Shipping cost from China to USA: why there is no single number
Freight is a spot market. The same port pair, the same container and the same week can carry materially different prices depending on whether the booking is contract or spot, which surcharges were announced, and how much capacity the carriers have pulled. On top of that, most published "prices" answer different questions: a port-to-port index, a door-to-door promotional rate, and a customs-inclusive figure are three different products.
So the useful output of a cost page is not a number. It is the list of things that must be named before any number can be compared. That list is below, and it is the same list we use internally.
How to compare a China to USA shipping cost quote, in five questions
- What caliber is it? Port-to-port or door-to-door.
- What is the date? A quote without a date is a historical document.
- Which surcharges are inside? All-in, or base plus current BAF/PSS/GRI.
- Is duty inside? DDP yes, DAP and FOB no.
- Which fees are excluded? Demurrage, detention, exam, storage, accessorials, insurance.
Model your own answer to those questions with the landed cost calculator before you send anything out for quotation — it makes the responses you get far more useful.
Container shipping cost from China to USA: what the per-container rate excludes
A container rate is the most quoted and least complete number in the industry. It typically covers the ocean leg and the carrier's surcharges. It does not cover:
- Inland haulage from your supplier to the load port, or the export declaration
- US terminal handling, chassis and per-diem
- Entry filing, the customs bond and any broker fee
- MPF and HMF, which apply whether or not you owe any duty
- Duty — which is calculated from the HTS code, not from the freight
- Inland delivery from the port to your address
For the 20GP and 40HQ specifics, and the surcharge mechanics, see sea freight from China to USA.
Shipping cost per kg and per CBM from China to USA
Unit-rate pricing is where apples-to-oranges comparisons are easiest to make, because the unit is not the same unit. Air is billed per kilogram of chargeable weight, using the volumetric divisor of 6000 (1 CBM ≈ 167 kg). LCL is billed on revenue tons, which is the greater of CBM and metric tons. Sea FCL is billed per container regardless of weight.
The practical consequence: a per-kg air quote and a per-CBM LCL quote for the same cargo are directly comparable only after both are converted to chargeable units. Air freight from China to USA explains the divisor and the repacking lever that reduces it.
Landed cost from China to USA: the number your margin is built on
Landed cost is goods value + freight + insurance + duty + government fees + inland delivery. On cheap, heavy products, freight dominates. On consumer goods in 2026, duty frequently dominates instead, because the layers stack.
A consumer good with a 3% MFN rate, a 25% Section 301 List 1–3 rate and the 12.5% forced-labor tariff carries a duty burden of roughly 40% of its customs value before any Section 232 or AD/CVD exposure. Model it in the US import duty calculator, then compare that against what freight costs — the ranking is often a surprise.
For the layer-by-layer position with effective dates and HTSUS line numbers, see the 2026 duty stack.
Peak season surcharges and planning around them
Golden Week in China and the pre-holiday US retail season both concentrate volume into the same weeks. Carriers respond with PSS and GRI announcements and with blank sailings, which moves both the price and the schedule.
Why the same lane re-prices within weeks
Capacity and blank sailings move the spot market faster than any duty change. These are the published numbers behind "rates are volatile" — each with its own publisher and date.
| Measure | Figure | As of | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asia → North America West Coast scheduled capacity, four-week window | 1.49 million TEU (+18% year on year) | 2026-09-22 | Sea-Intelligence |
| Asia → North America East Coast scheduled capacity, four-week window | 935,200 TEU (+17% year on year) | 2026-09-22 | Sea-Intelligence |
| Effective Asia → US capacity, October | 2.30 million TEU (September: 2.28 million) | 2026-09 | eeSea |
| Blank sailings announced, weeks 41–45 | 39 sailings cancelled | 2026-10 | Drewry Cancelled Sailings Tracker |
| Share of US imports from China handled by Los Angeles / Long Beach | about 40% | 2026 | Industry estimate, not a published statistic |
Published capacity and sailing counts are third-party measurements, not our operating data. They are useful for understanding direction, not for quoting a shipment.
The figures above are publishers' measurements, not our operating data. Use them for direction, not for quoting.