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🚢 Sea Freight

China to United Kingdom Sea Freight

Door-to-door transit 25-45 calendar days. Duty and final delivery are inside the published rate.

Container vessel and terminal operations on the Shanghai to Felixstowe ocean freight lane
Sea freight — China to United Kingdom

Sea Freight from China to United Kingdom runs 25-45 calendar days door to door, clearing through the destination customs authority. Rates shown are indicative freight estimates; duty, tax and customs handling depend on the commodity and are quoted separately. Send weight, dimensions and product details for a firm figure.

Transit time
25-45 calendar days
Destination
United Kingdom
Customs authority
the destination customs authority
Duty-free threshold
GBP 135

Indicative published channel rate for planning, not a quotation. What you actually pay depends on the product and its HS code, chargeable weight, declared value, duty and tax at destination and the exchange rate on the day — it can come in above or below this.

Current Freight Rates

Price data updating. Contact us for current rates.

Trade Terms Explained — Who Pays for What EXW, FOB, CIF, DDP and seven more — see which costs sit with us and which sit with you

The rate above is quoted on one specific trade term. Change the term and you change how much of the journey to United Kingdom is already inside the price. The table below maps the eleven common Incoterms® against the twelve cost stages of a door-to-door shipment, so you can see exactly where our responsibility ends and yours begins.

  • Seller — Cost and arrangement sit with the seller / shipper.
  • Buyer — Cost and arrangement sit with the buyer / consignee.
  • Negotiable — Not fixed by the rule — agree it in the contract.
Responsibility for each shipment stage under each Incoterms rule
Term 1 Loading on truck 2 Export customs declaration 3 Carriage to port of export 4 Unloading at port of export 5 Loading on vessel / aircraft 6 Main carriage 7 Cargo insurance 8 Unloading at port of import 9 Loading on truck at import 10 Carriage to destination 11 Import customs clearance 12 Import duties & taxes
EXW Ex Works Buyer Buyer — Loading on truck Buyer Buyer — Export customs declaration Buyer Buyer — Carriage to port of export Buyer Buyer — Unloading at port of export Buyer Buyer — Loading on vessel / aircraft Buyer Buyer — Main carriage Buyer Buyer — Cargo insurance Buyer Buyer — Unloading at port of import Buyer Buyer — Loading on truck at import Buyer Buyer — Carriage to destination Buyer Buyer — Import customs clearance Buyer Buyer — Import duties & taxes
FCA Free Carrier Seller Seller — Loading on truck Seller Seller — Export customs declaration Buyer Buyer — Carriage to port of export Buyer Buyer — Unloading at port of export Buyer Buyer — Loading on vessel / aircraft Buyer Buyer — Main carriage Buyer Buyer — Cargo insurance Buyer Buyer — Unloading at port of import Buyer Buyer — Loading on truck at import Buyer Buyer — Carriage to destination Buyer Buyer — Import customs clearance Buyer Buyer — Import duties & taxes
FAS Free Alongside Ship Seller Seller — Loading on truck Seller Seller — Export customs declaration Seller Seller — Carriage to port of export Seller Seller — Unloading at port of export Buyer Buyer — Loading on vessel / aircraft Buyer Buyer — Main carriage Buyer Buyer — Cargo insurance Buyer Buyer — Unloading at port of import Buyer Buyer — Loading on truck at import Buyer Buyer — Carriage to destination Buyer Buyer — Import customs clearance Buyer Buyer — Import duties & taxes
FOB Free On Board Seller Seller — Loading on truck Seller Seller — Export customs declaration Seller Seller — Carriage to port of export Seller Seller — Unloading at port of export Seller Seller — Loading on vessel / aircraft Buyer Buyer — Main carriage Buyer Buyer — Cargo insurance Buyer Buyer — Unloading at port of import Buyer Buyer — Loading on truck at import Buyer Buyer — Carriage to destination Buyer Buyer — Import customs clearance Buyer Buyer — Import duties & taxes
CFR Cost and Freight Seller Seller — Loading on truck Seller Seller — Export customs declaration Seller Seller — Carriage to port of export Seller Seller — Unloading at port of export Seller Seller — Loading on vessel / aircraft Seller Seller — Main carriage Buyer Buyer — Cargo insurance Buyer Buyer — Unloading at port of import Buyer Buyer — Loading on truck at import Buyer Buyer — Carriage to destination Buyer Buyer — Import customs clearance Buyer Buyer — Import duties & taxes
CIF Cost, Insurance and Freight Seller Seller — Loading on truck Seller Seller — Export customs declaration Seller Seller — Carriage to port of export Seller Seller — Unloading at port of export Seller Seller — Loading on vessel / aircraft Seller Seller — Main carriage Seller Seller — Cargo insurance Buyer Buyer — Unloading at port of import Buyer Buyer — Loading on truck at import Buyer Buyer — Carriage to destination Buyer Buyer — Import customs clearance Buyer Buyer — Import duties & taxes
CPT Carriage Paid To Seller Seller — Loading on truck Seller Seller — Export customs declaration Seller Seller — Carriage to port of export Seller Seller — Unloading at port of export Seller Seller — Loading on vessel / aircraft Seller Seller — Main carriage Negotiable Negotiable — Cargo insurance Seller Seller — Unloading at port of import Seller Seller — Loading on truck at import Seller Seller — Carriage to destination Buyer Buyer — Import customs clearance Buyer Buyer — Import duties & taxes
CIP Carriage and Insurance Paid Seller Seller — Loading on truck Seller Seller — Export customs declaration Seller Seller — Carriage to port of export Seller Seller — Unloading at port of export Seller Seller — Loading on vessel / aircraft Seller Seller — Main carriage Seller Seller — Cargo insurance Seller Seller — Unloading at port of import Seller Seller — Loading on truck at import Seller Seller — Carriage to destination Buyer Buyer — Import customs clearance Buyer Buyer — Import duties & taxes
DAT Delivered At Terminal (DPU) Seller Seller — Loading on truck Seller Seller — Export customs declaration Seller Seller — Carriage to port of export Seller Seller — Unloading at port of export Seller Seller — Loading on vessel / aircraft Seller Seller — Main carriage Negotiable Negotiable — Cargo insurance Seller Seller — Unloading at port of import Buyer Buyer — Loading on truck at import Buyer Buyer — Carriage to destination Buyer Buyer — Import customs clearance Buyer Buyer — Import duties & taxes
DAP Delivered At Place Seller Seller — Loading on truck Seller Seller — Export customs declaration Seller Seller — Carriage to port of export Seller Seller — Unloading at port of export Seller Seller — Loading on vessel / aircraft Seller Seller — Main carriage Negotiable Negotiable — Cargo insurance Seller Seller — Unloading at port of import Seller Seller — Loading on truck at import Seller Seller — Carriage to destination Buyer Buyer — Import customs clearance Buyer Buyer — Import duties & taxes
DDP Delivered Duty Paid Seller Seller — Loading on truck Seller Seller — Export customs declaration Seller Seller — Carriage to port of export Seller Seller — Unloading at port of export Seller Seller — Loading on vessel / aircraft Seller Seller — Main carriage Negotiable Negotiable — Cargo insurance Seller Seller — Unloading at port of import Seller Seller — Loading on truck at import Seller Seller — Carriage to destination Seller Seller — Import customs clearance Seller Seller — Import duties & taxes

