Pick The Method
Sea for volume, air for speed, express for samples. The product usually decides this for you.
Pick The Incoterm
This decides where the supplier's responsibility ends and yours begins. It matters more than most buyers realise.
Book And Document
Get the paperwork agreed while the goods are still in production, not after they ship.
Clear And Collect
File the declaration, pay duty, and move the cargo inland from the port.
The Main Routes
Most goods leave from the big southern and eastern Chinese ports. Shenzhen and Guangzhou serve the Pearl River Delta, where a lot of electronics and consumer goods are made. Ningbo and Shanghai serve the east. Qingdao serves the north.
On the Pakistani side, almost everything arrives at Karachi Port or Port Qasim. Air cargo comes into Karachi, Lahore or Islamabad.
There is also the land route over the Khunjerab Pass into Gilgit-Baltistan. It is real and it is used, but the pass is seasonal and closes in winter, so it is not a year-round option for commercial cargo.
Full Container Or Shared Container
A full container load means you book the whole box. It is the cheapest way to move goods per unit, and it is simpler, because your cargo is not waiting on anyone else's.
A shared container load means your goods travel with other people's. You pay by volume. It is the right choice for smaller shipments, but it adds time at both ends for consolidation and deconsolidation, and your cargo is handled more.
There is a crossover point. Once you are filling most of a container, shared loading stops being cheaper and you are better off booking the whole thing. Ask your forwarder to price both when you are near that line.
What Actually Drives The Cost
Freight rates are not stable. They move with fuel, with capacity, with the season, and with whatever is happening on the major trade lanes. Rates published in an article are a snapshot, and we have deliberately not printed any here, because the sources we checked disagreed with each other by several times over.
What you can control is the shape of the shipment. Volume and weight both matter, and for bulky light goods it is volume that prices the job. Packing density is a real lever. So is timing, because booking into a peak period costs more than booking outside one.
Get a current quote for your actual cargo. Anything else is guesswork.
| Method | Roughly how long | Suits |
|---|---|---|
| Sea freight, full container (FCL) | The slowest option, measured in weeks. | Full loads, heavy or bulky goods, the lowest cost per unit. |
| Sea freight, shared container (LCL) | Slower than FCL once you add consolidation time. | Part loads. Charged by volume, so it stops making sense as volume grows. |
| Air freight | Days rather than weeks. | Light, high value, or urgent goods. Priced by weight. |
| Express courier | The fastest. | Samples and very small parcels. |
| Term | Who moves the goods | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| EXW | You do, from the factory door onward. | Buyers with their own freight forwarder who want full control. |
| FOB | Supplier gets it to the port and clears Chinese export. You take it from there. | Most buyers. It is the usual middle ground. |
| CIF | Supplier books the main sea freight and insurance. | Simple on paper, but you lose control of the forwarder and the destination charges. |
| DDP | Supplier or agent handles everything including import clearance and duty. | Buyers who want one number and no paperwork. Check what is actually included. |
Incoterms Decide Who Carries The Risk
The Incoterm in your contract decides who arranges transport, who pays for what, and at which point the risk passes from the supplier to you. Buyers skim over this and then get surprised by charges at the destination.
The main thing to understand is that a quote is not comparable unless you know the term. An EXW price and a DDP price for the same goods are not the same offer, and the cheaper-looking one usually is not.
Plan The Time Backwards
Sea freight from China to Karachi takes weeks, and that is only the sailing. Before it there is production time, and after it there is clearance and inland delivery. The full cycle from placing an order to having sellable stock is considerably longer than the transit time.
Plan backwards from the date you need the goods. Then add a buffer, because production runs late, vessels get delayed, and clearance occasionally takes longer than it should.
Chinese New Year deserves its own line in your calendar. Factories close for an extended period around it, output drops before it and takes time to recover after. Every experienced importer plans around that date, and every new importer gets caught by it once.
How Goods Leave China
Shipping Questions
How long does shipping from China to Karachi take?
Sea freight is measured in weeks and air freight in days. The honest answer is that transit time is only part of it. Add production time before and clearance time after, and plan the whole cycle rather than the sailing alone.
Should I use FCL or LCL?
Shared container load suits smaller shipments and is charged by volume. Full container load is cheaper per unit once you are filling most of a box. If you are near the crossover, have your forwarder price both.
Which port should my goods arrive at?
Karachi Port and Port Qasim handle most commercial sea cargo into Pakistan. Which one suits you depends on your forwarder, the service, and where the goods are going inland.
Is the land route through Khunjerab Pass usable?
It exists and it is used, but the pass is seasonal and closes in winter. It is not the default choice for regular commercial cargo from China.
Why do freight quotes vary so much?
Because rates move with fuel, capacity and season, and because quotes are not comparable unless they cover the same Incoterm and the same scope of charges. Always compare like for like, and always get a current quote for your actual cargo.
Related Pages
Let Us Move It For You
We ship into Pakistan and the USA on established routes. Tell us the product and destination and we will quote it delivered.