U.S. FBA shipping is a comprehensive logistics of Amazon FBA shipping and U.S. local tailing delivery to FBA warehouse. Generally, we use fast shipping and general shipping routes, and the shipping companies used are Matson, ZIM, EMC and so on. All of them are the faster U.S. shipping routes, the time limit is generally between 15-40 days, depending on the delivery FBA warehouse address near and far. Here we will introduce the mainstream shipping companies and routes in the current market.
Part 1. Shipping company and route introduction
- Matson
- ZIM
- EMC
- CMA
- WHL
- What is LCL and FCL?
- LCL and FCL transportation cost comparison
Part 3. Sea freight operation process
Part 6. How can better save on shipping costs from China to the US?
- Choose a good shipping company and sea freight forwarding company
- Expertise in working with ocean carriers
- Well-designed packaging
Part 1. Shipping company and route introduction
- Matson
Matson CLX Express Shipping Line, founded in February 2006, added Matson CLX+ in 2020, mainly serving sellers in East China and North China. With its dedicated dock at the Port of Long Beach, as well as its unique 2 out-of-port yards and fast pick-up mode without reservation, it has created a sea highway for the majority of cross-border sellers in China and the United States.
1, Main routes
♦CLX
♦CLX+
2, Main advantages
♦The sailing time is fast, basically about 10 days to the port: Shanghai direct to LA only 11 days, Ningbo direct to LA only 12 days.
♦Dedicated dock, unloading quickly, one or two days after the arrival of the port can pick up the container. This advantage is especially significant in the peak season, after all, other fast ships take up to a week to unload in port.
♦The ship schedule is fixed, twice a week, which is convenient for sellers to plan their shipments well.
♦The two routes sailed 1 day apart to make up for the vacant sailing schedule, giving the seller a double insurance.
- ZIM
ZIM Express Shipping Line, a direct US-China express shipping line developed under ZIM Shipping Company of Israel, one of the largest shipping companies in the world, is the fastest shipping line from South China to Los Angeles, USA.
1, Main routes
♦ZIM ZEX——Direct from Yantian to LA in 12 days
♦ZIM ZX2——Direct from Yantian to LA in 12 days
♦ZIM ZX3——Ningbo/Shanghai direct to LA in 14/16 days; Ningbo/Shanghai direct to OAKLAND in 11/13 days
2, Main advantages
♦The sailing time is fast, basically about 12 days to the port.
♦No reservation for container pickup within 24 hours after arrival, exclusive priority service after unloading, direct access to the trailer and special lane to avoid queuing.
♦Quick rail connections to other U.S. destinations such as Chicago, Memphis, Dallas, Kansas and New York.
- EMC
EMC (Evergreen) Express Shipping Line, also known as Yantian Express Shipping Line, undertook most of the ocean express business in South China before the opening of the ZIM.
1, Main routes
♦EMC HTW
2, Main advantages
♦Fixed transport routes to more than 80 countries
♦EMC HTW has a fixed pickup service: it has its own dedicated dock and pickup company, picking up containers 24 hours a day, not affected by peak season congestion, and stable timeframe throughout the year.
- CMA
CMA Express Shipping Line is the star service from Shanghai to US Southwest (Los Angeles/Long Beach).
1, Main routes
♦CMA EXX——It is a fast shipping line that CMA has been promoting in recent years, with a capacity of 3500-5000 TEU, and it takes only 11/12 days to reach LA directly from Shanghai/Ningbo.
♦CMA EX1——The vessels are configured with 5,500 to 7,500 TEU, and it takes only 14/11 days to reach LA directly from Shanghai/Busan.
2, Main advantages
♦The sailing time is fast, about 12 days to the port.
♦CMA EXX Express marks time-sensitive shipments with a “Priority Shipment” notation and a money-back guarantee.
♦With a dedicated container yard and dedicated truck lanes at the Port of LA, cargo can be discharged from the port quickly.
- WHL
WHL(Wanhai) Express is a part of Wanhai Shipping Group, which is the largest and most intensive inter-regional carrier in Asia with the most complete service network.
