Furniture shipping is not complicated, but it is unforgiving. A sofa that leaves our workshop in perfect condition can still arrive with a cracked leg or a torn corner, and the difference is almost always in how it was packed and how the container was handled in between. Twenty years of export furniture has taught us that the cheapest shipment is rarely the one that costs least to get there. Still comparing options? everything we make maps everything we make in one page, and Quality Control and Pre-Shipment Inspection for Furniture picks up the thread from here.

This page is the shipping and customs route we use for our own project shipments: how we choose between sea and air, how we work out the volume and weight, how we pack and mark the goods, what documents the container needs, and what happens if something is damaged on arrival. We are a custom furniture manufacturer in Foshan, China, and we are not a freight forwarder. What we do is make the forwarder's job workable by giving them honest dimensions, clear item codes and correct paperwork. Our project wholesale service covers how shipping cost enters the price before you commit to a route.

The Route a Furniture Shipment Actually Takes

A furniture shipment goes through six steps, and the diagram below shows them. Consolidation at our workshop, the export declaration, booking and loading, the transit itself, clearance at your destination, and delivery.

The first choice is sea or air. Sea is the default, and for most project shipments it is the only sensible answer - a forty-foot high-cube container carries roughly 55 to 70 cubic metres, which is a lot of sofas and casegoods. It is slow, three to five weeks from a Chinese port to Europe and sometimes longer, and it is cheap enough that the shipping line stops being the thing you argue about. Air is for small, urgent, high-value shipments: a sample batch going to a client for a meeting, or a replacement part. It is charged per cubic metre rather than per kilogram, so a light but bulky sofa costs far more than its weight suggests.

Documents and Compliance

Customs clearance is paperwork, and the paperwork has to agree with itself. A mismatch between the packing list, the commercial invoice and the bill of lading is the most common reason a container sits. The table below sets out the documents that decide whether a furniture shipment clears without delay.

Two practical points on the paperwork. HS codes for furniture are straightforward but they are not all the same, and the code depends on the material of the piece rather than on what the piece is called. And where a document is issued bilingually, both versions need to say the same thing - a translation that drops a description can stop a container clearing.

Packing, Container Loading and Volume

Freight is charged on the greater of actual weight and volume, measured in cubic metres. This is the single most common reason a shipping estimate surprises somebody: a foam-and-fabric sofa is not heavy, but it eats space, and space is what gets charged.

Here is how we work it out. Measure the packed carton, not the bare product - we use the finished carton dimensions because that is what goes into the container. Multiply length by width by height in centimetres, divide by 1,000,000, and you have the cubic metres per carton. Add up the cartons and you have the total volume. Then add around ten percent for the gaps that no loading plan can eliminate.

Big items like a conference table or a bed frame are often cheaper to send flat-packed or partly assembled, because the carton shape decides how much space is wasted around it. We will tell you when that is worth doing. And if the pieces are all the same design and the same size, the loading is simpler and the container is fuller - which is another way of saying you pay less per sofa.

Every carton is packed and marked before it leaves the workshop. One product per carton wherever the product allows it, so a damaged piece does not take its neighbour with it. Foam and film around every corner and edge, because corners are what break first. Cartons taped and strapped properly, because a carton that opens in the container becomes a claim. Each carton labelled with a project code, a room and zone reference, an item code and a quantity - so the receiving team can put the right piece in the right room instead of opening every box. We also photograph the packed goods before loading, and keep the record.

Terms of Delivery and Who Does What

Duties and taxes depend on the destination country and on the Incoterm. With FOB or CIF the buyer normally handles import clearance and duties; with DDP we quote them in. We would always rather tell you which side you are carrying so the landed cost is not a surprise later.

And when something arrives damaged, the sequence matters. Photograph the damage before the cartons are unpacked further, note the container number and the seal number, keep the packaging until the claim is settled, and tell us within days rather than weeks. Photographs of the sealed container, the opened cartons and the damaged piece are what a claim is built on. Keeping the packaging is what makes the difference between a settlement and a refusal - it shows the damage happened in transit and not in the warehouse. We do the same on our side: if the damage was ours, we replace or repair; if it was in transit, we support the claim with the pre-loading photographs and the packing records. What we will not do is blame the forwarder without evidence.

A project shipment is delivered to a nominated address, or to the port or warehouse your forwarder uses, and then it is your team or ours that unpacks and checks it against the packing list. That check is worth doing properly: open every carton, count against the list, look for transit damage while you still have the packaging, and record anything short or damaged before the goods move further.

faq