Guide · 1345 words
Shipping wooden toys from Ningbo: FCL, LCL, cartons and incoterms
Wooden toys are dense cargo. A container fills by volume long before it reaches its weight limit, so the freight calculation is simple: get the carton data right, and the container decides itself. What goes wrong more often is the paperwork and the calendar, not the stowage.
This page covers the terms, the carton maths and the common delays for shipments leaving Ningbo and Shanghai.
Incoterms in practice
| Term | Seller arranges | Buyer arranges | Risk passes |
|---|---|---|---|
| EXW | Nothing beyond making the goods | Export clearance, inland haulage, everything else | At the factory gate |
| FCA | Export clearance and handover to the buyer's carrier | Main carriage, insurance, import | When the carrier takes the goods |
| FOB | Export clearance and loading on board the vessel | Ocean freight, insurance, import, destination charges | When the goods are on board |
| CIF | Freight and insurance to the named destination port | Import clearance, onward carriage | When the goods are on board, not at destination |
| DDP | Everything, including duty and delivery | Nothing | At the delivery point |
Two of these cause most of the confusion. Under CIF the seller pays the freight but the risk moves at loading, so a container lost mid-voyage is the buyer's problem to claim, not the seller's. Under EXW the buyer becomes the exporter of record in China, which is why most first orders are better on FOB: we book the space, load the container, and hand over a clean bill of lading.
If a supplier offers DDP, ask who the importer of record will be. In the EU that determines who carries the toy safety obligations, and it should not be a company you have never met.
Carton data you need before you can price anything
Six numbers per SKU, and they belong on the quotation:
- carton dimensions in centimetres, outside measure
- CBM per carton: length times width times height divided by one million
- gross weight and net weight per carton
- units per carton
- cartons per pallet and pallet height
- stackability, and whether the carton can be palletised or must be floor-loaded
A carton of 60 by 40 by 35 centimetres is 0.084 CBM. Eight hundred of them is 67.2 CBM, which is about one 40-foot high cube. That is the whole calculation. The rest is checking assumptions: outside dimensions, not inner, and gross weight including the pallet.
Weight caps matter as much as volume. Many European distribution centres limit cartons to around 15 kilograms for manual handling, and marketplaces publish their own limits. A dense block set will hit that ceiling long before the box is full, so units per carton is often set by handling rules rather than by the container.
FCL: what fits
| Container | Internal capacity | Practical loading | Typical payload |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 ft standard | about 33 CBM | 25 to 28 CBM | about 28,000 kg |
| 40 ft standard | about 67 CBM | 55 to 58 CBM | about 26,500 kg |
| 40 ft high cube | about 76 CBM | 65 to 68 CBM | about 26,500 kg |
Wooden toys almost never reach the payload limit. They run out of cube first, which is why the 40-foot high cube usually gives the lowest cost per cubic metre and the 20-foot is usually the sensible first order. Floor loading gains a little space and costs unloading time at the destination; for a palletised retail delivery, keep the pallets.
If your order fills less than about 15 CBM, a full container is a poor use of money and LCL becomes the question.
LCL: when it works, and when it does not
Less-than-container-load means your cartons are consolidated with other shippers at a container freight station in Ningbo and unpacked at a destination warehouse. You pay by weight or measure, whichever is greater, with a minimum charge per shipment.
It suits first orders, sample quantities and mixed ranges that do not fill a container. It does not suit a full pallet programme: consolidation adds handling, adds roughly one to two weeks, and exposes cartons to more moves. For anything above about 15 CBM, compare the LCL rate against a 20-foot container before deciding.
Documents
The set is short and each item has a way of going wrong:
- commercial invoice, with the HS code and the incoterm stated
- packing list, with carton dimensions, weights and marks matching the cartons
- bill of lading, original or telex release as agreed
- certificate of origin, where a trade agreement applies
- insurance certificate, if the term includes insurance
- test reports and declarations, if customs or the importer asks
- the buyer's EORI number for the EU, and importer details for the label
Most wooden toys sit under HS 9503. Ride-on items and some furniture-shaped products can classify elsewhere, so confirm the code with your broker rather than assuming the factory's default.
The document set is summarised on the shipping page, and a quote request with your carton data gets a landed cost estimate.
Wood packaging and ISPM 15
Solid wood pallets, crates and dunnage must be heat-treated or fumigated and stamped with the IPPC mark. Plywood and processed board are exempt. If you are shipping on pallets, check that the stamp is visible on at least two sides of every pallet, because a missing mark can hold the container at destination.
Common delays
Chinese New Year. Production stops for two to three weeks, and bookings tighten either side of it. Cargo booked in January for February sailing is the classic miss.
Typhoon season. July to September on the Zhejiang coast. Ports close for a day or two at a time and schedules recover slowly.
Blank sailings and rollovers. Carriers cancel or overbook, and a confirmed booking does not mean the container loads. Build a week of slack into any date you promise a retailer.
Documentation. A consignee name that does not match the bill of lading, a missing EORI, or an HS code that does not match the invoice will stop a container faster than weather.
Peak season. August to October, ahead of the northern-hemisphere Christmas season. Space is tight and rates move.
Routing. Diversions away from the Red Sea have added days to Europe-bound services. Transit times quoted last year may not hold this year, so treat them as a range.
Key takeaways
- FOB Ningbo or Shanghai puts the export and loading work with us and keeps the freight decision with you.
- Under CIF the risk moves at loading, not at the destination port.
- Six carton figures per SKU are enough to price freight: dimensions, CBM, weights, units, pallets, stackability.
- Toys fill containers by volume, not weight; 65 to 68 CBM is a realistic 40-foot high cube load.
- LCL suits first orders under about 15 CBM, at the cost of one to two weeks.
- Build a week of slack for rollovers, weather and documentation.
FAQs
Should we buy FOB or CIF?
FOB if you have a forwarder or want control of the freight and the insurance. CIF is simpler for a first order but the insurance cover is usually the minimum the term allows, and you still carry the risk from the moment the container is loaded.
What is the smallest shipment you can handle?
LCL from one cubic metre, consolidated in Ningbo. Cartons still need to meet the carrier's handling rules, and the minimum charge means small shipments carry a fixed cost per cubic metre that a full container does not.
Who books the container?
On FOB terms, we book against your forwarder's instructions, or against ours if you ask us to. We send the booking confirmation, the container number and the loading photos, and the bill of lading is issued to the consignee on the invoice.
How long does it take to Europe or the US?
Roughly 14 to 18 days to the US west coast, 30 to 35 days to northern Europe, and longer in peak season or when routings change. Add a week for booking and a week for destination clearance when you plan a retail delivery date.
Need a quotation? Send the product, quantity and destination market — we reply within 12 working hours.