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How to Ship from China to Croatia: Rijeka Gateway, 25% PDV & Transit Rules

Croatia is a small market with an outsized role in the region's logistics, and that mismatch is the first thing a new importer should understand. Three facts shape almost every decision on this lane. The first is that Rijeka has become a direct call from Asia rather than a feeder destination. The Rijeka Gateway container terminal, developed by APM Terminals with the Croatian group Enna Logic, began commercial operations in September 2025 and is now a regular port of call on the Gemini AE12/SE1 service linking major Asian ports with the Mediterranean and Adriatic.

The second is that Croatia charges 25% VAT, PDV, among the highest standard rates in the European Union, on a customs value that already includes freight and duty. The third is that a large share of what is discharged here does not stay here. Croatia borders three non-EU neighbours — Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro — and serves Hungary, Austria, Slovakia and Czechia by rail, so the country is as often a transit corridor as a destination. Who is the importer of record, and in which country the goods enter free circulation, determines whether Croatian PDV is due at all.

Everything else is standard European Union. Croatia has been in the customs union since 2013, duty comes from the TARIC commodity code, there is no EU–China free trade agreement, and the customs administration sits inside the Ministry of Finance. Croatia adopted the euro in January 2023, so there is no kuna conversion to manage, and joined the Schengen area at the same time.

This guide is written for buyers importing from China for the first time. It covers what changed at Rijeka, how to choose between Rijeka and Ploče, the rail corridor and the single-track constraint behind it, Croatia's transit role, transit times by sea air and courier, trade terms, the documents Croatian customs asks for and the two numbers behind them, the 25% rate and the duty relief that ended in mid-2026, VAT recovery, the Fiscalization 2.0 e-invoicing rules that arrived in January 2026, summer capacity on the coast, and how to tell whether a forwarder genuinely books this lane.

What Rijeka Gateway changed for a shipper in China

Before 2025, importers routing through Rijeka were usually accepting a transhipment: the container arrived on a large vessel at a bigger Mediterranean or North Adriatic hub, was discharged, and came back on a feeder. Every transhipment adds a handling, a dwell and a chance of missing the connecting sailing. The opening of Rijeka Gateway changed the shape of that routing.

The terminal is operated by APM Terminals, part of the Maersk group, in partnership with the Croatian logistics group Enna Logic. In its first year of commercial operation it handled more than 370,000 TEU, roughly 225,000 containers, and received around 100 vessels — of which 47 were mother ships over 360 metres long running intercontinental Asia–Europe services, and 53 were feeders connecting Rijeka with Italian and regional ports. It ran more than a thousand trains and processed around 80,000 trucks. Rail now carries about 53% of the terminal's inland volume, which is high by European standards, and average truck turnaround inside the terminal is around 15 minutes, with a best recorded time of 10 minutes.

The commercially important detail is the service. Rijeka Gateway is a regular port of call on the Gemini AE12/SE1 service, the operational cooperation between Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd covering the route that connects major Asian ports with the Mediterranean. In plain terms: on that service your container stays on the mother vessel from Asia to the Adriatic instead of being transhipped. The terminal also runs a feeder network to Trieste, Venice, Ravenna and Ancona, with additional calls to Ploče and Durrës expected, and has become a transhipment point for cargo moving to and from Italy.

What it does not change is everything after the quay. Rijeka is an EU port, EU customs rules apply in full, and the same documents, commodity codes and PDV obligations apply as they would at Rotterdam or Piraeus. A faster, more direct sailing is worth having, but it is not a shortcut around compliance.

Rijeka or Ploče: two Croatian ports that serve different countries

Croatia's coastline is long and its two container-relevant ports sit at opposite ends of it, serving different hinterlands. Choosing between them is not about freight cost; it is about where the goods go after discharge.

Dalmatia has a particular geography worth knowing: the Croatian coast is interrupted by a short stretch of Bosnian coastline at Neum, which for decades meant driving the length of the coast required crossing into Bosnia and Herzegovina and back. The Pelješac Bridge, built by China Road and Bridge Corporation and opened in 2022, now carries the Adriatic highway across that gap without a border crossing. It is a genuine improvement for delivery planning on coastal routes, and it is the kind of detail Chinese suppliers and officials tend to know already, because it is one of the largest Chinese-built infrastructure projects inside the EU.

