Price List of LCL International Shipping per Cubic Meter of Goods from China to Canada

Ocean freight per cubic meter for less than container load (LCL) groupage from Shenzhen to Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto and the other Canadian destinations we ship to most often. The table reproduces a 2020 tariff; the sections underneath cover the rules that catch importers out — palletisation at the transit port, the ACI advance filing, the destination delivery charge and the ISPM 15 wood packaging requirement.

Notes for LCL shipments from China to Canada

Transit cargo must be palletised

For inland destinations served through Vancouver, Montreal or Toronto, the first-leg ocean freight applies in addition to the inland rate. Small consignments get no first-leg discount at the transit port, and all transiting cargo has to be palletised: if it arrives loose, the transit warehouse palletises it and charges on the volume after palletisation, which is always larger than the volume you shipped. The ocean-freight differential for the transit leg is added at the port of departure. Personal effects are priced case by case, and the transit port for personal effects is Toronto.

Oversize and heavy cargo

Additional charges apply, and must be confirmed in advance, when a single piece exceeds 3 tonnes or 2.5 metres in length, or when a shipment needs transshipment above 10 cubic meters or 4.5 tonnes. Heavy cargo exceeding 300 kg per cubic meter is re-rated. The destination delivery charge (DDC) is USD 18 per revenue ton.

ACI advance filing

All cargo transshipped through Canada requires an ACI (Advance Commercial Information) filing before loading — USD 25 per shipment. The Canadian consignee must provide the HS code of the goods (6 to 10 digits) together with the ACI data, and the commercial invoice must match it. A filing amendment after submission is charged at USD 50 per shipment.

Wood packaging: ISPM 15 is mandatory

Since 1 September 2009 the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has refused wood packaging that carries no certification, or carries only a Chinese phytosanitary certificate. Wood packaging must bear the IPPC mark and comply with ISPM 15. If the destination customs finds the packaging non-compliant, the container can be ordered back to China and all resulting costs fall on the shipper. Use heat-treated or fumigated wood, or switch to plywood crates and plastic pallets.

LCL rate card: Shenzhen to Canada, per cubic meter

Ocean freight only, in US dollars per cubic meter. Origin and destination local charges, ACI filing, customs clearance, duty and taxes are excluded.

Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto are served direct from Shenzhen with a minimum chargeable volume of 1 m³. Every other Canadian city is served via Vancouver or Toronto, carries a minimum of 2 m³ and a different volume:weight ratio.

How to calculate an LCL rate to Canada

The price list covers Shenzhen to Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, Charlottetown, Edmonton, Halifax, Ottawa, Moncton, Regina, Saint John, Saskatoon, St. John’s, Quebec City and Winnipeg. To estimate a rate from another Chinese origin, use Shenzhen as the benchmark: from the coastal ports of Xiamen, Ningbo, Shanghai, Qingdao, Tianjin and Dalian, and from inland cities such as Chengdu, Chongqing and Wuhan, the LCL cost to Canada is close to the Shenzhen level.

Chargeable volume rule. The minimum chargeable volume from Shenzhen to Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto is 1 m³; from Shenzhen to every other Canadian city and port it is 2 m³. The volume:weight ratio for the direct ports is 1 m³ : 1,000 kg; for inland destinations it is 1 m³ : 330 kg, which means light, bulky cargo to inland Canada is rated on volume even when the weight is modest.

The counter-intuitive part: bigger volume, higher rate per cubic meter

On this tariff the unit rate rises with volume. A single shipment from Shenzhen to Vancouver of under 1 cubic meter is USD 10 per cubic meter; between 1 and 3 cubic meters it is USD 22; between 3 and 5 cubic meters USD 27; and above 5 cubic meters USD 30. The same pattern runs through Montreal and Toronto, from USD 36 up to USD 50.

That is the opposite of what most shippers expect — normally buying more means paying less per unit. Groupage works the other way round, and the reason is worth understanding.

Why the per-cubic-meter rate rises with volume

A Chinese groupage operator’s profit does not come from the ocean freight leg. It comes from the fixed charges raised at the origin warehouse and again at the destination warehouse. Those charges are billed per shipment, so a large consignment occupies more space, generates more handling and more paperwork at both ends, and the unit rate has to move up to cover it. Small parcels are priced low precisely because they consume almost nothing in the warehouse.

Local charges at origin (Shenzhen):

1. Documentation — RMB 300 per shipment.
2. Export customs declaration — RMB 350 per shipment.
3. CFS warehouse operation — RMB 40 per cubic meter.
4. ACI / eManifest filing — USD 25 per shipment.
5. Warehouse entry and handling — RMB 130 per truck. This is paid by the supplier’s driver when the goods are delivered to the Shenzhen groupage warehouse. If one shipment is delivered three times, the charge is RMB 130 × 3 = RMB 390.

Consolidating several suppliers into one delivery is therefore one of the easiest ways to cut the total cost of a China–Canada groupage shipment. Our warehouse address in China is the Sinotrans LCL warehouse, Pinghu, Shenzhen.

Who the LCL rate applies to

The rates are designed for companies that hold complete export declaration documents in China and have customs clearance experience in Canada. Clearance is comparatively straightforward for a business importer and considerably harder for an individual.

If you are shipping as an individual, confirm with the CBSA, a Canadian customs broker or your freight forwarder whether the goods you have bought meet Canadian import requirements before booking. That check avoids the two most common failures: the goods cannot be cleared in Canada, or they clear but the duties and taxes are so high that the consignee abandons the shipment.

Individuals also frequently struggle with two practical questions — how the freight is calculated, and where the cargo actually is. Ask us for a step-by-step explanation before you ship; there is no charge for it.

What the price does and does not cover

The rates are a regular port-to-port LCL service. They are not a door-to-door service and not a DDP “double-clearance” channel.

Ordinary goods only: clothing, furniture, household appliances, mobile phones, paper products, machinery and building materials.

Not suitable for: dried vegetables, dried goods, tea, beans and other foodstuffs, batteries, dangerous goods, or Amazon FBA shipments — each of these needs a separate channel and a separate quotation.

LCL or air freight to Canada?

LCL is far cheaper than air freight per kilogram and suits cargo of a few cubic meters that fills less than half a 20GP container. But groupage carries a large block of fixed local charges, so for a shipment of only tens of kilograms international express or air freight to Canada is usually cheaper in total. As a rule of thumb: under about 100 kg use express, from roughly 1 cubic meter up to about 15 cubic meters use LCL, and above 15 cubic meters price a 20GP container as well.