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Sea shipping from China to UK
 

Hi guys,

Now I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things, does anyone recommend a shipping company that can do LCL loads from China, it would be from 2-3 Chinese suppliers so I would like someone who has a depot in china that can receive the parts then compile them into one shipment and take care of all the shipping requirements from China to my door in the UK, when I was previously sourcing from China I was spending thousands on air shipping that was making large dents in margins, so really need to start with sea shipments, but this is very new territory for me.

Oh and these are not vero items, very generic and unbranded items so no customs issues.

Thanks in advance.

Re: Sea shipping from China to UK
 

Type "China Freight Forwarders" in google or something similar and email them all with your requirements. LCL is often same price as a full container - try order 20" containers of stuff to improve your margins if you can.

Re: Sea shipping from China to UK
 

Old post but my reply might be useful to someone.

Compiling shipments for sea freight is obviously a great idea and as long as you do your customs paperwork correctly its relatively painless.

Firstly, forget about trying to find a third party company to compile the shipment for you, it is after all just another person in the chain you will have to trust (and pay). Instead choose the supplier you have the best relationship with and ask them if all the goods can be sent to them directly and complied there.

If you have a good relationship with them then this will not be a problem, i must do this every month at least once.

Doing this also means that any QC you intend on carrying out cal all be done at one place at the same time. Suppliers will usually agree to payment terms allowing balances to be paid once this is done, even if its done away from there premises.

When it comes to actual shipping prices then think about it carefully, a saving can often wind up leading to extra costs. Unless your quite experienced in shipping then i would recommend you book your shipping with a UK company, booking through a Chinese company will probably save you 25% of the initial costs but if you get into any issues at the UK end you may well be on your own - pretty daunting if you don't know what your doing.

All in all this is a good step and means your business is growing so keep it up :)

Re: Sea shipping from China to UK
 

There are UK companies who specialise in sourcing items directly within there own inventory of stock subject to MOQ. The advantages of doing this is that you normally don't need to pay for this until the stock has reached the UK (or approx 20-30% deposit until load reaches the UK if you do not have credit terms) and these companies are shipping products regularly by the week so it makes no difference if you have 2 or 3 products from suppliers.

In addition to this they may even source a better price and the price is the end price meaning the cost to you after all shipping and importation costs is exact rather than you trying to guess which is very likely if you do not do this regularly. In addition to this, if for example you were purchasing electrical goods they would ensure your products comply with all certifications. We do this with quite a lot of our larger size products or products which we sell in high quantities therefore it is very worthwhile considering this approach as it could improve cashflow and reduce your time spent on shipping issues.

We have imported goods ourselves by Air, Sea and UK importation companies and I believe using a combination of all is the best however it really depends on the products being imported.

Be prepared for the longer delivery times with sea shipping as from date of payment being processed you can easily be 2-3 months before delivery been though shipping times are normally 30-40 days.

Best of luck

Re: Sea shipping from China to UK
 

Hi. Can you expand on this please?
Also how would I find such a company?
This would be very useful!
Thanks

Re: Sea shipping from China to UK
 

Post #2 could be helpful for search

Re: Sea shipping from China to UK
 

If your stuff is coming from the south of china try co-logistics, if its from Yiwu/Ningbo/Shanghai go for East Star

Re: Sea shipping from China to UK
 

Go find a forwarder in china,they could arrange it for you.

Shipping by sea is cheaper a lot then by air,and you could even save much cost

Re: Sea shipping from China to UK
 

That's not entirely accurate. Shipping by sea is cheaper than air only when the volume is significant enough. We can also bring in a lot of smaller items by air for around the same price as by sea and a whole lot faster.

Shipping by sea has a lot of set costs regardless of overall volume, quantity or value therefore if the quantity/volume of the items being shipped is too low then sea shipping would not be worthwhile. Most of these costs don't apply to air shipping.

Re: Sea shipping from China to UK
 

That is for true if you only shipping small qty by sea,the cost is not worthy .

It is good idea to shipping by sea for big qty and big weight items.

Re: Sea shipping from China to UK
 

Hi. I would like to know the companies you use to ship by sea to the UK.