If your delivery address is on an island — Hvar, Brač, Korčula, Krk, Pag, Rab, Vis, Mljet and others — the container does not go there directly. It clears at a mainland port and the last leg runs on a Jadrolinija ferry or a coastal service, with check-in typically two to three hours before departure, freight vehicles carried on most conventional routes, and seasonal timetables on the smaller ones. Ask whether that leg is in your quote and how many days it adds.

Rail out of Rijeka, and the single track that still limits it

The reason Rijeka matters to buyers outside Croatia is the rail corridor behind it. Since the terminal opened, regular rail services have connected it with Budapest, Belgrade and Graz, the Graz service added in June 2026 as the terminal's first direct operational link into Austria. Rail Cargo Group runs TransFER services on the Budapest–Rijeka and Belgrade–Rijeka axes, and ENNA Transport launched a Hungarian rail company, ENNA Transport HU, which received its Single Safety Certificate on 12 January 2026 — the first such certificate issued in Europe that year — and operates the Hungarian leg with Vectron and Traxx locomotives. Roll-on roll-off vessels from Asia have also been calling at Rijeka since August, with cars railed onward to Central and South-Eastern Europe.

Here is the honest part. The Zagreb–Rijeka line is largely single track, and the double-track upgrade — the lowland railway project — is still at an early design stage. Rail out of Rijeka works and is growing, but its capacity is finite, and in peak weeks a truck can be the more predictable option. If a forwarder promises rail without qualification, ask which operator, which service and what happens if the slot is not available.

Two further developments are in the pipeline: a new terminal on the island of Krk, and a logistics centre at Kukuljanovo being built by an East Asian port authority that has invited the Port Authority into co-ownership. Both point the same direction — more capacity behind Rijeka, not less.

Croatia as a transit country, and the stretch of coast that is not Croatian

Croatia shares land borders with Slovenia and Hungary, both EU members, and with Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, which are not. That geography makes it a transit corridor, and a first-time importer needs to know which of two structures their shipment is using, because the two have different tax outcomes.

Structure one: Croatia is the clearance country. A Croatian company is the importer of record, the goods enter free circulation at Rijeka, duty and 25% PDV are paid in Croatia, and the goods then move onward as EU goods — to Hungary, Austria or anywhere else in the single market — with no further customs formalities. This is the right structure when the buyer is Croatian or when they want the goods in free circulation immediately.

Structure two: Croatia is a transit country. If the final destination is Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia or Montenegro, the cargo can move under a T1 customs transit procedure through Croatia and be cleared at destination instead. No Croatian duty or PDV arises, because the goods never enter free circulation in the EU. The transit procedure has to be opened correctly, the guarantee arranged, and the movement discharged at the destination office — which is your broker's job, but you need to have chosen it before the vessel sails rather than at the terminal.

Three ways into Croatia, and what each one really takes

Most first orders from China to Croatia move by sea as LCL, because the volumes are small. Larger and repeat orders move as FCL. Air is reserved for urgency, high value or spare parts, and courier carries samples and documents.

Two qualifications matter. First, those sea figures are port to port and were already being stretched by Red Sea diversions on some sailings; door-to-door adds pickup, clearance and the inland leg. Second, there is no nonstop air service from China to Croatia. Air cargo to Zagreb transits Frankfurt, Vienna, Istanbul or Amsterdam, so the transit time depends as much on the connection as on the flight. Our own air freight to Croatia page sets out what that looks like in practice.

Trade terms for a Croatian port when the real buyer is next door

The trade term in your contract decides who pays for each leg, who handles clearance, and where risk transfers. For a shipment into Rijeka the same terms apply as anywhere, but the transit question adds a layer.

Then there is the scope question, which is separate from the term. Port to port means the carrier's responsibility runs from the load port to the discharge port. Airport to airport is the air equivalent. Door to door adds pickup and final delivery. Goodhope works port to port on ocean freight and airport to airport on air freight, and tells you plainly which one you are buying.

