Sea Freight Rates From China to USA: What the Price Covers and What Moves It

Alan Xiao

Founder of Sourcing Pioneer

Updated Oct 19, 2026 16 min read

On 15 October 2026, Drewry put Shanghai to Los Angeles at $7,884 per 40ft container. Shanghai to New York was $10,075. Those are real prices, and they are not your quote. This guide shows what the number covers and which box to book. It also shows when sea freight stops being the cheapest mode. And it shows how to read a weekly move without a bad call.

What the rates are right now

Drewry assesses the Shanghai lanes every Thursday. On 15 October 2026 the West Coast lane stood at $7,884 per 40ft container. The East Coast lane was $10,075.

Freightos publishes a second set. Its FBX01 index, covering China and East Asia to the US West Coast, read $8,126. FBX03, to the East Coast, read $9,713.

The two sets differ because they measure different things. Drewry averages carrier averages on named Shanghai lanes. Freightos takes the median of live quotes across a wider origin region.

Three things to notice before you use either number.

First, these are 40ft prices. A 20ft box does not cost half. It usually costs 70 to 90 percent, because the ship still needs the same slot and the port still needs the same move.

Second, they are FAK: freight all kinds. One rate for mixed goods. Your product category does not enter the index.

Third, they are port to port. The ship stops at the terminal gate. Everything after that gate is yours.

What the number looks like when a forwarder sends it

A real quote is longer than a number. It names the port pair, the equipment, the ocean rate, the surcharges in force, the validity date and the free time.

If two of those are missing, you have a price, not a quote. The difference shows up about three weeks later, usually as an invoice.

What the number covers

Every container has the same six layers. Names vary by forwarder. The order does not.

Most quotes cover layer two, plus part of layer one and three. Layer four is where a cheap quote becomes expensive. Layer five is where a missing paper stops the box. Layer six is where the budget dies quietly, weeks later.

Ask each forwarder to mark which layers sit inside the number. That single question turns five quotes into something you can compare.

How the indexes are built

Both indexes are honest. They answer different questions. Using one without knowing its method is how people misread the market.

The World Container Index

Drewry reports spot prices for eight East-West routes, plus one composite. Every value is in US dollars per 40ft container. The composite is weighted by trade volume on each route. The World Container Index methodology page sets out the rules in full.

One route value is not a single price. It is the average of each carrier’s own average. The index only accepts FAK cargo. It includes the bunker adjustment and other applicable surcharges, plus terminal handling where the market usually includes it. It leaves out inland transport surcharges.

The Freightos index

Freightos takes a different path. It uses the median of all price points, weighted by carrier. It collects 50 to 70 million price points a month. The daily version covers a 48-hour window and publishes at 14:00 UTC. The weekly version averages five business days and comes out on Friday.

A median and an average behave differently. One very high quote moves an average. It barely moves a median. That is why the two indexes can drift apart in a volatile week and agree again in a calm one.

What neither index measures

Neither tells you transit time or whether space is guaranteed. Neither tells you how your commodity is treated, what credit terms you get, or how much demurrage you might pay. Those are the parts that decide whether a shipment made money.

20ft, 40ft or high cube

The box you book changes the rate per unit, not just the rate. Three sizes cover almost every import.

A 20ft container holds about 33 cubic metres. A 40ft standard holds about 67. A 40ft high cube holds about 76, because the walls are roughly 30 cm taller.

Price them per cubic metre, not per box. A 40ft often costs well under twice a 20ft, which is why two thirds of a box can still be the cheaper choice.

When the 20ft wins

Heavy cargo. A 20ft has a lower payload limit than a 40ft, but the difference per unit narrows when your goods are dense. If you are close to a weight limit, the bigger box buys you nothing.

Small first orders. A 20ft that is 80 percent full beats a 40ft that is 40 percent full. The quote may say otherwise, but the cost per unit does not.

When the high cube wins

Light, bulky goods. Furniture, packaging, soft goods and anything that cubes out before it weighs out. The extra 9 cubic metres is nearly free compared with the step from 20ft to 40ft.

Ask the forwarder for both prices in the same email. The gap is usually small enough that the decision is obvious once you see it side by side.

Sea, air or express

Sea freight is not always the cheapest answer. It is the cheapest answer above a certain weight, and that line is lower than most first-time buyers expect.

The Freightos route page puts the switch points in plain numbers for this lane.

Those are indicative figures for planning, not a quote. Two things move them: how bulky the goods are, and whether the airport or port is served directly.

The trap is the 300 kg sample order. Sea looks cheaper per kilo. Then you add a minimum charge, a destination handling charge and three weeks of waiting, and air wins on cash and on speed.

What air freight is good for

Launch stock. A first run that has to hit a season, a trade show or a listing date. Air costs more per kilo and less per week of delay.

High value per kilo. Electronics, cosmetics, small machined parts. When the goods are worth more than the freight, speed is cheap.

What air freight is bad for

Anything that cubes out. Air is priced on chargeable weight, which takes the greater of real weight and volumetric weight. A light bulky carton pays for space it does not use.

Batteries, liquids and anything restricted. Air carriers reject or re-classify them, and the paperwork is longer.

What changes the answer

Three things flip the choice after you have priced it.

Density. A carton that weighs 20 kg and takes 0.1 cubic metres is dense, so sea wins early. A carton that weighs 3 kg and takes 0.2 cubic metres is light, so air charges you for space you never use.

Deadline. If the goods must sell in a fixed season, the value of arriving two weeks earlier usually beats the freight difference. Put a number on that week before you decide, because it is a real cost.

Order size. One pallet is a parcel. Ten pallets is a container decision. The middle is where people overspend, by booking sea for 400 kg and then paying storage while they wait.

