Current Freight Rates
| Weight / Volume | Rate (USD / KG) |
|---|---|
| 0-16 | USD 60.73 |
How these prices are calculated — chargeable weight
Freight is not billed on the number on your bathroom scale. It is billed on chargeable weight: the greater of actual gross weight and volumetric weight, where volumetric weight is L × W × H (cm) ÷ 6000. Denser cargo pays on its weight; light bulky cargo pays on the space it occupies. Whichever is higher is the one you pay — never the lower.
- One cubic meter = 167 kg. That is 1,000,000 cm³ ÷ 6000, the same divisor used for the volumetric check, so both sides of this page agree with each other.
- Freight only. These are published freight rates. Duty, tax and customs charges at destination are not a fixed number we can print: they follow your product's HS code, its declared value and the exchange rate applied on the day of entry, so they are confirmed against your actual goods and quoted separately.
- Indicative only — the real price can be higher or lower. Nothing on this page is a quotation or a commitment. What you finally pay depends on what the product is, how it is packed, the chargeable weight, the declared value, the destination duty position and the exchange rate at the time. Send the product details, weight and dimensions and we will price your specific shipment.
Trade Terms Explained — Who Pays for What EXW, FOB, CIF, DDP and seven more — see which costs sit with us and which sit with you
The rate above is quoted on one specific trade term. Change the term and you change how much of the journey to Saudi Arabia is already inside the price. The table below maps the eleven common Incoterms® against the twelve cost stages of a door-to-door shipment, so you can see exactly where our responsibility ends and yours begins.
- Seller — Cost and arrangement sit with the seller / shipper.
- Buyer — Cost and arrangement sit with the buyer / consignee.
- Negotiable — Not fixed by the rule — agree it in the contract.
| Term | 1 Loading on truck | 2 Export customs declaration | 3 Carriage to port of export | 4 Unloading at port of export | 5 Loading on vessel / aircraft | 6 Main carriage | 7 Cargo insurance | 8 Unloading at port of import | 9 Loading on truck at import | 10 Carriage to destination | 11 Import customs clearance | 12 Import duties & taxes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EXW Ex Works | Buyer Buyer — Loading on truck | Buyer Buyer — Export customs declaration | Buyer Buyer — Carriage to port of export | Buyer Buyer — Unloading at port of export | Buyer Buyer — Loading on vessel / aircraft | Buyer Buyer — Main carriage | Buyer Buyer — Cargo insurance | Buyer Buyer — Unloading at port of import | Buyer Buyer — Loading on truck at import | Buyer Buyer — Carriage to destination | Buyer Buyer — Import customs clearance | Buyer Buyer — Import duties & taxes |
| FCA Free Carrier | Seller Seller — Loading on truck | Seller Seller — Export customs declaration | Buyer Buyer — Carriage to port of export | Buyer Buyer — Unloading at port of export | Buyer Buyer — Loading on vessel / aircraft | Buyer Buyer — Main carriage | Buyer Buyer — Cargo insurance | Buyer Buyer — Unloading at port of import | Buyer Buyer — Loading on truck at import | Buyer Buyer — Carriage to destination | Buyer Buyer — Import customs clearance | Buyer Buyer — Import duties & taxes |
| FAS Free Alongside Ship | Seller Seller — Loading on truck | Seller Seller — Export customs declaration | Seller Seller — Carriage to port of export | Seller Seller — Unloading at port of export | Buyer Buyer — Loading on vessel / aircraft | Buyer Buyer — Main carriage | Buyer Buyer — Cargo insurance | Buyer Buyer — Unloading at port of import | Buyer Buyer — Loading on truck at import | Buyer Buyer — Carriage to destination | Buyer Buyer — Import customs clearance | Buyer Buyer — Import duties & taxes |
| FOB Free On Board | Seller Seller — Loading on truck | Seller Seller — Export customs declaration | Seller Seller — Carriage to port of export | Seller Seller — Unloading at port of export | Seller Seller — Loading on vessel / aircraft | Buyer Buyer — Main carriage | Buyer Buyer — Cargo insurance | Buyer Buyer — Unloading at port of import | Buyer Buyer — Loading on truck at import | Buyer Buyer — Carriage to destination | Buyer Buyer — Import customs clearance | Buyer Buyer — Import duties & taxes |
| CFR Cost and Freight | Seller Seller — Loading on truck | Seller Seller — Export customs declaration | Seller Seller — Carriage to port of export | Seller Seller — Unloading at port of export | Seller Seller — Loading on vessel / aircraft | Seller Seller — Main carriage | Buyer Buyer — Cargo insurance | Buyer Buyer — Unloading at port of import | Buyer Buyer — Loading on truck at import | Buyer Buyer — Carriage to destination | Buyer Buyer — Import customs clearance | Buyer Buyer — Import duties & taxes |