And the transit layer: if the goods are going on to Bosnia and Herzegovina or Serbia, the contract must state whether Croatia is the clearance country or a transit country. If it does not, the default assumption at the port will be that the goods are being imported into Croatia, and 25% PDV will be assessed on that basis. Undoing that after the fact is slow and expensive.

The documents Croatian customs asks for, and the two numbers you must have

Croatian paperwork is EU paperwork. What trips up new importers is not the list itself but two identifiers they did not know they needed, and one description error that turns into a query.

The document set itself:

• Commercial invoice — trade term, currency, commodity code, full product description rather than a generic phrase such as "machine parts", quantity, unit and total value, country of origin, and the OIB of the Croatian party.
• Packing list — piece count, net and gross weights, dimensions, packaging type and any marks.
• Bill of lading or air waybill — the transport document, with the consignee and notify party matching what your broker expects.
• EORI number of the importer of record.
• Certificate of origin where a preference is being claimed; the EUR.1 movement certificate is issued by the Croatian Chamber of Economy, HGK.
• Conformity documentation — the EU declaration of conformity and technical file for products covered by CE-marking directives or regulations.
• Any licence or permit for controlled categories: food contact materials, plant products, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, radio equipment.

Two practical points. Wood packaging must meet ISPM-15 — heat treated or fumigated and carrying the stamp — or border inspection can reject the pallets and the clearance stops with them. And all declarations are filed electronically through the Croatian e-Customs system, with advance submission speeding up processing, so your broker needs the documents before the vessel arrives rather than after.

PDV at 25 percent, and the duty threshold that disappeared in 2026

Croatian VAT, PDV — porez na dodanu vrijednost — has a standard rate of 25%, with reduced rates of 13% and 5% for defined categories including certain foods, water, pharmaceutical products and books. Excise duty applies separately to alcohol, tobacco, energy products and motor vehicles.

The calculation matters because it compounds. Import PDV is charged on the customs value, which is the CIF value plus the duty plus the cost of transport to the EU border — not on the invoice value alone. So on a shipment with a CIF value of €10,000 attracting 4% duty, duty is €400 and PDV is 25% of €10,400 plus the inland-to-border transport element, roughly €2,600. Line up the numbers before you set a retail price, because the effect is larger than most first-time importers expect.

Two thresholds have gone. The €22 import VAT relief ended in 2021, so PDV is charged from the first euro. And the relief that exempted consignments valued at €150 or less from customs duty was removed across the EU on 1 July 2026, replaced by a temporary flat charge of €3 per product category on consignments at or below that value, running until 1 July 2028. Several units of the same category count once; different categories are charged separately.

On duty itself: there is no EU–China free trade agreement, so goods of Chinese origin are assessed at MFN rates from the TARIC database, and some categories — certain steel, aluminium, ceramics and bicycles among them — carry additional anti-dumping duty. Confirm your code with a Croatian broker before you commit to a price.

Recovering import VAT in Croatia, and where deferment fits

For a business registered for Croatian VAT, import PDV is normally not a cost — it is a timing issue. The import is declared and the PDV deducted in the same periodic return, and returns are generally monthly, due on the 20th of the month following the reporting period. If you are registered and you are the importer of record, you get the money back through the return.

Deferment arrangements, in which import PDV is accounted for through the return rather than paid at clearance, exist for registered importers subject to authorisation and conditions. Whether your business qualifies, and what security is required, is a question for your Croatian tax adviser rather than for a freight forwarder.

The place where importers lose money is DDP. If the shipment is cleared by a seller's agent or a third party and that party is the importer of record, the PDV is paid by them and the recovery follows them. You will pay for it in the price and you will not reclaim it. That can still be the right answer for a first shipment — the simplicity is real — but it should be a decision, not something you discover later.

One asymmetry to know: for a business not established in Croatia, there is no VAT registration threshold — registration is required from the first taxable supply, whereas an established business has a small turnover threshold. Non-EU businesses may also need to appoint a tax representative. If you plan to hold stock in Croatia or sell domestically, get advice before the first container sails.

Where your duty rate comes from, and the flat charge on small parcels

Your duty rate comes from the commodity code — the Combined Nomenclature code at EU level, extended in the TARIC database to include trade measures. The same physical product can sit at 0% or 12% depending on how it is classified, and the classification is the importer's responsibility to get right.

