Planning
Buyers plan from the signature. Cargo moves from the deposit. The difference between those two dates is usually two to three weeks, and it is the reason first orders arrive later than the spreadsheet said.
Contents
A purchase order signed at a booth on October 27 is a commercial intention. A factory schedules production when the deposit lands in its account and the artwork is approved, and neither of those happens on the day you shake hands. Two to three weeks between signature and production start is normal for a first order, and it is the single most common omission in a buyer's delivery estimate.
So build the plan backwards. Take the date you need goods in your warehouse, subtract destination clearance and delivery, subtract ocean or air transit, subtract export handling, subtract production, and subtract two weeks for the paperwork to settle. What remains is the date you need to place the order — and for a December arrival from a late-October fair, that date is usually already tight.
Thirty days is the number quoted for most consumer goods, and it is a fair number for a repeat order in a factory that is already running the product. First orders run longer, because of pre-production samples, moulds, packaging artwork and the approval loop around each. Forty-five days is a more honest planning figure.
| Order type | Planning figure | What stretches it |
|---|---|---|
| Repeat order, existing product | 20–30 days | Factory peak season, especially before Chinese New Year |
| First order, existing mould | 30–40 days | Artwork approval, packaging print run |
| New product or new mould | 45–75 days | Tooling, trial runs, sample rounds |
| Peak season (Sept–Dec, pre-CNY) | Add 7–15 days | Shared production lines, labour returning home |
Ranges reflect typical consumer-goods manufacturing in Guangdong and Zhejiang. Categories with certification requirements — electronics, toys, food-contact goods — add a compliance step before production can be released.
A Canton Fair order placed in the first week of November lands in the pre-Chinese New Year window, and that is the hardest window of the year. Factories in Guangdong close for one to three weeks around the holiday, and the fortnight before closure is when every line runs at capacity. If the order must ship before the holiday, the production slot has to be booked in November, not in December.
Inspection is not a delay if it is scheduled. It becomes one when it is requested after the goods are packed and the factory has already released the container slot.
A third-party inspection usually needs three to five working days' notice, and it happens when production is finished and at least part of the order is packed. Build two to three days into the plan for the inspection itself and for any rework it triggers. On a first order, plan for rework: most inspections find something, and the question is whether it is a two-day fix or a two-week one.
Ocean space is booked before the cargo is ready, not after. On main trade lanes a booking is normally placed seven to fourteen days before the intended sailing, with the container gate-in window following. In the weeks before Chinese New Year, or during a capacity crunch, that lead time doubles and the rate moves weekly.
Air is more flexible on space and less flexible on price. A booking made two or three days ahead can usually be accommodated; the same booking made on the day of departure costs whatever the market says it costs.
Once the container is stuffed, the sequence is: gate in at the terminal, customs declaration filed, release obtained, vessel loaded. In a normal week that is two to four days from factory loading to sailing. In a congested week, or when a declaration is queried, it is longer.
Declarations get queried for ordinary reasons: a description that does not match the HS code, a missing licence for a regulated category, an invoice total that does not reconcile. All of those are avoidable at the point the supplier issues documents, and none of them are avoidable at the terminal gate.
| Route from South China | Port to port | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| US West Coast (LA, Long Beach, Seattle) | 14–20 days | Fastest lane; US import clearance adds days at destination |
| US East Coast and Gulf | 28–38 days | Via Panama or Suez depending on service |
| North Europe (Rotterdam, Hamburg, Antwerp) | 30–40 days | Congestion at either end moves the number |
| Mediterranean | 28–38 days | Transhipment options can shorten or lengthen it |
| Middle East (Jebel Ali) | 18–25 days | Strong direct coverage from Shenzhen and Nansha |
| West Africa | 35–50 days | Transhipment and port dwell dominate |
| South America East Coast | 35–50 days | Routing via transhipment hub is usual |
Port-to-port sailing times on direct services. Door-to-door adds origin handling, destination clearance and inland delivery, and transhipment adds a connection window at the hub.
This is where first-time importers lose the most days, because the work happens in a country they cannot see. Budget two to five days for clearance on a clean entry, and considerably longer if the entry is not clean: a missing certificate, a valuation query, a tariff code the broker disagrees with, or a random examination.
The three things that prevent most of it are unglamorous. Get the importer of record set up before the cargo sails, not after. Confirm which certificates the destination requires for that specific product. And make sure the commercial invoice the supplier issued in China is the same invoice your broker will file at destination — one document, two countries, no reconciliation.
None of the five are freight problems in the narrow sense. All five are solved by planning the order as a chain of dated steps rather than as a single hope.
Q How long does shipping from China to the US take?
Port to port, 14 to 20 days to the West Coast and 28 to 38 days to the East Coast and Gulf. Add production, export handling and destination clearance for the door-to-door figure, which is typically 6 to 10 weeks from deposit.
Q How long does sea freight from China to Europe take?
30 to 40 days port to port to North European ports on direct services. Mediterranean routes run 28 to 38 days, with transhipment adding a connection window.
Q Is air freight worth it for a Canton Fair order?
For high-value, low-weight cargo and for restart stock it is. Airport to airport is 2 to 5 days on main lanes, and door to door is usually 5 to 9 days. For heavy or bulky goods the cost per kilogram rarely justifies it.
Q When should I place a Canton Fair order to arrive before Chinese New Year?
Backwards from the holiday, not forwards from the fair. Production slots before the closure are booked from November, and factories stop taking new orders weeks before they close.
Q What is the single biggest cause of delay on a first order?
The gap between signing and the deposit clearing, together with artwork approval. It routinely adds two weeks that never appear in anyone's plan.
Related pages
Give us the product, the volume and the date you need it in your warehouse, and we will work the chain backwards and tell you the latest date you can place the order.
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