EXW Ex Works

Buyer takes over at the seller's door and carries every cost from there. Lowest quoted price, highest buyer workload.

FCA Free Carrier

Seller clears the goods for export and hands them to the carrier the buyer nominated.

FAS Free Alongside Ship

Sea and inland waterway only. Seller delivers alongside the vessel; loading is on the buyer.

FOB Free On Board

Sea and inland waterway only. Risk passes once the goods are on board. The most common buying term.

CFR Cost and Freight

Seller pays the main carriage but carries no insurance obligation; risk still passes on loading.

CIF Cost, Insurance and Freight

As CFR, plus the seller must buy and pay for cargo insurance (minimum cover unless you agree more).

CPT Carriage Paid To

Any mode. Seller pays carriage through to the named destination; insurance is not obligatory.

CIP Carriage and Insurance Paid

As CPT, plus the seller must insure the cargo through to the named destination.

DAT Delivered At Terminal (DPU)

Seller delivers unloaded at the named terminal. Renamed DPU (Delivered at Place Unloaded) in Incoterms® 2020.

DAP Delivered At Place

Seller delivers to your address ready for unloading; import clearance and duty stay with the buyer.

DDP Delivered Duty Paid

Seller carries everything through to your door, duty and tax included. Highest quoted price, least buyer workload.

Two things worth flagging. Under CIF and CIP the seller is obliged to buy cargo insurance and pay the premium; under every other term insurance is optional, and we recommend buyers arrange their own cover so a loss or damage in transit is recoverable. And this table is a working summary for planning purposes — the binding definitions are the ones published by the International Chamber of Commerce in the Incoterms® rules, so confirm the exact term wording in your sales contract before you ship.