Three things follow from the code beyond the rate: whether an anti-dumping duty applies to goods of Chinese origin in that category, whether a licence, certificate or conformity assessment is required, and whether the goods are subject to a product-specific regime such as excise. Getting the code confirmed before the goods leave China is the single cheapest risk-reduction step on this lane, because a code amended after arrival means amended declarations, and a pattern of them means closer scrutiny on everything that follows.

Fiscalization 2.0, and what a Croatian buyer must do with your invoice

This section is about your buyer rather than your shipment, and it is the part most first-time exporters to Croatia have never heard of. Fiscalization 2.0 took effect on 1 January 2026 and is one of the broadest e-invoicing and reporting mandates in Europe.

In outline: VAT-registered businesses established in Croatia must issue and receive structured electronic invoices — eRačun — for domestic business-to-business and business-to-government transactions. The format is the European standard EN 16931 with a Croatian specification known as HR-FISK 2.0, exchanged over the Peppol network, and the invoice data is reported to the Tax Administration, Porezna uprava, in real time. Both sides carry an obligation: the issuer fiscalises at issue, and the recipient must fiscalise an invoice they receive within five working days. Invoices need the buyer's OIB and a six-digit KPD product classification code per line, and are digitally signed with a certificate linked to the issuer's OIB.

What this means for you: cross-border transactions are currently outside the mandate. Your Chinese supplier's invoice to a Croatian buyer does not have to be a structured eRačun today. But your buyer's onward domestic sales are inside it, and they need your commercial invoice — complete, with the right description, quantity and value — to run their side of the system. Send the final commercial invoice with the shipment, not two weeks after it, and keep the description specific enough that it can be classified. The obligation widens on 1 January 2027 to entities outside the VAT system.

A private buyer and a Croatian company with an OIB

The line between the two is drawn by substance, not by intent. An individual importing a container of goods for resale is running a business, and the customs authority will treat it as one. Where a private buyer genuinely is buying for personal use — a car, household effects, a one-off purchase — the paperwork is lighter but the 25% is unavoidable.

The Adriatic coast in summer, and the weeks that squeeze delivery capacity

Croatia's economy is seasonal, and the season bites on logistics in a way that surprises importers whose only reference is Northern Europe. From roughly June to September, and especially in July and August, three things tighten at once: road capacity on the D8 Adriatic highway, ferry capacity to the islands, and warehouse and office availability.

The scale is real. Jadrolinija, the state ferry operator, carried 9.3 million passengers and 2.8 million vehicles in the first eight months of 2026, with vehicle numbers in the peak summer months running above the previous year as drive-in tourism from Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Czechia and Poland grew. Ferry check-in on international routes is typically two to three hours before departure, freight vehicles and unaccompanied freight are carried on most conventional routes, and the smaller island services run seasonal timetables.

What to do about it: book space three to four weeks ahead for June to September sailings; if the delivery is to Split, Dubrovnik, Zadar or an island, add days to your plan and confirm the ferry leg in writing; and if the buyer is in Zagreb or inland, relax — summer matters much less on the Rijeka–Zagreb corridor than it does on the coast. Many Croatian businesses also run short-staffed in August, so a delivery that needs a forklift crew or a signed goods-in may sit.

Finding a supplier when this is your first order out of China

Where the goods come from changes how they should move, so it is worth being deliberate about it.

Finding suppliers online — B2B marketplaces and sourcing platforms — is how most first orders happen. The advantages are reach and speed: you can compare ten factories in an afternoon. The risks are that you may be dealing with a trading company rather than the factory, that specifications drift between the sample and the production run, and that the goods are not ready when the supplier said they would be. The shipping pattern that fits is: sample by courier, first real order by LCL, FCL once volumes justify it. Our pages on buying through Alibaba and 1688 and sourcing from 1688 cover the mechanics.

Meeting suppliers at trade fairs — the Canton Fair and the sector shows — costs more and takes longer, but the specifications tend to be right the first time and the relationship survives a dispute. The shipping pattern that fits is larger and less frequent: fewer, fuller containers.

