Seven ways to move a carton out of Dongguan, five Incoterms to name who pays for what — and a reason a light shipment can cost more than a heavy one. Landed cost, not unit price, is what your finance team approves.
At a glance
- ModesExpress · air · air with door delivery · sea · sea with door delivery · rail · truck
- IncotermsFOB · CIF · CFR · DDU · DDP
- Payment50% T/T deposit · 50% before the goods leave the factory
- Your forwarderWelcome — we coordinate directly with them
- WatchPackaging is light but bulky: carton volume drives freight
Choosing a mode
| Mode | Best when | The trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Express courier | Samples, and small runs that must arrive intact | Highest cost per kilogram, door to door, documents handled |
| Air freight | Urgent volume, deadline-driven launches | Airport to airport unless you buy the door leg |
| Air with door delivery | Urgent, and you have no import desk in the destination | Costs more than airport to airport; the door leg is the value |
| Sea freight | Volume orders where the date is a plan, not a promise | Slowest; lowest cost per unit; port to port |
| Sea with door delivery | Volume orders, no import desk | Door leg added on top of ocean freight |
| Rail freight | Inland destinations where a rail corridor serves you | Fewer departures; schedule is fixed, not on demand |
| Truck / road | Cross-border movements within a region | Only where geography allows it |
Incoterms in one table
| Term | We arrange | You arrange |
|---|---|---|
| FOB | Export clearance and delivery to the named port | Ocean freight, insurance, import — usually on your forwarder |
| CIF | Freight and insurance to your port | Import clearance and inland delivery from the port |
| CFR | Freight to your port | Insurance, import and inland delivery |
| DDU | Delivery to your address, import duty unpaid | Duty and import taxes |
| DDP | Delivery to your address with duty paid | Nothing at the border — the simplest invoice, the least control |
DDU is the older name for delivered-duty-unpaid; Incoterms 2020 call it DAP. We keep using “DDU” because that is the term most of our clients quote back to us — the meaning is the same: we deliver, you pay the duty.
Cartons decide your freight
Cosmetic packaging is mostly air. A full container of tubes can weigh far less than its volume allowance, so the carrier charges on volumetric weight — length × width × height ÷ a divisor — whenever that is greater than the actual weight. Two consequences:
- Carton size is a cost decision, not a packing detail. A carton with 15% empty space is 15% of freight you paid for nothing.
- Mixed cartons can cut a shipment’s volume, but they complicate counting and picking at your warehouse. Worth doing when the saving is real, not by default.
Tell us your container or pallet constraints before the carton specification is frozen. It is a five-minute conversation at quotation stage and an expensive one after the goods are boxed.
Working with your own forwarder
- Send us the forwarder’s contact and their booking instructions; we will coordinate the pickup and the documents directly.
- FOB shipments are the usual arrangement: your forwarder books, we deliver to their nominated port or warehouse.
- If you consolidate with other suppliers, tell us the cut-off date — a late carton holds the whole container.
Documents
- Commercial invoice and packing list, checked against the order.
- Bill of lading or air waybill, depending on the mode.
- Testing and material documents where the product and your market require them — SGS raw-material reports, REACH-related reports, PPWR-related testing documentation. See the compliance question.
Payment terms and the shipping question are in payment and Incoterms. For a landed-cost estimate, send the destination and quantity.