1, Main routes
♦Wanhai US West new route code: AA1
♦Wanhai US West new route code: AA5 (first flight ETD SHA3/22)
WHL AA5 is the fastest route from Yantian to OAKLAND, and it takes only 21 days to reach OAKLAND directly from Yantian.
2, Main advantages
♦Perfectly avoid Long Beach and Los Angeles, which are always “paralyzed”, and connect directly to OAKLAND.
Part 2. LCL and FCL
- What is LCL and FCL?
LCL=less than container load. It refers to the consignment of the cargo owner is less than a full container of small ticket goods, the agent (or carrier) will sort the goods, the goods to the same destination, concentrated to a certain number of consolidation into boxes. Meaning: a container, the exporter, consignee and destination port, as long as one of the three is in two or more, is defined as a LCL cargo.
FCL=full container load. It is a whole container of goods shipped to the port of destination by only one consignor, which is relatively simpler than LCL. The whole container is the freight that the consignor is responsible for packing, counting, accumulating and sealing. Unpacking of full container cargo is generally handled by the consignee. Meaning: a container, an exporter, a consignee, a destination port, to meet the “four one” conditions called the FCL.
- LCL and FCL transportation cost comparison
The transportation cost of LCL and FCL is very different, both in operation process and in time and cost. The process of FCL is relatively simple, after the cargo is loaded, it will go directly to the departure port, customs clearance, embarkation and departure, customs clearance in the destination country, and pick up the container and consign to the destination. LCL process is relatively complex, customs clearance procedures are also more complicated and take longer time. No matter before or after the sea transport, it has to be sorted into warehouses, and the goods can be loaded only after the collection, and the overseas warehouse in the destination country has to unpack, sort, store and collect the goods for dispatch. There are a lot more links and human and material resources involved.
For one thing, the whole container just meets the minimum unit of China and U.S. customs inspection, customs sealing and release, a batch of goods, as long as the exporters and importers submit reasonable and legal documents and complete, China Customs and U.S. Customs to complete the relevant procedures and levy the relevant taxes and fees, will soon be released. The LCL will not be so simple and fast. As long as the goods in the container there is a cargo document error, China Customs will not release the goods. Because the Chinese customs must be out of the container to do after the customs seal before allowing the container to leave the country. Therefore, the same container, any one of the goods do not clear customs, is bound to affect the timely export and transport of other goods.
Secondly, the LCL is far less extensive and flexible than the whole container, it needs the transport company extra solicitation and reasonable with some port of shipment, destination port, delivery period, the variety of goods, volume, weight and other aspects of the conditions are very suitable to match into the same container of export goods.
Third, in general, full containers can be shipped directly in China’s inland ports, while LCL cargo is only suitable for delivery in developed coastal ports because of the relatively small inland sources and relatively large coastal sources.
In summary, LCL is more expensive than FCL.
Part 3. Sea freight operation process
1, Booking, determine the pickup address, cargo name, weight, volume, container type, container volume, destination, shipping time.
2, Loading, arranging pick-up, loading, container loading and fumigation according to the determined time.
3, Customs declaration, according to the packing list of goods, relevant information and invoices for export.
4, Checking materials, additional materials for shipping companies after customs clearance, making documents, checking whether the bill of lading information is correct.
5, Customs clearance, a few days before the arrival of the goods in the local customs system to submit packing slips, invoices, certificates of origin, relevant documents and information for customs clearance.
6, Tax payment, follow up the customs system information to calculate the corresponding customs duty, and arrange the tax payment after confirming that it is correct.
7, Pickup and delivery, after customs release, arrange pickup, if it is FCL, arrange truck to deliver the goods to the consignee’s designated address. If it is LCL, it will be unpacked at the warehouse first, and then arranged for express delivery to the consignee’s designated address.
Part 4. Customs clearance
U.S. port customs clearance is generally the whole container, very few will be a single ticket single piece for customs clearance; so if it is a bulk cargo container, once there is a problem with one cargo, then the whole container of goods will be detained, and then a long wait for release.
Therefore, before exporting to the United States by sea, be sure to prepare in advance the relevant information and customs clearance documents needed, and pay attention to the rules related to customs clearance:
1, Customs will advise within 48 hours whether to release or not.
