a 20-foot or 40-foot container cost from China?
- ?Is shipping from China charged by weight or by volume?
- ?What is volumetric weight and how is it calculated?
- ?Why is shipping from China so expensive right now?
- ?Are quotes inclusive of customs and duties?
- ?Freight cost vs landed cost — what is the difference?