China to India Shipping Cost Calculator (Sea & Air)

Sea freight, full container (FCL): you book a 20-foot or 40-foot container and pay a slot rate plus port charges at both ends. It suits consignments above roughly 15 cubic metres. Sea freight, less than container (LCL): your cartons share a container with other shippers and you pay per cubic metre, plus the forwarder's handling at the container freight station. It suits trial orders and Yiwu consolidations. Air cargo: priced per kilogram on the higher of gross weight and volumetric weight (length × width × height in centimetres divided by 6,000). It suits samples, electronics and anything the customer is waiting for.

Origins: Shenzhen (Yantian and Shekou), Guangzhou (Nansha), Ningbo and Shanghai, which between them serve Guangdong, Zhejiang and the Yiwu market. Destinations: Nhava Sheva (JNPT) for Mumbai and western India, Mundra for the north by rail, Chennai for the south, and ICD Tughlakabad or Dadri for Delhi by rail from Mundra or Nhava Sheva. Sailing time from South China to the west coast is usually 14 to 18 days port to port; add a few days at each end for stuffing, customs and inland haulage.

Twelve cubic metres weighing 3,000 kg will not fill a 20-foot container (about 28 usable cubic metres), so LCL is the natural choice: the estimate multiplies the volume by the per-cubic-metre rate and adds origin handling, destination CFS charges and documentation. Compare that with the FCL figure the calculator shows for the same shipment: when the LCL total approaches the 20-foot slot rate, the full container is the cheaper and faster option because it skips the shared de-stuffing at the destination.

The calculator uses reference rates by lane and container type that we revise from forwarder quotations; it does not pull live rates. Sea freight moves with season (it rises before the Canton Fair and before Chinese New Year), fuel surcharges and space. Treat the result as a planning figure and ask for a quotation with your cargo details before you fix a selling price. The quotation should list ocean freight, origin charges, destination charges, customs brokerage and inland delivery separately, so you can compare forwarders line by line.