China to Iran freight rates and market updates — dated log 2026

The 40ft and 40HQ quotations we logged to Bandar Abbas in February to June 2026 ranged from USD 8,850 per container across 1 quotation. A 40ft high cube carries roughly twice the volume of a 20GP for well under twice the freight, so once your cargo passes about 28 CBM the 40HQ is normally the cheaper unit per cubic metre.

Block-train quotations to Tehran in February to June 2026 ranged from USD 8,750 per container. Rail sits between sea and air: typically 18 to 25 days door-to-door to central Europe at a fraction of the air rate. The figure covers the rail leg and, on the services we quote, the customs declaration; pick-up in China and delivery beyond the rail terminal are charged separately.

Typical port-to-port sailing time from South China is 20 to 32 days; add three to seven days if the cargo loads in North China. Direct services beat transhipment routings by one to two weeks, and schedule reliability, blank sailings and port congestion all move the date. We confirm the actual ETD and ETA against your booking rather than quoting a standard transit time.

Ocean and rail figures are the port-to-port (or terminal-to-terminal) freight only. They exclude origin handling, export customs, THC and CFS, documentation, destination THC, import duty and final delivery, unless the row names a door-to-door or DDP service. Air figures are airport-to-airport per chargeable kilo and exclude pick-up and delivery. Every figure is indicative until it is confirmed against a specific vessel, flight or train and a cargo ready date.

Yes. LCL groupage is charged per revenue tonne (1 CBM or 1,000 kg, with volume weight taken if it is greater) plus fixed documentation and CFS charges, so it is usually the better option below roughly 15 CBM. Above that a 20GP starts to win on cost per cubic metre. Give us the volume, weight and cargo readiness and we will price both side by side for Iran.

Import duty, VAT/GST and any destination port charges are assessed by the customs authority in Iran and are payable by the importer of record, not included in the freight rates on this page. Where we quote a DDP service the duty and tax are absorbed into the per-kilo or per-container price and shown separately on the invoice. We can arrange a landed-cost estimate before you ship if you tell us the HS code, the declared value and the delivery address.

Only Mahan Air (W5), and only from four gateways: Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, China. Shenzhen is still printed on the W5 sheet at CNY 61.00/kg from 45 kg up, but its D4/D6 rotation is currently suspended, so nothing lifts there. That is roughly half the flights and half the capacity of September 2026, which is why space to Tehran (IKA) is tight.

They are weight breaks, not flights. Air cargo is charged per chargeable kilogram — the greater of gross weight and volumetric weight (cubic metres × 167) — and the unit rate falls as the shipment gets heavier. The break applies to the whole consignment, so 320 kg is billed at the +300 kg rate on every kilo rather than at the +45 kg rate. Consolidating smaller shipments under one house air waybill is the fastest way to reach a lower break.

At the +45 kg entry break Beijing is cheapest at CNY 60.00/kg, followed by Shenzhen at 61.00, Guangzhou at 62.00 and Shanghai at 70.00. At the +1,000 kg break Beijing and Shenzhen converge on CNY 46.50/kg and Guangzhou and Shanghai on 49.50/kg, so the gap between the cheapest and the dearest mainland gateway shrinks from CNY 10 to CNY 3 a kilo. The Hong Kong, China lines start at HKD 134.60/kg for handover in Hong Kong and HKD 144.60/kg for handover in Guangzhou or Shenzhen.

No — the kilogram rate is airline freight only. Each mainland gateway adds a pre-carriage or handling charge of CNY 0.30/kg to 0.50/kg with a minimum, plus CNY 450 for documentation, bill of lading and customs declaration, rising by CNY 300 where a third-party shipper's licence is used. Hong Kong, China adds HKD 1,350 for transfer handling and a further HKD 500 for cargo containing batteries. Shipments under 100 kg carry a small-cargo handling fee of 100 in the local currency, and powder, liquid, loose-battery or other test-report cargo adds CNY 2.50/kg at Guangzhou.

Because every W5 flight from China to IKA is now a passenger aircraft. The belly is sold as space that has to be allocated rather than as a committed freighter uplift, and W5 loads passenger baggage and its own nominated cargo before general cargo. With one carrier and four gateways across the whole route, cargo can sit a rotation or two in a busy week. Give us a firm cargo-ready date so we can book into the queue early, and treat the departure day printed on the sheet as an intention rather than a guarantee.

The sheet publishes departure days but no ETA. Read the pattern as Guangzhou double daily, Beijing four days a week, Shanghai daily and Shenzhen suspended — and the arrival date moves with each rotation. Because cargo is allocated into belly space instead of being carried on a dedicated freighter, transit time is confirmed rotation by rotation at the time of booking, and we re-check it before your cargo is trucked to the airport.

Send the commodity, gross weight, volume, the pick-up city in China and the delivery address in Iran to sales007@goodhopefreight.com. We reply with the applicable service, the named vessel, flight or train, the cut-off and an all-in cost, usually the same working day. If you are weighing up routes, tell us the ready date and we will price sea, rail and air side by side.