Either way, if you end up buying from several suppliers, consolidation in China is the step that makes the economics work: one container, one set of documents, one clearance. See our pages on warehousing and consolidated shipments.

How to tell a forwarder who books Rijeka from one who resells it

Any forwarder can sell you a Croatia shipment; comparatively few book them. These questions separate the two, and none of them require you to understand the industry first.

• Which service, and is it a direct call or a transhipment? Ask for the service name and whether the vessel calls Rijeka directly on the Asia–Mediterranean service, and get the answer in writing. "Direct" and "fastest" are not answers.
• Which terminal? Rijeka Gateway is the container terminal. If they cannot name it, they are working from a rate sheet.
• What are the free time, demurrage and detention terms? These are the charges that turn a cheap freight rate into an expensive shipment when clearance takes longer than expected.
• Is the destination side itemised? Terminal handling, documentation, ISPS, delivery order, and the rail or truck leg should be listed separately, not folded into an "all-in" number.
• Rail or road out of Rijeka, and on which service? Ask what happens if the rail slot is not available — the single-track line behind the port means that is a real possibility.
• Is the ferry or coastal leg included? If your delivery address is in Dalmatia or on an island, this is the question most likely to change the price.
• Who is the importer of record? If they quote DDP without being able to answer, the PDV recovery may not come back to you.
• For air, what is the chargeable weight? Air is billed on the greater of actual and volumetric weight, and a forwarder who will not show you the calculation before booking is one to avoid.

Warning signs are consistent: a quote with no service name, no mention of how the cargo leaves Rijeka, no answer on what happens if the vessel omits the port, and pressure to book today because "space is closing" without a sailing date attached.

From the factory to a Croatian address, in order

A container into Rijeka in August, and the days it lost

Three illustrative shipments, drawn from how this lane actually behaves. They are examples, not client records.

A 40ft high-cube of outdoor furniture from Foshan to Zagreb. Ordered in May, produced late, shipped in the third week of June, discharged at Rijeka in August. The freight was fine. What cost days was the inland leg: truck capacity on the Rijeka–Zagreb corridor is tight in August, the buyer's warehouse was running a skeleton staff, and the container sat three days past free time. The lesson is not about the port. It is that on a summer arrival, book the inland leg at the same time as the vessel, and confirm someone will be there to receive it.

An LCL shipment of hotel fittings from Shenzhen to Split. Four cubic metres, too small for a container and too heavy for courier. It moved as LCL, adding consolidation in China and deconsolidation at destination, then travelled down the coast by road. The two things that surprised the buyer were the LCL handling days and the coastal delivery charge, neither of which was in the original "sea freight" number. The lesson: on an LCL quote, ask for the destination charges separately and confirm whether the final leg to a coastal address is included.

180 kg of machine spare parts to a buyer in Belgrade. A line had stopped. Air freight to Zagreb via a European hub, then a decision: clear in Croatia and pay 25% PDV, or move in transit and clear in Serbia. Because the end destination was outside the EU and the buyer had a Serbian importer of record, transit was the right structure — but it had to be set up before the air waybill was issued. The lesson: the transit decision is a pre-shipping decision, not one to make when the cargo lands.

What Goodhope handles on the Croatian half of a shipment

We are the China end of this lane, and being clear about where that ends is part of the service.

• Ocean freight port to port — FCL and LCL into Rijeka, with the service named and whether it calls directly stated in writing. See our LCL to Croatia, Croatia freight rates 2026 and Croatia LCL rates 2026 pages.
• Air freight to Zagreb — airport to airport, with chargeable weight worked out before you book. See our air freight to Croatia page.
• Consolidation in China — several suppliers, one container, one set of documents, one clearance.
• Documents checked before sailing — commodity codes, descriptions and conformity paperwork, because that is where Croatian clearance problems start.
• An honest answer on the transit question — if your goods are bound for Bosnia and Herzegovina or Serbia, we will ask early whether Croatia is the clearance country or a transit country, because it changes the paperwork.
• Plain answers on what we do not do — Croatian import clearance, PDV accounting and Fiscalization 2.0 reporting belong to the importer of record or their Croatian representative. We coordinate with them and we do not pretend otherwise.

Frequently asked questions

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