CARGO · AUTO PARTS
Auto parts shipping from China
Spare parts are dense, heavy cargo: you pay for weight, which makes sea at around 70 days and rail at 35–45 particularly cost-effective for them. Air from 10 days remains for urgent items that have stopped a repair or a production line. We ship what you have ordered from your supplier: we do not select parts by VIN. HS codes differ across parts groups — we close the classification at the documentation stage.
What makes spare parts a specific kind of cargo
Auto parts are the opposite of furniture: metal is dense and a cubic metre of the consignment weighs a lot. In sea and rail tariffs this works in your favour — the cost of carriage is spread across a large weight of goods, and freight ends up as a small share of the landed cost of each part. So the main modes for this category are sea and rail; we price air for items where downtime costs more than the freight.
The second feature of the category is regularity. Spare parts are rarely a one-off shipment: this is a range replenished in cycles. For repeat consignments a well-worn scheme works: suppliers deliver to our warehouse in China on a schedule, we assemble the consignment, and it travels the same route with the same documents. Every subsequent shipment goes through faster than the first.
How to ship spare parts
| Mode | Transit time | When it fits |
|---|---|---|
| Sea (LCL/FCL) | around 70 days | Planned stock replenishment: heavy assemblies, body panels, consumables in large volumes. The lowest cost per kilogram |
| Rail | 35–45 days | Regular consignments, when the warehouse does not want to hold three months of stock to cover sea transit |
| Air | from 10 days | Urgent items: the part without which a customer's vehicle or a workshop stands idle. Dense cargo does not lose out on volumetric weight with a divisor of 6000 |
For mixed consignments the modes can be combined: fast-moving consumables by sea, an urgent item by air.
How the regular scheme works
Ordering from your suppliers
You order the parts from factories or distributors in China. We do not select parts by VIN and do not verify fitment — we ship what you have ordered. If the seller works only for the domestic market, we purchase the goods on your behalf.
Assembling the consignment at the warehouse
All suppliers deliver to our warehouse. We receive the goods, check the number of packages and weigh them. Orders from different sellers are consolidated into one shipment.
Documents and classification
HS codes differ across parts groups: filters, brake pads, suspension components and electrical parts are classified separately. We break the consignment down by code before departure so that there are no queries or additional assessments at the border.
Departure on schedule
The consignment travels by sea or rail, with status visible in the client portal. The next consignment is assembled in parallel — the cycle is not interrupted.
What is worth knowing before the first consignment
The most frequent customs query about spare parts concerns classification. A mixed consignment of "a bit of everything" with no breakdown by code risks customs classifying it their own way, with different payments and a delay. So we build the packing list so that each group of parts matches its own HS code, weight and value. It is routine work, but it is exactly what separates a consignment that clears the border in a day from one that sits there for a week.
For new suppliers a pre-shipment inspection makes sense: checking part numbers and quantities and examining condition — defects or wrong items found in China are settled with the seller before shipment. What the delivery rate itself depends on is set out on the page about how the rate is built.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Quote · free of charge
Let us price the delivery of your spare parts
Describe the consignment — weight, volume, collection point — and we will price sea, rail and air for urgent items and fix the rate.