Importing from China

The manufacturer should send you a bill of lading, note that this is basically the title of ownership for the goods and as such ismore important than a merenotice that the container is arriving.

Here an example timeline:

1) Place order, with lead time planned.

2) Manufacturer informs me of shipping date.

Note: I was responsible for the freight.

3) I contact freight forwarders and settle on the price and forwarder to use.

4) Payment was issued to manufacturer while the freight was on the water.

5) Manufacturer released bill of lading upon receipt of payment.

Note: 3 copies were sent to me by courier along with a certificate of origin, an invoice and a packing list.

6) I fax one signed copy to the freight forwarder. They will need it to get the cargo released from the steamship line to the truck for the last leg till the warehouse.

7) The steamship line would send me an arrival notice.

Note: On the bill of lading there is a place toput the "notify party". Use both yourself and the freight forwarder. This will tell the steamship line to send you arrival notices.

With many steamship lines the arrival notice is also the invoice for the ocean freight.

8) We'd have to send payment to the steamship line before the container got to the last rail terminal as that's the farthest the container will move till they have their money.

Note: Don't screw up here. You have about 2 days from the time a container hits any unloading point. After that you pay demurrage and that can be well over $100 per day.

Make sure your container never just sits anywhere or you will lose a lot of money.

9) The container would have to clear customs and any other regulatory entity (we were importing an FDA controlled product, so we had FDA as well).

This is where your customs agent does their work. They can "pre-clear" and get them to do this, remember demurrage.

Note: Because you may get flagged by customs (or in the case of our product even the FDA) for inspection have a warehouse ready within about 50 miles of the rail yard or port.

I have had to hold product in a warehouse for a monthwhile waiting for an FDA release.

10) When you get all the releases and clearances you need to get the cargo moving again to avoid demurrage.

Your freight forwarder and steamship line should make sure the freight moves at this point.

11) It gets put on a truck for the last leg to the warehouse.

Note: Many warehouses require that appointments be scheduled. If yours does the freight forwarder will need to inform the trucking company about this.

12) Product arrives. The trucking company will probably give you two free hours for unloading and will charge about $40/hour of "detention" after this.

Get all your ducks in a row. In the course of the voyage many things can go wrong that can cost you time and money.

Ask the people you work with about everything, they won't be used to talking to someone who doesn't know all the jargon but bug em for it all anyway.

thanks Craven
I appreciate the information Craven, thanks for taking the time!

Just to clarify, you mentioned-

"Note: On the bill of lading there is a place toput the "notify party". Use both yourself and the freight forwarder. This will tell the steamship line to send you arrival notices."

This seems to imply that I would need to know who the freight forwarder will be ahead of time since the manufacturer will be filling this out, is this correct?

Also, do you know if I could have the freight forwarder just bring the load straight to my house from the dock in Seattle? I live in Seattle and the first order I will be making will consist of 25 boxes that are only about 4 cubic feet each.

Thanks again Craven!

Re: thanks Craven


Yes, if you want the steamship line to notify your freight forwarder or customs broker you need their information on the bill of lading.

Alternately you could make sure to relay it all yourself.



Sure, they should be able to do that. Make sure you are prepared to unload it or have arrangements made as the truck driver reserves that time to scratch himself.

thanks again Craven!
Sounds great Craven, thanks for all the info. It's really helpful to all us beginners!

My pleasure.

Pick up at port. Is that possible?
As long I have my BILL of Lading. Can any regular joe just pick up a 900lbs package at a port. ex: (from China to Boston)

Newbie

Importing from CHINA
Can an INDIVIDUAL purchase an ATV from a willing Chinese Manufacturer that will send it to USA port?

Some brokers say they can not move it if it's non commercial!

Is there a way around this?

Reno