Service Details

Shanghai → Felixstowe Container Shipping

Shanghai to Felixstowe container shipping, priced per box rather than per CBM. This is the lane to book when the cargo fills a container or when it should not share one: machinery, stone, steel, building materials and project pieces all move better as FCL because nothing else is loaded around them. Plan on 30–40 days port to port port to port.

Port-to-port means exactly that: the rate ends at the Felixstowe terminal gate. Typical dwell at destination runs 2–4 days before the box is available for collection, and that window sits outside the transit figure above. Origin haulage, export declaration, destination clearance, duty and delivery beyond the terminal are all quoted separately, so ask for a door figure if that is what you are comparing against.

Rate by Container Type

  • 20GP — quoted on request for the current sailing
  • 40HQ — quoted on request for the current sailing

The per-kilogram rate above applies to chargeable weight, not to what the scale says. At 166.7 kg per cubic metre, a carton of light goods can be billed at several times its actual weight, so send dimensions with the weight when you ask for a quote into United Kingdom — a rate quoted without them is only ever provisional.

In practice the cargo we move on this lane clusters into a few recognisable shapes — restaurant furniture (HS 94 / 39 / 76), where clearance turns on cE on electrical assemblies and fire classification on display materials, paper packaging (HS 44 / 48) and bolts (HS 73 / 82 / 83). Each behaves differently against the rate: one fills the payload before it fills the space, the next does the reverse, and the packing brief we send back with the quote is written to the one you are actually shipping.

To see this tariff against a real consignment rather than a rate card, the 100 KG, 300 KG and 500 KG pages run it at a fixed weight and show the landed total, including the point where stepping up a bracket lowers your cost per kilo. They are the fastest way to check whether consolidating two orders into one is worth the wait.

Discharge for United Kingdom on this service is at Felixstowe, Southampton and London Gateway. Transit time in the rate table is measured to the port, not to the door: the inland days on top depend on which gateway the box clears through and how far inland the delivery address sits.

Rate cards are hard to read against a real order, so we also publish worked examples at fixed weights: 100 KG, 300 KG and 500 KG, each showing what that shipment actually costs door to door on this lane. If you are still choosing between transport modes the China to United Kingdom Sea Freight Cost comparison is the better starting point, and shipping from China to United Kingdom covers the whole journey rather than just the freight.

Track your shipment

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Track your container to United Kingdom

Ocean cargo is tracked by container number, not by a parcel barcode. Enter yours below: we check it is a valid number, identify the line that owns it, and take you straight to that line's tracking page for this ocean service.

A container number is four letters and seven digits, for example MSKU6090510. The last digit is a check digit, so a typo can be caught here rather than by an empty result on the carrier's site. We validate it in your browser — the number is not sent to us or to anyone else.

Additional Information

Scope, Exclusions and What to Check Before Booking

This is a port-to-port FCL rate for Shanghai to Felixstowe. It covers ocean freight for one container and stops at the Felixstowe terminal gate. Everything either side of that — trucking to Shanghai, customs at both ends, duty and tax for United Kingdom, inland delivery — is quoted on request rather than bundled, which keeps the freight number comparable between carriers.

  • Priced per box in USD for 20GP and 40HQ, not per KG or per CBM — utilization is yours to optimize
  • Transit 30–40 days port to port port to port on Shanghai to Felixstowe, subject to the sailing booked
  • Heavy and out-of-gauge cargo is core traffic here: machinery, steel, stone, building materials, project pieces
  • Cut-off and free time attach to the specific sailing; demurrage begins the day free time expires
  • Reefer, dangerous goods and out-of-gauge are priced case by case rather than from the card
  • Clearance at destination is handled by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC); the consignee must be registered to import
  • Destination conformity for United Kingdom: UKCA/CE marking for regulated goods

The most expensive mistake on a Shanghai to Felixstowe booking is not the freight rate, it is free time. Demurrage and detention start counting at the Felixstowe terminal whether or not your consignee is ready, and on a bad week they can exceed the ocean freight itself. Confirm how many free days the booking carries before you fix a collection date.

Before you book, confirm two things with your consignee: that they are registered to import into United Kingdom, and that whoever is named as importer of record accepts the duty liability. Those are dull questions and they are also the two that most often surface only after the cargo has already sailed.

Where these numbers come from

We publish these figures so you can budget, but the assessment that binds is the one HM Revenue & Customs makes on your declaration. Where a shipment is large enough that a percentage point matters, check their current tariff guidance rather than ours.

Classification drives everything downstream: the same carton can attract very different duty depending on the heading it lands in, and the structure those headings come from is the World Customs Organization Harmonized System. If your product sits near a boundary between two headings, resolve it before shipping rather than at the border.

