✈️ Air Freight

Air Freight from China to Can Tho

China → Can Tho · via SGN air / Cat Lai sea · clearance by General Department of Vietnam Customs (Tổng cục Hải quan)

Cargo handling on the China–Can Tho lane.

Can Tho is Mekong Delta commercial center, and it is served through SGN air / Cat Lai sea. That combination is what actually sets your delivery date on this lane — allow +1 day for the inland leg on top of clearance.

The clearing authority is General Department of Vietnam Customs (Tổng cục Hải quan). Historical dwell on this gateway is around 2–5 days, and it lengthens in Sep–Nov.

Import duty and tax position for Can Tho

General Department of Vietnam Customs (Tổng cục Hải quan) assesses duty and tax on cargo arriving for Can Tho consignees. Current regime: VAT 8–10%; duty 0–35%, with 0% available on most tariff lines under ACFTA/RCEP with a valid Form E, with a de-minimis position of VND 1,000,000 (roughly USD 40) on express parcels.

Conformity is the part most first-time importers underestimate: Form E certificate of origin to claim ACFTA duty relief; MIC/Circular 04 type approval for radio equipment; energy-efficiency labeling for appliances. Getting this wrong is expensive because it usually cannot be fixed after the cargo has landed.

Restrictions and known friction points for Vietnam: Used machinery is subject to Decision 18/2019 age limits. Cosmetics need a product announcement filed by the consignee. Duty relief under Form E is only granted if the origin document matches the invoice exactly — a very common cause of held shipments.

Routing and transit on this lane

Vietnam is the shortest deep-sea lane out of South China — Shekou to Hai Phong is often 3–5 days. Northern Vietnam is also served overland through the Youyi Guan (Pingxiang) and Mong Cai crossings, which suits LCL and urgent replenishment for the Bac Ninh and Bac Giang electronics cluster.

Air gateways used	SGN (Ho Chi Minh City), HAN (Hanoi), DAD (Da Nang)
Air transit, China to gateway	2–4 business days
Gateway serving Can Tho	SGN air / Cat Lai sea
Inland leg to Can Tho	+1 day from the gateway
Typical clearance / dwell	2–5 days
Peak season to plan around	Sep–Nov

Air cargo build-up used on the China to Can Tho (Vietnam) freight lane — Handling on the SGN air / Cat Lai sea routing serving Can Tho.

What to sort out before the cargo leaves China

Get the conformity paperwork moving early: Form E certificate of origin to claim ACFTA duty relief; MIC/Circular 04 type approval for radio equipment; energy-efficiency labeling for appliances.
Check the de-minimis position (VND 1,000,000 (roughly USD 40) on express parcels) against your invoice value before you decide how to split the shipment.
Confirm the consignee in Can Tho can act as importer of record — General Department of Vietnam Customs (Tổng cục Hải quan) will not release cargo to an unregistered party.
Photograph carton markings and seal numbers before departure — it makes any claim far easier to settle.
Budget for the inland leg: +1 day beyond gateway clearance to reach Can Tho.
Ask for the HS code in writing from your supplier and verify the Vietnam duty rate against it yourself.

Frequently asked questions

How long does shipping from China to Can Tho take?

China to the Vietnam gateway is 2–4 business days. On top of that, allow 2–5 days of clearance with General Department of Vietnam Customs (Tổng cục Hải quan) and a +1 day inland leg to Can Tho.

What duty and tax will I pay importing into Can Tho?

General Department of Vietnam Customs (Tổng cục Hải quan) applies: VAT 8–10%; duty 0–35%, with 0% available on most tariff lines under ACFTA/RCEP with a valid Form E. The de-minimis position is VND 1,000,000 (roughly USD 40) on express parcels. Under a DDP arrangement these are pre-paid, so nothing is collected on arrival in Can Tho.

What certification do I need for Vietnam?

For regulated goods, plan for: Form E certificate of origin to claim ACFTA duty relief; MIC/Circular 04 type approval for radio equipment; energy-efficiency labeling for appliances. Missing conformity paperwork is the single most common cause of a hold, and in most cases it cannot be remedied once the cargo has arrived.

How is the chargeable weight calculated for Can Tho?

We compare actual gross weight against volumetric weight — length × width × height in centimeters divided by 6000 for air — and bill the greater of the two, rounded up to the next kilogram. Light, bulky cargo is almost always billed on volume.

Which port or airport does cargo for Can Tho clear through?

Cargo for Can Tho is routed via SGN air / Cat Lai sea. Sea gateways for Vietnam are Hai Phong, Cat Lai (Ho Chi Minh City), Cai Mep–Thi Vai; air gateways are SGN (Ho Chi Minh City), HAN (Hanoi), DAD (Da Nang). We pick whichever gives the shortest total door time for your address.

What documents does General Department of Vietnam Customs (Tổng cục Hải quan) require?

A commercial invoice with HS codes, a packing list, the bill of lading or air waybill, a certificate of origin where it lowers duty, and any product certification (Form E certificate of origin to claim ACFTA duty relief; MIC/Circular 04 type approval for radio equipment; energy-efficiency labeling for appliances). We prepare and file these as part of the service.

Other delivery cities in Vietnam

All Vietnam freight information →

References & official sources

Duty rates, thresholds and conformity requirements for Vietnam change by ministerial decision, sometimes mid-year. The figures on this page are buyer-planning references, not a customs ruling — confirm the current position for your own HS code with General Department of Vietnam Customs (Tổng cục Hải quan) or your broker before you ship.

Page data last reviewed: 8 月 2026.

Shipping by industry

This page covers the route and clearance picture for the destination. Packing, classification and the compliance step that actually holds a shipment depend on what you are sending — these guides cover that by commodity.

All 139 industry guides →

Checking the Vietnam duty position yourself

Treat the landed-cost numbers here as a planning baseline. General Department of Vietnam Customs sets the rate that actually gets charged, assessed against your HS classification at the moment of clearance, so their own guidance is worth reading before a large order.

If you want to sanity-check a duty figure yourself, start from the heading rather than the product name — the WCO Harmonized System is the underlying nomenclature, and the WTO Tariff & Trade Data portal holds the applied rates by country pair.

On the air side, anything with a cell or a battery in it, plus liquids, powders, magnets and aerosols, is governed by the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations. Those articles are not refused outright, but they need to be declared at booking so the shipment is built correctly — declaring them late is the single most common cause of an air consignment being offloaded.

On the origin side, export declaration and any commodity inspection requirement fall under China Customs (GACC); we handle that filing as part of the service, but the requirement is theirs, not ours.

For a wider view of how importing into Vietnam actually works — documentation norms, inspection behavior, the paperwork that tends to hold shipments — the U.S. ITA guide to Vietnam customs regulations is a useful independent read alongside our own lane notes.

Watch: the process behind this route

This guide covers routing and clearance for Can Tho. The video below covers the wider shipping process that sits around it.

Customs Clearance & Export/Import Procedures Explained | International Trade Made Simple — International Trade Talk. Published on YouTube by a third party; we link it because it explains the process well, not because we produced it or endorse the provider.

Get a rate for Can Tho

This lane is quoted per shipment rather than from a published rate card, because the landed cost depends on the commodity, its density, the conformity requirements above and the delivery point. Send the cargo details and we will come back with a full DDP figure.

Request a quote → See the Vietnam route page →

Customs clearance in Vietnam

Duty and tax position, certification, typical port dwell and what actually holds shipments at this border — plus who files the entry.

Vietnam clearance requirements →