| CIF Cost, Insurance and Freight | Seller Seller — Loading on truck | Seller Seller — Export customs declaration | Seller Seller — Carriage to port of export | Seller Seller — Unloading at port of export | Seller Seller — Loading on vessel / aircraft | Seller Seller — Main carriage | Seller Seller — Cargo insurance | Buyer Buyer — Unloading at port of import | Buyer Buyer — Loading on truck at import | Buyer Buyer — Carriage to destination | Buyer Buyer — Import customs clearance | Buyer Buyer — Import duties & taxes |
| CPT Carriage Paid To | Seller Seller — Loading on truck | Seller Seller — Export customs declaration | Seller Seller — Carriage to port of export | Seller Seller — Unloading at port of export | Seller Seller — Loading on vessel / aircraft | Seller Seller — Main carriage | Negotiable Negotiable — Cargo insurance | Seller Seller — Unloading at port of import | Seller Seller — Loading on truck at import | Seller Seller — Carriage to destination | Buyer Buyer — Import customs clearance | Buyer Buyer — Import duties & taxes |
| CIP Carriage and Insurance Paid | Seller Seller — Loading on truck | Seller Seller — Export customs declaration | Seller Seller — Carriage to port of export | Seller Seller — Unloading at port of export | Seller Seller — Loading on vessel / aircraft | Seller Seller — Main carriage | Seller Seller — Cargo insurance | Seller Seller — Unloading at port of import | Seller Seller — Loading on truck at import | Seller Seller — Carriage to destination | Buyer Buyer — Import customs clearance | Buyer Buyer — Import duties & taxes |
| DAT Delivered At Terminal (DPU) | Seller Seller — Loading on truck | Seller Seller — Export customs declaration | Seller Seller — Carriage to port of export | Seller Seller — Unloading at port of export | Seller Seller — Loading on vessel / aircraft | Seller Seller — Main carriage | Negotiable Negotiable — Cargo insurance | Seller Seller — Unloading at port of import | Buyer Buyer — Loading on truck at import | Buyer Buyer — Carriage to destination | Buyer Buyer — Import customs clearance | Buyer Buyer — Import duties & taxes |
| DAP Delivered At Place | Seller Seller — Loading on truck | Seller Seller — Export customs declaration | Seller Seller — Carriage to port of export | Seller Seller — Unloading at port of export | Seller Seller — Loading on vessel / aircraft | Seller Seller — Main carriage | Negotiable Negotiable — Cargo insurance | Seller Seller — Unloading at port of import | Seller Seller — Loading on truck at import | Seller Seller — Carriage to destination | Buyer Buyer — Import customs clearance | Buyer Buyer — Import duties & taxes |
| DDP Delivered Duty Paid | Seller Seller — Loading on truck | Seller Seller — Export customs declaration | Seller Seller — Carriage to port of export | Seller Seller — Unloading at port of export | Seller Seller — Loading on vessel / aircraft | Seller Seller — Main carriage | Negotiable Negotiable — Cargo insurance | Seller Seller — Unloading at port of import | Seller Seller — Loading on truck at import | Seller Seller — Carriage to destination | Seller Seller — Import customs clearance | Seller Seller — Import duties & taxes |
EXW Ex Works
Buyer takes over at the seller's door and carries every cost from there. Lowest quoted price, highest buyer workload.
FCA Free Carrier
Seller clears the goods for export and hands them to the carrier the buyer nominated.
FAS Free Alongside Ship
Sea and inland waterway only. Seller delivers alongside the vessel; loading is on the buyer.
FOB Free On Board
Sea and inland waterway only. Risk passes once the goods are on board. The most common buying term.
CFR Cost and Freight
Seller pays the main carriage but carries no insurance obligation; risk still passes on loading.
CIF Cost, Insurance and Freight
As CFR, plus the seller must buy and pay for cargo insurance (minimum cover unless you agree more).
CPT Carriage Paid To
Any mode. Seller pays carriage through to the named destination; insurance is not obligatory.
CIP Carriage and Insurance Paid
As CPT, plus the seller must insure the cargo through to the named destination.
DAT Delivered At Terminal (DPU)
Seller delivers unloaded at the named terminal. Renamed DPU (Delivered at Place Unloaded) in Incoterms® 2020.
DAP Delivered At Place
Seller delivers to your address ready for unloading; import clearance and duty stay with the buyer.
DDP Delivered Duty Paid
Seller carries everything through to your door, duty and tax included. Highest quoted price, least buyer workload.
Two things worth flagging. Under CIF and CIP the seller is obliged to buy cargo insurance and pay the premium; under every other term insurance is optional, and we recommend buyers arrange their own cover so a loss or damage in transit is recoverable. And this table is a working summary for planning purposes — the binding definitions are the ones published by the International Chamber of Commerce in the Incoterms® rules, so confirm the exact term wording in your sales contract before you ship.
