China to USA shipping time:
every lane, and what each figure counts from

On our contracted forwarder's September 2026 rate card: air priority is 6–8 working days to pickup and air economy 7–9 working days, both counted from the day we receive the goods. Sea freight is 16 natural days to pickup on the Matson express lane and about 22 natural days on the standard Yantian lane, counted from vessel departure. Add 3–7 days of consolidation and export paperwork in China before the cut-off, and 1–3 days of clearance and delivery at the US end if you are not already counting them.

The card figures are to pickup at your delivery address — door-to-door DDP — but each lane counts from a different starting point, and that is where most quote comparisons go wrong. Air: from cargo receipt at our warehouse. Sea: from vessel departure, so it excludes the 3–7 days we spend collecting from your suppliers, checking, repacking and clearing export. If a quote tells you "22 days" without saying 22 days from where, treat it as marketing.

The usual reasons, in order of how often we see them: documents that did not match the goods (invoice description, HS code or declared value), a customs inspection at either end together with the detention, demurrage or storage it causes, peak-season congestion from mid-November to February, sailing or flight delays outside the forwarder's control, and cargo that needed a magnetic inspection or a battery declaration before it could be accepted. Weather, port strikes and airline capacity cuts in the same week hit everyone on the lane, not just your shipment.

Air priority (P) at 6–8 working days to pickup is the fastest lane on our card, with air economy (C) one to two days behind it — and you only get the full benefit if your documents are ready before the cargo arrives at our warehouse. In practice the paperwork is what decides the total: a shipment that arrives with a complete invoice, packing list, HS code and declared value moves the same day, while one that needs three rounds of clarification sits for a week before it even books.

On the Matson express lane, yes: the card carries a delayed-sailing credit of RMB 0.5 per kilo per day, capped at RMB 2 per kilo. There is no delay compensation on the other lanes, and the card is explicit that delays caused by customs, weather, strikes or airline capacity are outside it. From mid-November to February the forwarder also suspends delay compensation because peak season makes schedules unpredictable — we tell you that before booking, not after.

Yes, and it is the stage buyers forget to budget. Collecting from several suppliers takes 1–3 days per factory, and the goods then need checking against your PO, photographing, repacking and export clearance before the cut-off — 3–7 days in total for a multi-supplier order. It buys you something worth having: one shipment instead of five, one customs entry instead of five, and usually a lower freight rate because volume pushes you into a better weight tier.

Air priority if the value per kilo justifies it, air economy if it is close and you want the lower rate, and rail or sea only if you can accept four to six weeks. A useful rule of thumb on our card: anything under 100 kg is nearly always air, because the sea saving per kilo rarely covers the four extra weeks; anything over 500 kg is nearly always sea, because the air premium becomes thousands of yuan. Between those numbers we quote both and show you the crossover in writing.

Yes, and the transit time is the same — what changes is the preparation: two or more labels per carton, Team Lift marking above 22.5 kg, Heavy Package marking above 15 kg, and a delivery appointment the consignee or we arrange with the warehouse. US FBA lanes are door-to-door DDP like any other US shipment; if you want the full preparation checklist it sits on our FBA prep and shipping page.