Shipping from China to Los Angeles and Long Beach
Shipping from China to Los Angeles means arriving into San Pedro Bay, where Long Beach sits next door and the two ports work as one gateway for roughly a third of everything the US imports in a container. Which of the two your box lands at is the carrier's call, not yours, and it decides who can pick it up and how fast. This page covers the arrival side of a China to US shipment: terminals, transit, the cost lines, the per diem clock and the truck.
San Pedro Bay is two ports and one gateway decision
The Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach are separate authorities sharing one harbor. A service sold as "to Los Angeles" can discharge at TraPac, Fenix Marine Services, APM Terminals Pier 400 or Everport on the LA side, or at Long Beach Container Terminal, Total Terminals International or Pier A across the water. The distance between them is short. What matters is that every terminal runs its own appointment system, its own gate hours and its own congestion, so the terminal name on the booking is operational information, not trivia.
Two practical consequences. Ask which terminal the service calls before you book, not after the vessel sails, and check that whoever is trucking your container is already set up at that terminal. A trucker with no appointment capability at Fenix is useless to you on the day your box is available there.
Transit from the main China ports into the LA basin
San Pedro Bay is the shortest ocean leg from North China and one of the shortest from South China. On a direct string, plan on 13 to 18 days port to port from Shanghai, Ningbo, Yantian or Shekou. Put a transshipment call in the middle and you add a week or more, so the sailing you actually book matters more than any advertised range.
Typical port to port transit into Los Angeles and Long Beach
| China origin | Typical direct transit | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Shanghai | 13 to 17 days | Most service options, easiest to rebook if a sailing is blanked |
| Ningbo | 13 to 17 days | Often paired with Shanghai on the same string |
| Yantian and Shekou | 13 to 18 days | South China loading, common for consumer goods |
| Qingdao and Xiamen | 14 to 18 days | Fewer direct strings, check for transshipment |
Those are ranges, not quotes. Every Platton quote names the vessel and the string it runs on, so you plan against a real sailing instead of an average. The wider picture on how origin port, transshipment and season move these numbers is in our China to US ocean transit times guide.
What a container costs into the LA basin
A quote into Los Angeles is never one number. It is a stack of lines, and the ones that surprise importers are almost always at the destination end.
The cost lines on a China to Los Angeles container
| Line | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Origin charges | Pickup at the factory, export customs, terminal handling at the load port |
| Ocean freight | The sea leg, plus the surcharges the carrier applies to it |
| Destination charges | Terminal handling and documentation on the US side |
| Customs entry | Filing the entry and the ISF on your behalf |
| Duty and tariffs | Duty on the HTS classification, plus Section 301 at 7.5 to 25 percent where it applies |
| Drayage | The truck from the terminal to your warehouse or a transload facility |
| Chassis | The equipment under the container for that move |
| Per diem | Only if the box sits past its free time, and avoidable |
What the surcharges on the ocean line actually are, and which of them move week to week, is broken down in our ocean freight rates guide. For where the market sits this week rather than a number frozen into this page, the Platton Import Index publishes transpacific spot movement every week, with the source named next to each figure.
Ocean freight shipping from China to Los Angeles
The fee lines above stack into a total, and this is roughly where those totals sit. The ranges are current estimated spot levels, the ocean leg only, before US duty and the destination lines already listed; the number on your quote prices a specific sailing and a specific piece of equipment.
Estimated ocean spot ranges, China to Los Angeles
| Equipment | Estimated range |
|---|---|
| 20ft standard (20SD) | $4,200 to $5,000 |
| 40ft standard (40SD) | $5,500 to $6,500 |
| 40ft high cube (40HQ) | $5,600 to $6,700 |
| 40ft reefer (40RF) | $12,000 to $15,000 |
| 20ft reefer (20RF) | $9,000 to $11,000 |
| Flat rack | $8,000 to $13,000, set by cargo dimensions |
Reefer boxes carry the power and genset premium, and a flat rack prices by what sits on it, which is why those two move independently of the dry market.
Air freight shipping from China to Los Angeles
When a restock cannot wait for the water, the same lane flies. LAX takes direct freighters from every major China cargo airport, around 12 hours in the air, and a standard air freight booking lands cargo at your dock in 5 to 8 days, express closer to 3.
