Sea Freight: China To UK Shipping Time
Transit time: approximately 3 – 4 weeks
Door to door: approximately 6 -8 weeks
When importing by sea freight from China, it’s essential to understand the logistics and timelines involved. Approximately one-third of the total industrial production (and the majority of merchandise exports) originate from the coastal provinces of Jiangsu, Guangdong, Shandong, Shanghai, and Zhejiang.
While mainland China’s coastline is dotted with ports spanning most of its length, the likely departure ports, from north to south, include Tianjin/Xingang, Qingdao, Shanghai, Suzhou, Ningbo, Xiamen, Shenzhen, or Guangzhou.
When shipping from Guangzhou, Shenzhen, or Hong Kong to the UK, the sea voyage typically spans three to four weeks. You can easily add an additional two weeks for complete door-to-door shipping, contingent on the specific starting point within the People’s Republic of China and the UK’s destination port.
For shipments originating from Shanghai or Ningbo, located approximately halfway up China’s coast, please allow an extra week for door-to-door shipping. As for ports in northern China, such as Qingdao or Tianjin/Xingang (serving Beijing), it is advisable to allocate up to eight weeks in total for door-to-door transit.
How to track shipping from China to UK
Regarding shipping anywhere in the world, the MarineTraffic website is an excellent means to comprehend how sea freight reaches the UK from China – and observe how long it takes in real-time. Not only is it a fascinating resource as you plan to ship from China to the UK, but you can also utilise it while your goods are in transit. This is because, if you know the name of the vessel carrying your shipment from China to the UK, you can track your container ship from Tianjin or Shenzhen to Felixstowe or Southampton.
Typical China To UK Shipping Route
MarineTraffic offers a range of subscription services tailored to the shipping industry. However, even simply exploring their website can be enlightening and captivating. Typically, your container ship will traverse the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean before transiting the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean. Alternatively, navigating around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope and crossing the Atlantic presents another notable shipping route from China to the UK.
As stated on their website, Marine Traffic is ‘the world’s leading provider of ship tracking and maritime intelligence,’ with ‘monitoring vessel movements at the core of our operations.’ Ship movement information is consistently updated through the coastal automatic identification system (AIS) and satellite receivers. This means you can trace your shipment’s journey and witness firsthand the duration of its voyage from China to the UK.