Service Details
How This Lane Works
Our Small Parcel Built-in Battery channel collects at Guangzhou, Shenzhen or Yiwu and ships by air freight to nationwide, Saudi Arabia. Import duty, taxes and customs clearance in Saudi Arabia are built into the rate, so the price you see is the price delivered.
- Delivers to: nationwide, Saudi Arabia
- Ships from: Guangzhou, Shenzhen or Yiwu
- Terms: DDP (duty and tax included)
- Chargeable weight: greater of gross kg or L×W×H (cm) ÷ 6000
- Prices quoted in USD
This channel accepts goods with built-in lithium batteries (UN3481/UN3091) when declared with an MSDS and UN38.3 report.
The per-kilogram rate above applies to chargeable weight, not to what the scale says. At 166.7 kg per cubic meter, a carton of light goods can be billed at several times its actual weight, so send dimensions with the weight when you ask for a quote into Saudi Arabia — a rate quoted without them is only ever provisional.
In practice the cargo we move on this lane clusters into a few recognisable shapes — compressors (HS 84), where clearance turns on cE marking to the Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC with a signed declaration of conformity, sanitary ware (HS 68 / 69 / 70 / 44) and fabric (HS 50–63 / 64 / 42). Each behaves differently against the rate: one fills the payload before it fills the space, the next does the reverse, and the packing brief we send back with the quote is written to the one you are actually shipping.
To see this tariff against a real consignment rather than a rate card, the 10 KG, 21 KG, 50 KG and 100 KG pages run it at a fixed weight and show the landed total, including the point where stepping up a bracket lowers your cost per kilo. They are the fastest way to check whether consolidating two orders into one is worth the wait.
Air consignments for Saudi Arabia arrive through JED (Jeddah), RUH (Riyadh) and DMM. The airport of arrival is the one the allocation is booked against and it decides where clearance happens, which matters more than it sounds: cargo landing at one gateway is not simply trucked to another without a fresh customs movement, so confirm the arrival point before you commit.
Rate cards are hard to read against a real order, so we also publish worked examples at fixed weights: 10 KG, 21 KG, 50 KG and 100 KG, each showing what that shipment actually costs door to door on this lane. If you are still choosing between transport modes the China to Saudi Arabia Air Freight Cost comparison is the better starting point, and shipping from China to Saudi Arabia covers the whole journey rather than just the freight.
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Additional Information
Documents for Booking
- Commercial invoice with unit values in USD
- Packing list with carton count, weights and dimensions
- HS code for each product line
- Consignee name, full address, postal code and phone number
- MSDS and UN38.3 test summary
Mismatched values or vague descriptions ("parts", "samples") are the most common cause of customs holds — be specific.
Where these numbers come from
We publish these figures so you can budget, but the assessment that binds is the one ZATCA (Saudi Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority) makes on your declaration. Where a shipment is large enough that a percentage point matters, check their current tariff guidance rather than ours.
Classification drives everything downstream: the same carton can attract very different duty depending on the heading it lands in, and the structure those headings come from is the World Customs Organization Harmonized System. If your product sits near a boundary between two headings, resolve it before shipping rather than at the border.
On the air side, anything with a cell or a battery in it, plus liquids, powders, magnets and aerosols, is governed by the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations. Those articles are not refused outright, but they need to be declared at booking so the shipment is built correctly — declaring them late is the single most common cause of an air consignment being offloaded.
If this is your first shipment into Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Arabia Country Commercial Guide covers the practical import environment in more depth than a rate page reasonably can, and it is written by a party with no stake in your booking.
China to Saudi Arabia — Shipping Reference Data
| Main air gateways | JED (Jeddah), RUH (Riyadh), DMM |
|---|---|
| Destination customs authority | Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZATCA) |
| De-minimis / duty-free threshold | SAR 1,000 |
| Import tax & duty regime | VAT 15%; duty 5–15% (up to 25% on some goods) |
| Local currency | SAR |
| Typical clearance / dwell time | 4–8 days |
| Peak / busy season | Sep–Nov |
| Conformity & certification | SABER/SASO conformity certificate |
Thresholds and duty bands are buyer-planning references, not formal customs rulings — confirm the exact HS-code rate for your goods before shipping.
Free 3D Loading Tools for This Air Route
This page covers a Air freight service from China to Saudi Arabia. Use the matching tool below to plan your cargo before requesting a quote.
3D Carton Packing Calculator
Air freight to Saudi Arabia is billed on chargeable weight, so tight carton packing directly lowers your cost per shipment. Enter your product size and see the optimal carton layout in 3D before you book.
Open Packing Tool →Saudi Arabia Air Freight Checklist
- Lithium batteries and liquids need pre-approval on most air routes — declare them upfront.
- Keep single cartons under 30 KG for air handling to Saudi Arabia to avoid overweight surcharges.