Write the three inputs down before you ask for quotes. A forwarder who receives them gives you a usable answer instead of a menu.

Transit time by mode and port

Transit time is not in the rate. It is decided by the mode, the port pair and the inland leg.

On this lane, Freightos gives about three days for express, eight to ten for air freight, and 30 to 40 door to door by sea. LCL adds a few days beyond the sea figure, because the box is consolidated and then split.

Two ports behave differently in practice. Los Angeles and Long Beach take the most volume, which means more sailings and more queue at the terminal. New York and Savannah add a longer ocean leg but often a shorter inland move for East Coast buyers.

Add the inland leg before you promise a date. A container that clears in two days can still take five to reach a Midwest warehouse.

Turning a container rate into a unit cost

A rate per box is not a rate per unit. Divide the lane price by the cartons in the box and you get the number that belongs next to your product cost.

If a 40ft carries 800 cartons, the Los Angeles price of $7,884 works out at $9.86 a carton. The same 800 cartons to New York come to $12.59 each.

That difference is the main reason to choose a port. It is also the reason a $300 saving on the ocean rate means almost nothing if it adds a week of trucking.

Run the same division on the other five layers. Origin, terminal, inland, border and tax each add a slice. The sum is your landed freight cost per carton, and it is the only number that can be compared with a factory price change.

Why rates move

Rates move for reasons that have nothing to do with your booking. Five drivers explain most of the swing.

1. Capacity management

Carriers cancel sailings to keep ships full. Drewry reported six blank sailings on the transpacific for the week of 15 October 2026. Fewer sailings with the same cargo means a firmer rate.

2. Surcharges and increases

A general rate increase is announced, then partly collected. Drewry noted carriers pushing a FAK level of $4,500 to $4,800 per 40ft on Asia-Europe from 19 October, while warning that full implementation was uncertain given extra capacity.

Read announcements as intentions. Read the index as the result.

3. Fuel

The bunker adjustment follows fuel prices with a lag. It moves in both directions. It is rarely the largest line, but it is the easiest one to forget when you budget six months ahead.

4. Tariffs and pull-forward

When a tariff change is announced, buyers ship early. All that volume lands in a short window, so rates rise before the deadline and fall after it. The freight market reacts to the calendar of trade policy, not just to demand.

5. Routing and disruption

A diversion adds days and fuel. Port congestion adds waiting. Both show up as a higher rate on the lane, even when the underlying demand is flat.

None of these is predictable from a single week of data. That is why the reading habit matters more than the reading.

Documents before the box sails

Paperwork is where cheap freight becomes expensive. Four documents do most of the work, and all four can be wrong in ways that only appear at the destination.

The commercial invoice

The seller’s bill for the goods. It needs a specific product name, the quantity, the unit price and the terms of sale. The customs broker reads this first, because the value and the tariff code both come from it.

“Plastic items” invites a wrong code and an exam. “Storage box, 45 litre, model PB-45” does not.

The packing list

Cartons, weights and sizes. It has to match the invoice line by line. One carton of difference is normal in a factory and a problem at the border.

The bill of lading

The carrier’s receipt and the document that releases the cargo. The shipper and consignee names must match your records exactly. A correction after sailing costs money and time.

Ask for the draft before departure. Reading it early is free.

The weight declaration

Loaded containers need a verified gross mass before they can be shipped. Weighing at the factory is cleaner than estimating from the packing list.

For the rest of the chain, the FCL and LCL side-by-side sets out how the two booking types differ on documents and cut-offs.

The two US rules that decide release

The ship arriving is not the event that matters. Release is. Two US rules sit between the two.

The 24-hour filing rule

The Importer Security Filing is a US customs filing for cargo arriving by vessel. The rule sits in 19 CFR Part 149. The filer must send it in English through a CBP-approved system.

Four data elements are due no later than 24 hours before the cargo is loaded: seller, buyer, importer of record number and consignee number. Four more are due on the same clock: manufacturer, ship-to party, country of origin and the tariff number.

Two are due as early as possible, and no later than 24 hours before arrival at a US port: the container stuffing location and the consolidator.

Who files? The ISF importer is the party that causes the goods to arrive by vessel. That is usually the owner, buyer or consignee, or a licensed customs broker acting for them. The what a broker files at the border explains what that licence covers.

Free time, demurrage and detention

Free time is the window before the clock starts. Demurrage is charged on the container sitting at the terminal. Detention is charged on the container held after pickup.

The Federal Maritime Commission published its view in 46 CFR 545.5. The rule covers containerised cargo and sets an incentive principle: these charges should push cargo to move, not punish the importer for a terminal problem.

The factors it names are practical. Whether the cargo was available. Whether an empty container could be returned. Whether notice was given. Whether an inspection was ordered. Those are the questions to ask when a bill looks unfair.

How to compare two quotes

Two quotes cannot be compared until they describe the same box, the same ports and the same border work. Use the same seven questions on every forwarder.

The last two rows decide more money than the first five. A quote that is $400 cheaper and gives three fewer free days can cost more than the difference.

The booking sequence

Five steps, in this order. Skipping one is how a first shipment becomes a case study.

1. Confirm the code and the rate

   Get the tariff code in writing, and the duty rate that goes with it.

2. Choose the mode on weight

   Under 150 kg, price express. Under 500 kg, price air. Above that, price sea.

3. Ask for the six layers

   Send one email to three forwarders with the same seven questions.

4. Send documents early

   Invoice, packing list and bill of lading instructions go out before the vessel departs.

5. Plan the last mile first

   Book the truck and the warehouse slot before the ship arrives. Neither waits.

If you are moving a container to Canada instead, the border rules change. The the Canadian version of this move covers that side. If you are still choosing who books the box, the forwarder licence check shows what to confirm before money moves.

Questions buyers ask