Estimated air rates, China to Los Angeles
| Cargo | Estimated rate per kg |
|---|---|
| Standard general cargo | $4.50 to $6.50 |
| Temperature controlled (reefer) | $7.00 to $9.50 |
Air prices on chargeable weight, the higher of actual and volumetric, so light bulky freight costs more than the scale says. Where the days go between the two doors is broken down in our air freight transit times guide.
Free time runs out faster than importers plan for
Free time is written into the carrier contract, and on this gateway it is usually a handful of days at the terminal, not a week. Once it expires, demurrage runs at 150 to 500 dollars a day per container depending on the carrier and the terminal, and it keeps running while you argue about it.
Two things stop that clock: an entry filed before the vessel arrives, and a truck holding an appointment for the first available day. Both are scheduling, not luck. The definitions and the difference between demurrage and detention are covered in our demurrage and detention guide, and if a box is already stuck, the container stuck at port walkthrough is the faster read.
Getting the box out: drayage across the port complex
The LA basin has no shortage of trucking capacity or chassis, and it still produces missed pickups, because the release, the paperwork and the appointment all have to land on the same day. On Platton drayage, 93 percent of containers are picked up the same day they become available, average gate out to delivery runs 36 hours, on time delivery sits at 97.4 percent, and average fees avoided run 280 dollars per container. Los Angeles is one of 42 US ports and rail ramps we dray out of.
Then comes the transload question. A 53 foot domestic trailer carries more than a 40 foot ocean box, so if your cargo is going inland from Los Angeles, transloading in the basin consolidates volume before the long leg and gets the container back to the carrier before per diem becomes a question. If your warehouse is in Southern California, direct delivery is simpler and cheaper. Our drayage service covers both out of the port complex.
Holds and exams at the busiest US gateway
Volume means examinations. The Importer Security Filing has to be with CBP 24 hours before the container is loaded in China, and a late or wrong filing carries a 5,000 dollar penalty per violation. That penalty is avoidable, and it gets avoided at the origin end, weeks before anyone looks at a terminal.
When CBP does flag a container, an X-ray scan costs days and a full devanning at an examination station costs more, and per diem does not pause for either. What keeps it from becoming a two week problem is documentation that matches itself, an entry filed early through a licensed customs broker, and someone chasing the release instead of waiting on an email. That is what our customs clearance desk does on this lane.
How Platton handles a San Pedro Bay arrival
Space booked on a named sailing
The truck lined up before the box is available
Delivery, transload or Amazon
Direct delivery in Southern California, transload for the inland leg, or prep and routing into Amazon fulfillment centers. Weekly sailings from Asia mean the next booking is rarely more than a few days out.
Door to door shipping from China to Los Angeles
The whole route is also bookable as one move: factory pickup in China, the ocean leg into San Pedro Bay, customs, drayage and delivery to your warehouse on a single quote. It suits importers who want the LA arrival handled without stitching the legs together themselves; every piece above still books on its own. Details sit on the full chain service page.
Questions importers ask about the LA and Long Beach gateway
The carrier decides, based on which terminal its service calls, and it is in the booking confirmation. It matters because appointments, gate hours and congestion are per terminal, not per harbor. Ask for the terminal at quote stage so your trucker is set up there in advance, and treat a change of service as a change of pickup plan.
Free time comes from the carrier contract rather than from the port, so it varies by carrier and by service, and on this gateway it is typically a few days rather than a week. Get the number in writing on the booking. Once it expires, demurrage runs at 150 to 500 dollars a day per container, charged from the day the free time ended.
If your warehouse is in Southern California, take the container straight there. If the cargo is heading inland, transloading into a domestic trailer usually wins, because a 53 foot trailer holds more than a 40 foot ocean container and the ocean box goes back to the carrier immediately instead of riding across the country accruing per diem risk.
Drayage is quoted separately from the ocean leg, and it moves with distance, chassis supply and how long the driver waits at the gate. Ask for it as a line, with the chassis and any waiting time named, so a cheap ocean rate does not hide an expensive last leg. Platton quotes both lines on the same sheet.
A scan at the port costs a couple of days once it is scheduled. A full examination at a station runs longer, since the container has to be moved, stripped and repacked. None of it pauses your free time. That is the reason entries get filed before arrival and the reason someone chases the release daily.
Related China to US freight pages
Shipping from China to the USA:
the whole lane, all US gateways, ocean and air.
Shipping from China to Chicago:
what changes when the destination is inland and the container rails from here.
Drayage:
port pickup and delivery across the LA basin and 41 other US points.
Freight forwarder in Los Angeles:
local services for importers in the LA metro.
