Shipping furniture from China explained: CBM, LCL, DDP

In short: furniture is light for its size, so it is almost always charged by volume. Under about 15 m³ it usually travels in a shared container (LCL), charged per cubic metre; above that a container of your own costs about the same or less, and your goods are handled less. A whole house is usually one or two 40′ high cubes.

Export packing: why it can add to the price

A piece that sits in a showroom is not packed to cross an ocean. For export, factories wrap upholstery in foam and film, protect corners and legs, and use strong double-wall cartons. Most quote standard export cartons in their price, but ask, because some showroom prices are for local delivery without export packing.

Wooden crates for marble and stone tops, glass, mirrors, chandeliers and anything fragile are usually charged on top, per crate. They also add volume and weight, so they add freight.
Solid-wood crates and pallets must be heat-treated (56°C at the core for 30 minutes) or fumigated, and stamped (ISPM 15) for the US, Australia and India; plywood and engineered wood are exempt. Some factories charge this separately.
Better packing costs less than a damaged piece. We specify the packing for each line before production and photograph it before loading.

So the final price can rise a little once export packing is confirmed. We show it on its own line on your quote.

What CBM means, with real examples

CBM is cubic metres: how much space your cartons take. For each carton, multiply length × width × height in metres, then add up all the cartons. A carton of 220 × 95 × 82 cm is 2.20 × 0.95 × 0.82 = 1.71 m³.

Piece	Typical cartons (cm)	CBM
3-seat sofa	sofa, legs off: 220 × 95 × 82	1.71 m³
4-seat sofa	sofa, legs off: 260 × 100 × 85	2.21 m³
L-shaped sectional	long side: 240 × 100 × 80 chaise: 170 × 100 × 80	3.28 m³
Dining table for 10	top, crated: 280 × 120 × 12 base: 100 × 60 × 75 base: 100 × 60 × 75	1.3 m³
Upholstered dining chair	chair: 62 × 60 × 100	0.37 m³
King bed	headboard: 210 × 25 × 150 frame and rails: 225 × 70 × 45 slats: 205 × 40 × 20	1.66 m³
Built-in wardrobe, per metre	panels and doors, flat: 240 × 65 × 50	0.78 m³
Large chandelier	wooden crate: 100 × 100 × 60	0.6 m³

Typical export cartons, worked out from the sizes shown. Your factory's packing list gives the exact sizes and weights for your order.

For scale: a 40′ high cube holds about 66 m³ of real cargo (roughly 38 three-seat sofas), a 20′ container about 28 m³. That's about 85% of the space inside, because cartons never stack perfectly. Work out your cartons → · How many containers for your house →

How freight is charged: volume or weight, whichever is more

Full container (FCL): you pay per container, whatever is inside, up to its safe weight (we plan on 18 tonnes in a 20′ and 20 tonnes in a 40′ high cube for road delivery). Stone and tile fill a container by weight long before it looks full.
Shared container (LCL): you pay per "W/M", weight or measure: each cubic metre, or each 1,000 kg, whichever is greater, usually with a minimum of 1 m³. Six cubic metres of furniture weighing 900 kg is charged as 6; two cubic metres of marble weighing 3,000 kg is charged as 3.
Air freight: charged on actual weight or "volumetric weight", whichever is more. Volumetric weight is length × width × height in cm ÷ 6,000 for airlines (÷ 5,000 for most couriers). A 220 × 95 × 82 cm sofa carton counts as 286 kg by air, which is why furniture almost never flies.
On top of the ocean freight: charges at the port in China (loading, paperwork), at your port (terminal handling, customs clearance) and delivery to your door. Our landed cost calculator puts all of them on separate lines.

FOB, CIF and DDP: who pays for what

Cost	EXW	FOB	CIF	DDP
Export packing	Seller	Seller	Seller	Seller
Loading at the factory and trucking to the port in China	You	Seller	Seller	Seller
Export clearance and port charges in China	You	Seller	Seller	Seller
Sea freight	You	You	Seller	Seller
Insurance at sea	You	You	Seller (minimum cover)	Seller
Charges at your port and customs clearance	You	You	You	Seller
Import duties and taxes (US tariffs, Australian GST)	You	You	You	Seller
Delivery to your door	You	You	You	Seller
Unloading and installation	You	You	You	You

DDP (delivered duty paid) means one price to your door with the duties and taxes already paid. It is the simplest for smaller orders, and we offer it for shared-container shipments. Four things to know:

A DDP price includes freight, duties and taxes, so it is higher than a factory's FOB price, and it changes with the route, the shipping week and the tariff rates on the day your goods arrive.
Unloading, carrying inside, assembly and installation are not included unless agreed, and storage charges can apply if delivery is delayed on your side.
In the United States the importer of record must be the owner or buyer of the goods, or act for them with a customs bond, and duty problems come back to them. With DDP, ask who the importer of record is and see it in writing.
In Australia, under DDP the supplier or forwarder is the importer, so you can't claim the import GST back even if you're registered for GST. Builders and developers who can claim GST usually import in their own name.

