How to Import from China to Canada
The full journey for first-time importers — booking, documents, transit times, customs, duties, and delivery, with a setup checklist.
Read the guide →
Plain-language guides to Canadian customs and freight — written by the team that does this work every day. Free to use, no signup. When you'd rather hand it off, you know where we are.
The full journey for first-time importers — booking, documents, transit times, customs, duties, and delivery, with a setup checklist.
Every commercial importer must be registered in the CBSA's CARM portal. The exact steps, what you need ready, and the pitfalls that stall registrations.
Who must transmit what to CBSA before cargo arrives, the deadlines by mode, carrier code reference table, and what happens when filings are late.
The difference between demurrage, detention, and storage; why containers rack up fees at Vancouver; and six practical ways to keep free time on your side.
Three working calculators — estimate your shipment volume and container fit, rough out landed cost with duty and GST, and check air chargeable weight.
FOB, CIF, EXW, DDP — where cost and risk actually transfer, why FOB is the default advice from China, and the traps in "cheap" CIF freight.
20', 40', high-cube and special equipment — dimensions, real-world loadable volume, road weight limits, and the FCL/LCL break-even.
How pre-arrival truck clearance works in both directions, the four-step PARS flow, and the synchronization failures that leave trucks waiting at the booth.
The anatomy of Canada's 10-digit tariff number, what it controls (duty, SIMA, permits), and the classic classification mistakes that trigger reassessments.
The terms you’ll meet on arrival notices, customs entries and invoices — in plain language.
No term matches that search.