Current Freight Rates
| Weight / Volume | Rate (USD / KG) |
|---|---|
| 0-16 | USD 54.88 |
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
At a Glance
Our Small Parcel General No Battery channel collects at Guangzhou, Shenzhen or Yiwu and ships by air freight to Saudi Arabia. This is a Delivered Duty Paid service: we settle Saudi Arabia customs duty and import tax for you, and your consignee pays nothing on arrival.
- Delivers to: 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.
Every consignment on this service is measured as well as weighed. Volumetric weight is L×W×H in centimetres divided by 6000 — one cubic meter counted as roughly 166.7 kg — and whichever figure is higher is the one charged. Dense cargo pays on its weight; light bulky cargo pays on its volume, and repacking to raise density is often the cheapest saving available on a Saudi Arabia shipment.
Typical cargo on this route: generators (HS 85 / 8541), where clearance turns on cE and IEC conformity, and a check that voltage and grid code match the destination, sanitary ware (HS 68 / 69 / 70 / 44) and fabric (HS 50–63 / 64 / 42). If yours is on that list the commodity page is worth two minutes — it covers how the goods should leave the factory, how they should sit in the container, and the failure mode we see most often on this kind of freight.
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.
Saudi Arabia air cargo on this service routes through JED (Jeddah), RUH (Riyadh) and DMM. Where more than one gateway is listed the booked one depends on space on the day; the rate is the same either way, but the inland delivery leg beyond the airport is not.
The table above prices the lane, but most buyers arrive with a consignment already in mind. If yours has a known weight, the 10 KG, 21 KG, 50 KG and 100 KG breakdowns run this tariff against a fixed shipment so you see a landed number rather than a rate per kilo, and the China to Saudi Arabia Air Freight Cost page sets every channel we run on this lane side by side. For the wider picture including documentation and duty, start from shipping from China to Saudi Arabia.
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Additional Information
What We Need From You
- 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
Treat the landed-cost numbers here as a planning baseline. ZATCA (Saudi Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority) sets the rate that actually gets charged, assessed against your HS classification at the moment of clearance, so their own guidance is worth reading before a large order.
If you want to sanity-check a duty figure yourself, start from the heading rather than the product name — the WCO Harmonized System is the underlying nomenclature, and the WTO Tariff & Trade Data portal holds the applied rates by country pair.
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.
On the origin side, export declaration and any commodity inspection requirement fall under China Customs (GACC); we handle that filing as part of the service, but the requirement is theirs, not ours.
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
Dimensional weight often decides the final air rate to Saudi Arabia. Simulate your carton fill in 3D, including mixed products in one box, and export the packing plan for your supplier.
Open Packing Tool →Saudi Arabia Air Freight Checklist
- Book 2-3 days before your target ETD; same-day air bookings usually carry premium rates.
- Lithium batteries and liquids need pre-approval on most air routes — declare them upfront.
- Compare volumetric weight (L×W×H÷6000) with actual weight — the higher one is billed.
- Confirm whether the Saudi Arabia rate includes fuel and security surcharges or lists them separately.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does Small Parcel General No 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.
When does capacity tighten on the China–Saudi Arabia lane?
Space and rates tighten around Sep–Nov, plus the China-side windows of Chinese New Year (Jan/Feb) and Golden Week (early Oct). Book 1–2 weeks earlier in these periods.
Can you ship special cargo (batteries, branded goods) to Saudi Arabia?
Yes — battery cargo by air follows IATA PI966/PI967; we run certified battery channels via JED (Jeddah), RUH (Riyadh), DMM. Brand-goods and DG paperwork are handled within the DDP service. Surcharges apply.
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 54.88 |
| 2026-11-04 | USD 54.86 |
| 2026-10-24 | USD 54.85 |
| 2026-10-16 | USD 54.84 |
| 2026-10-10 | USD 54.84 |
| 2026-09-30 | USD 54.83 |
| 2026-09-30 | USD 54.85 |
| 2026-09-17 | USD 54.81 |
| 2026-09-15 | USD 54.73 |
| 2026-09-07 | USD 53.16 |
| 2026-08-17 | USD 53.16 |
| 2026-08-17 | USD 53.20 |
| 2026-08-06 | USD 53.19 |
| 2026-08-03 | USD 53.20 |
| 2026-07-30 | USD 53.19 |
| 2026-07-20 | USD 53.22 |
| 2026-07-17 | USD 52.83 |
| 2026-07-14 | USD 52.82 |
| 2026-07-07 | USD 52.80 |
| 2026-07-03 | USD 52.81 |
| 2026-07-02 | USD 52.80 |
| 2026-06-30 | USD 52.80 |
| 2026-06-23 | USD 52.79 |
| 2026-06-15 | USD 52.82 |
| 2026-06-08 | USD 52.82 |
| 2026-05-14 | USD 52.78 |
| 2025-12-29 | — |
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.
- Exhibition Display Equipment Retail, Display & Commercial Fixtures
- Aluminum Coils Steel & Metal Materials
- Pipe Fittings Metal Products & Industrial Components
- Generators New Energy, Power & Electrical
- Ceramic Tiles Building Materials & Construction Products
- Paper Packaging Wood, Bamboo & Paper Products
- Packaging Materials Plastics, Rubber & Packaging
- Laboratory Furniture Furniture & Home Products
- Fabric Textiles, Apparel, Footwear & Leather
- Salon Furniture Beauty, Personal Care & Wellness
- Sheet Metal Metal Products & Industrial Components
- Compressors General Machinery & Industrial Equipment
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