Freight from Shanghai to Manzanillo

Every consignment from Shanghai, China to Manzanillo, Mexico crosses a customs border, so it is planned and priced as three linked jobs rather than one: collection and export clearance in China, the international leg, and import clearance and final delivery in Mexico. LinkCargo arranges all three under a single reference and sells Ocean FCL on this corridor.

Each service is priced from the carrier rates we hold for this exact routing. Where more than one is shown, they are genuine alternatives on the same corridor — the choice is normally a trade between landed cost and how much of the schedule you are willing to spend.

Freight pricing is not one number with a discount on it. Each service on this corridor is rated on a different unit, and knowing which unit applies is most of the work of comparing two quotes honestly.

Ocean FCL

Ocean FCL is priced per container, so the unit is the box rather than the cargo inside it. The base ocean rate tracks carrier capacity on the trade and moves in steps when capacity is withdrawn or added. Around it sit origin and destination terminal handling, documentation, and any seasonal or peak-season surcharge the carrier is applying. Demurrage and detention begin the moment free time at the terminal runs out, and they are the single most common reason a landed cost overruns the quote.

Clearance holds delay more shipments on international corridors than carrier schedules do, and almost all of them come from paperwork that did not match the cargo. For a movement from China to Mexico, expect to provide:

• A commercial invoice showing the parties, the goods, the value, the currency and the agreed Incoterm.
• A packing list reconciling piece count, gross and net weight, and dimensions to the invoice.
• The transport document — a bill of lading for ocean, an air waybill for air.
• A certificate of origin where a trade agreement is being claimed, or where the destination requires one regardless.
• Any licence, permit or certificate the specific commodity attracts — dangerous goods, food, pharmaceutical, dual-use and controlled items each have their own regime.

The Incoterm decides where your responsibility ends and the other party’s begins, and therefore who pays the freight, the duty and the insurance. It is worth agreeing before the price is compared, because two quotes written to different terms are not comparable at all.

The day ranges shown above are door-to-door working assumptions for this distance and service — the same planning bands our operations desk quotes from. They include collection, the line-haul, and delivery at the far end.

They do not include, because nobody can promise them:

• Customs examination or a documentary hold, which can add days at either border.
• Port, terminal or airport congestion, and blank sailings on ocean services.
• Lead time to secure a collection or delivery appointment at a facility that requires one.
• Weather, industrial action and the rest of what freight insurance exists for.

A firm transit commitment is made against a specific carrier, sailing or flight at the point of booking — not against a corridor.

The figures on this page are indicative. They are derived from carrier rates we currently hold on this routing and are published so you can size a budget before speaking to anyone. They are not an offer, and they are not a quotation.

A firm price needs what an indicative one cannot know: the actual weight and dimensions, the commodity, the Incoterm, the collection and delivery addresses with their access constraints, and the date. Give us those and the quote you receive is the price we will invoice, valid for a stated window.

1. 01 · Request a price

   Tell us what is moving Shanghai, China to Manzanillo, Mexico, roughly when, and on which service. No account is needed to ask.

2. 02 · We price it

   The request goes against live carrier rates for the lane. Where we hold a current rate you get a price immediately; where we do not, our rate desk goes to the carriers and comes back with one.

3. 03 · Confirm the booking

   Accepting a quote opens a shipment with collection and delivery details, the documents attached to it, and a single reference everyone works from.

4. 04 · Track to delivery

   Milestones land in the portal and by email as the shipment moves, with the paperwork kept against the same reference through to invoice.