2, If there are problems with the declaration and customs clearance documents, U.S. Customs will decide to inspect the cargo before it arrives at the port and notify.
3, The U.S. customs broker is required to send all documents, including originals or copies of the importer’s original documents, to Customs, where Customs officers approve the release or inspection (EXAM) after checking the paperwork. In this case, the release will likely be around three days.
Part 5. Customs Inspection
The US shipping inspection is divided into: VACIS EXAM basic inspection, CET inspection, MET inspection.
VACIS EXAM Basic Inspection requires only the submission of customs clearance documents and related information for review, which is usually completed within 24 hours.
CET inspection is the so-called machine inspection, generally need 3-5 working days to complete, and then the customs will tell whether to release, or transfer manual inspection.
MET inspection is a manual inspection, belonging to the most stringent inspection methods, inspection time will be based on 1/3, 1/2 unpacking inspection, or the entire cabinet unpacking inspection changes; generally 5 to 10 working days to give results.
Part 6. How can better save on shipping costs from China to the US?
- Choose a good shipping company and sea freight forwarding company
Nowadays, all the world famous shipping companies have landed in China, and all the major ports have their offices. Cooperation with these shipowners will certainly have many advantages, strong strength, operation standards. However, if you are not a big shipper, can not get preferential rates from them, it is better to find a freight forwarder, so that one is a reasonable price, the second is more tacit understanding after long-term cooperation.
- Expertise in working with ocean carriers
1, Sea freight owners can do early booking, timely preparation of goods. Those competent cargo owners, usually very well understand the operating procedures of the cooperative ocean freight forwarding company. Then according to the time set by the ocean freight forwarding company into the warehouse, so as not to be too early or too late delivery, if you can not catch the last ship’s customs clearance period, postponed to the next ship, it will generate overdue storage costs.
2, Customs declaration is directly related to the cost. This is especially obvious in Shenzhen port. It is recommended that each shipper of sea freight should carefully check whether the customs declaration documents are ready and correct, and then negotiate with the customs broker for the shipment of goods.
3, Be sure to change the customs declaration documents after the loading status has changed. Every customs office has a routine inspection of goods, and if the customs office finds that the number of products is not the same as the declared number, the goods will be detained for investigation. This will not only generate container inspection fees, terminal storage costs, but also customs fines that will certainly give the shippers a long heartache.
Although these are some pre-shipment details, if you don’t pay more attention to them, on the one hand, more costs will be incurred; on the other hand, the resulting delay in the ship schedule will bring more losses to the shippers.
- Well-designed packaging
Suppose, the number of your goods after the calculation of the boxing situation is not cost-effective, it is necessary to suggest to the ocean freight forwarder to change the number of its goods. For example, combine the goods of two orders into one full container, or leave the excess quantity of goods to be transported again, so that the savings will be considerable. So when the cargo owner before shipment, should request the ocean freight forwarding company to its cargo packaging scientific calculation, detailed approach is to refer to the volume of the container, based on the number of orders to design the packaging. And then according to the container box size design carton size, study an optimal packing plan, make the container to an ideal state.
FAQ
Matson has three shipping points in China, namely Ningbo, Shanghai and Xiamen, and Matson ships from Shanghai port to Long Beach in the western part of the United States without stopping in the middle. Mason has its own exclusive terminal, which gives priority to port clearance, so security and stability are guaranteed.
ZIM is one of the world’s largest container shipping companies, in addition to shipping points in Xiamen, Ningbo and Shanghai, but also in Shenzhen Yantian Port opened a line to Los Angeles, compared to Matson more convenient for sellers in South China shipping. In addition, ZIM is six cut-offs and three openings, arriving at the port in about 14-16 days after sailing, which is faster. ZIM is more likely to be affected by port congestion because it docks at a public pier, while Matson has a dedicated pier, so Matson has a greater advantage in this regard.
See here believe that we have a clearer perception of Matson and ZIM, here we summarize again. If you look at the region, if you are a seller in South China, you should choose ZIM, if you want lower prices, choose ZIM, if you want high value shipments, if you want more stable transportation and timeliness, choose Matson, in terms of space, ZIM space is more adequate, Matson will be tight in the peak season, you need to decide for yourself.