Estimated current freight from South China

From Shenzhen or Nansha (Guangzhou), the ports we ship Foshan orders from, port to port, in US dollars. These are our own ranges, checked by a person against public freight indexes and forwarder rates on the date shown: estimated current freight, not a quote. Rates move every week; your forwarder's quote fixes the price for your shipment.

United States

Port	20′	40′ HC	Shared, per m³	Days at sea
Los Angeles / Long Beach	$4,600–$5,700	$7,200–$8,800	$170–$250	16–20
Seattle / Tacoma	$4,500–$5,600	$7,000–$8,600	$180–$260	15–19
Houston	$5,500–$6,700	$8,400–$10,200	$200–$290	30–36
Savannah	$5,600–$6,800	$8,600–$10,400	$200–$290	30–36
Miami / Port Everglades	$5,600–$6,900	$8,600–$10,600	$210–$300	28–34
New York / New Jersey	$5,900–$7,100	$9,000–$10,800	$210–$300	32–38

Analysts expect US rates to ease over the next three months (Xeneta: about $4,500–5,500 per 40′ to the West Coast), so a quote close to shipping may come in lower.

Australia

Port	20′	40′ HC	Shared, per m³	Days at sea
Sydney	$2,700–$3,500	$4,400–$5,700	$110–$170	16–20
Melbourne	$2,700–$3,500	$4,400–$5,700	$110–$170	18–22
Brisbane	$2,700–$3,500	$4,400–$5,700	$110–$170	15–19
Fremantle (Perth)	$2,900–$3,600	$4,600–$5,900	$120–$180	14–18
Adelaide	$3,000–$3,700	$4,700–$6,000	$125–$185	20–24

Surcharges from November: ANL adds $1,000 per 40′ ($500 per 20′) and MSC $500 per 20′ equivalent from 1 November, and ONE a $1,000 peak season surcharge per 40′ from 10 November.

India

Port	20′	40′ HC	Shared, per m³	Days at sea
Nhava Sheva (Mumbai)	$3,000–$3,300	$3,400–$3,900	Per shipment	12–24
Chennai	$2,400–$2,600	$3,400–$3,900	Per shipment	12–24
Mundra	$2,800–$3,300	$3,400–$3,750	Per shipment	13–24

Nhava Sheva and Mundra are congested and short of empty containers, so allow extra days. Hyderabad and Bengaluru are served through Chennai or Nhava Sheva and an inland depot.

United States, door to door through our logistics partner

A real figure: in October 2026 a SVIKARR client's full 40′ high cube of furniture and building materials went from Foshan to Dallas for about $20,000, including sea freight, US customs clearance and delivery to the door: about $294 per m³. Our US calculators use it as the shipping cost, with the sea leg adjusted for your port. Duties depend on what's inside, so they are worked out separately for each category, and we confirm the landed cost in writing before you order.

Advertised shared-container prices can be as low as $40–80 per m³ to the US, but they leave out the charges at the destination warehouse, which can be $700–1,500 per shipment in the US. Our shared-container ranges are higher on purpose, closer to what a small furniture shipment pays per m³. To India we quote shared containers per shipment for the same reason.

Inside China: factory to port

Foshan to Nansha (Guangzhou) About 50 km from Foshan	about ¥2,450 per 40′
Foshan to Shekou (Shenzhen)	about ¥2,350 per 40′
Foshan to Yantian (Shenzhen)	about ¥2,550 per 40′
Shared container: factory to the forwarder's warehouse Small truck or van; several factories can be collected on one run	quoted per load

Published reference figures from a few years ago: no newer public figure exists, so we confirm trucking with the haulier on the day. A 20′ costs about 20% less.

Estimated current freight, checked 16 October 2026. Example: a 40′ high cube to Los Angeles at the middle of its range is about $8,000, before charges at either port and delivery.

Sources

Rates and rules last checked 16 October 2026.

Questions

Why not live, real-time freight rates?

There is no free real-time feed of freight prices; the live rate cards belong to shipping lines and paid platforms. Public indexes such as the Drewry World Container Index are published weekly, so we check them and forwarder quotes regularly and show the date. For a firm price we get a quote for your shipment and week.

Is it cheaper to ship by weight or by volume?

You don't choose: a shared container charges whichever is larger, cubic metres or tonnes. Furniture is nearly always charged by volume, stone and tile by weight.

When is a full container worth it?

From about 15 m³. Below that a shared container is usually cheaper; above it a 20′ of your own costs about the same and your goods are handled less.

Does DDP mean I pay nothing on arrival?

It means the freight, duties and taxes are in the price. Unloading, carrying in, installation and any storage caused by delays on your side are usually extra, so confirm them before you book.

CBM calculator → · Container planner → · Landed cost → · Plan your Foshan trip →

Get your free sourcing plan

Send us your list and we'll work out the containers, the freight to your port and the factory prices in Foshan. Free, and your first reply comes from Vinay.

Talk it through with Vinay

Weighing up a freight quote, DDP or your own forwarder? Tell us the route and we'll tell you honestly what we'd do.

Shipping furniture from China, explained