For ocean cargo, restricted commodities move under the IMO's IMDG Code, and the container has to be declared and stowed accordingly. Batteries, flammables and corrosives all have a compliant ocean path; what causes rolled bookings is finding out about them after the container is packed.

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

China to United Kingdom — Shipping Reference Data

Main sea gatewaysFelixstowe, Southampton, London Gateway
Destination customs authorityHM Revenue & Customs (HMRC)
De-minimis / duty-free thresholdGBP 135
Import tax & duty regimeVAT 20%; duty 0–12% by commodity code
Local currencyGBP
Typical clearance / dwell time2–4 days
Peak / busy seasonSep–Nov
Conformity & certificationUKCA/CE marking for regulated goods

Thresholds and duty bands are buyer-planning references, not formal customs rulings — confirm the exact HS-code rate for your goods before shipping.

Free 3D Loading Tools for This Sea Route

This page covers a Sea freight service from China to United Kingdom. Use the matching tool below to plan your cargo before requesting a quote.

🚢

3D Container Loading Planner

Maximize every CBM on this route: load your carton list into the 3D container planner, check space and payload utilization, and download the loading plan for your forwarder.

Open Container Planner →

United Kingdom Sea Freight Checklist

  • Ask whether the quote includes destination port charges in United Kingdom or only ocean freight.
  • Reserve loading space 5-7 days before the sailing cut-off for this route during peak season.
  • Confirm whether your United Kingdom rate is per CBM or per container before comparing quotes.
  • Declare accurate gross weight — VGM misdeclaration delays vessels and triggers fines.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does Sea FCL Port-to-Port from China to United Kingdom take?

Sea freight on this route runs about 25–45 calendar days door-to-door, plus roughly 2–4 days of clearance/dwell once it reaches the gateway. All times include customs clearance under DDP terms.

What duties and taxes apply when importing into United Kingdom?

Clearance is handled by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). The regime is: VAT 20%; duty 0–12% by commodity code, with a de-minimis position of GBP 135. Under DDP these are pre-paid, so nothing is collected on arrival.

What certification is needed to import into United Kingdom?

For regulated goods, plan for: UKCA/CE marking for regulated goods. Missing conformity paperwork is the most common clearance hold with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), so confirm requirements for your HS code before shipping.

Can you ship special cargo (batteries, branded goods) to United Kingdom?

Yes — battery goods by sea follow UN3480/UN3481 rules with an MSDS; we prepare the dangerous-goods paperwork as part of DDP into Felixstowe, Southampton, London Gateway. Surcharges apply.

What does DDP shipping to United Kingdom include on this route?

DDP means we quote the freight, the customs entry with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and last-mile delivery in United Kingdom together, so you settle once. The duty and tax portion depends on your product's HS code, declared value and the exchange rate at entry, so it is confirmed against your actual goods — the figures on this page are indicative and can move either way.

What documents are required for customs clearance in United Kingdom?

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) typically requires a commercial invoice with HS codes, a packing list, the bill of lading/air waybill, a certificate of origin (may lower duty), and any product certification (UKCA/CE marking for regulated goods). We file these under DDP.

Shipping United Kingdom cargo by industry

This rate is for the lane. What decides whether the cargo arrives intact is the commodity — how it prices, how it must be packed and loaded, and which compliance step holds it at the border. These guides cover that per industry.

All 60 industry guides →

Get a quote — United Kingdom

Send the cargo details below and we price your actual shipment. Weight, dimensions and what the goods are is everything we need to come back with a firm number.

Answer these and you get a real price, not a range. These are the exact figures a carrier needs before it will quote. Fill them in once and we can price your cargo the same day — leave them out and we have to come back and ask, which is what turns an hour into a week.

kg
ctn
Carton sizeoptional
× × cm
m³
ctr
Built-in battery?* Lithium cells are dangerous goods.
Someone else's brand?* Logos you are not authorised to ship.
Magnetic product?* Speakers, motors, magnets.
Why these three decide everything

They determine whether your cargo can fly, and on which service. A declared battery changes the price; an undeclared one grounds the shipment at the airport and you pay storage while it sits. Unauthorised brands are seized at customs and the freight is lost with them. Magnetic goods need a field test — routine, but it has to be booked ahead. Telling us now costs a click; telling us later costs the shipment.

Sea or air?*
Tick both and we quote both.
When should it move?optional
Photographs of the goodsoptional
    Your details are used to prepare this quotation and nothing else.

    Customs clearance in United Kingdom

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

    United Kingdom clearance requirements →