Shipping Time from China to USA
Shipping from China to USA - How Long
How long does shipping from China to USA by sea take through a freight forwarding company? What is the average shipping time from China to the USA if something is shipped as freight / cargo? Learn here about how many days it takes for international transportation from China to USA by sea,
Let’s take shipping from Shanghai, China to Los Angeles for example. The actual port-to-port shipping time from Shanghai, China to Long Beach/Los Angeles, California is approximately 13 days. If, for example, your shipment is on container vessel leaving Shanghai on August 1, it is expected to arrive at Los Angeles port on August 14. This is an example of port-to-port transit time. When shipping something as cargo, you would need consider the time it takes on the China side for export customs clearance and the time needed for loading into consolidation containers and so on. Also, it take days after the ship arrives at the destination port in the USA to have the consolidation containers from the vessel, delivering the containers to the freight station and then the cargos are unloaded from the consolidation containers.
* Normally the deadline for loading shipments to consolidation containers is 5 days before the actual departure date of the vessel leaving for the USA.
* Customs clearance must be completed and get a permission for export from the customs at least a few days prior to the date for loading shipments to consolidation containers. If it is a full container shipment, it will require less days.
*When you ship a cargo to the United States from anywhere in the world, one must make an ISF submission. ISF stands for Importers Security Filing and this is a relatively new rule that into effect 2009. Every importer must submit such information as the details of the shipper, consignee, the manufacture of the goods, HS code etc. electronically. The submission must be completed 72 hours before the ship’s departure.
* Various shipping companies offer consolidation services from major ports in China and normally the frequency is once vessel per week.
If these points are taken into consideration, the estimated shipping time from the delivery of the cargo to the port facility in China to arrival at the port of Los Angeles, USA will be very approximately 21 to 30 days.
There are shipping services of full containers directly to the ports such as New Orleans, Baltimore or New York, when you ship a small amount of cargo as a part of consolidation using the services of a consolidator, the shipment will arrive at Long Beach /Los Angeles and then will be transported to other destinations in the USA via rail or truck. (Some consolidators in China may have consolidations which go directly to such cities as Seattle, San Francisco or New York)
Below are the average transit times from the vessel arrival in the port of Los Angeles to other areas:
A 7 days - San Diego, Oakland / San Francisco
B 8 days - Austin, Denver, Salt Lake City, Phoenix
C 10 days - Birmingham, Atlanta, Dallas, Portland (OR), Houston, Chicago, Detroit
D 13 days - Milwaukee, Columbus, Minneapolis, Cleveland, New York, Seattle
E 15 days - Boston, Raleigh, Baltimore, Kansas City, Boston
F 17 days - New Orleans, Mobile, Memphis
G 19 days - Miami, Tampa, Orlando