- Shrink-wrap and corner-protect cartons — air cargo is transloaded multiple times.
- Confirm whether the Saudi Arabia rate includes fuel and security surcharges or lists them separately.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does Small Parcel Built-in Battery from China to Saudi Arabia take?
Air freight on this route runs about 5–10 business days door-to-door, plus roughly 4–8 days of clearance/dwell once it reaches the gateway. All times include customs clearance under DDP terms.
What duties and taxes apply when importing into Saudi Arabia?
Clearance is handled by Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZATCA). The regime is: VAT 15%; duty 5–15% (up to 25% on some goods), with a de-minimis position of SAR 1,000. Under DDP these are pre-paid, so nothing is collected on arrival.
What certification is needed to import into Saudi Arabia?
For regulated goods, plan for: SABER/SASO conformity certificate. Missing conformity paperwork is the most common clearance hold with Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZATCA), so confirm requirements for your HS code before shipping.
Which ports or airports does this route use into Saudi Arabia?
Sea cargo to Saudi Arabia clears through Jeddah Islamic Port, King Abdulaziz (Dammam), Jubail; air freight clears via JED (Jeddah), RUH (Riyadh), DMM. We route through whichever gateway gives the fastest onward delivery to your address and build it into the DDP price.
What does DDP shipping to Saudi Arabia include on this route?
DDP means we quote the freight, the customs entry with Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZATCA) and last-mile delivery in Saudi Arabia together, so you settle once. The duty and tax portion depends on your product's HS code, declared value and the exchange rate at entry, so it is confirmed against your actual goods — the figures on this page are indicative and can move either way.
How is the shipping cost on this route calculated?
We compare actual gross weight against volumetric weight (L×W×H ÷ 6000, so one cubic meter counts as about 166.7 kg) and charge whichever is greater, rounded up to the next kilogram, then apply the per-KG rate shown in the table above. A 300 kg consignment measuring out to only 200 kg volumetric is still charged on the 300 kg.
Historical Price Records
All price updates are recorded here. Use the weekly tabs to browse older entries.
| Date | 0-16 |
|---|---|
| 2026-11-05Latest | USD 60.73 |
| 2026-11-04 | USD 60.71 |
| 2026-10-24 | USD 60.71 |
| 2026-10-16 | USD 60.70 |
| 2026-10-10 | USD 60.69 |
| 2026-09-30 | USD 60.68 |
| 2026-09-30 | USD 60.71 |
| 2026-09-17 | USD 60.66 |
| 2026-09-15 | USD 60.57 |
| 2026-09-07 | USD 58.77 |
| 2026-08-17 | USD 58.77 |
| 2026-08-17 | USD 58.81 |
| 2026-08-06 | USD 58.81 |
| 2026-08-03 | USD 58.81 |
| 2026-07-30 | USD 58.80 |
| 2026-07-20 | USD 58.83 |
| 2026-07-17 | USD 58.39 |
| 2026-07-14 | USD 58.37 |
| 2026-07-07 | USD 58.35 |
| 2026-07-03 | USD 58.36 |
| 2026-07-02 | USD 58.35 |
| 2026-06-30 | USD 58.36 |
| 2026-06-23 | USD 58.35 |
| 2026-06-15 | USD 58.38 |
| 2026-06-08 | USD 58.38 |
| 2026-05-14 | USD 58.33 |
Price Trend
Shipping Saudi Arabia cargo by industry
This rate is for the lane. What decides whether the cargo arrives intact is the commodity — how it prices, how it must be packed and loaded, and which compliance step holds it at the border. These guides cover that per industry.
- Tableware Furniture & Home Products
- Display Stands Retail, Display & Commercial Fixtures
- Umbrellas Consumer Goods & Gifts
- Bearings Metal Products & Industrial Components
- Solar Panel New Energy, Power & Electrical
- Prefabricated Building Building Materials & Construction Products
- Pallet Wood, Bamboo & Paper Products
- Conveyor Belts Plastics, Rubber & Packaging
- Hotel Furniture Furniture & Home Products
- Textiles Textiles, Apparel, Footwear & Leather
- Restaurant Furniture Retail, Display & Commercial Fixtures
- Metal Fabrication Metal Products & Industrial Components
About China Ocean Freight
China Ocean Freight is a China-based freight forwarder for importers who buy from Chinese factories. We handle the whole move: pickup from your supplier, warehouse consolidation, export customs, the main sea, air or rail leg, import clearance and delivery to your door.
On this lane we book space on scheduled freighters and belly cargo out of Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong, then hand over to our clearance partner in Saudi Arabia for delivery.
- One coordinator owns your shipment from booking to delivery
- Prices taken from current carrier tariffs, not index averages
- Supplier pickup, inspection, repacking and labeling in China
- DDP or DAP terms, with every charge stated before you book