Six cost layers sit between a Chinese factory invoice and a US warehouse. The first two are visible on a forwarder quote; the rest arrive later, and they are where the margin goes.
Every China-to-US import cost is the sum of these, in this order. The order matters because each layer attaches to a different customs value.
The supplier's price including China-side origin costs — inland haulage, export declaration, origin terminal handling, documentation. Almost every Chinese quotation is FOB, so this is usually the number you already have.
Charged per container, not per kilogram, which is why filling the container matters more than anything else in the cost stack. Planning figures for 2026:
| Lane | 40ft HQ | 20ft GP | Transit |
|---|---|---|---|
| South China → Los Angeles / Long Beach | ~$2,400 | ~$1,550 | 14–18 days |
| South China → New York / Savannah | ~$3,600 | ~$2,250 | 28–35 days |
| South China → Seattle / Tacoma | ~$2,350 | ~$1,500 | 15–20 days |
| South China → Houston (via Panama) | ~$3,400 | ~$2,150 | 30–38 days |
Add 15–40% during the pre-Lunar New Year and pre-peak-season windows. The single biggest driver of the rate is not distance — it is whether the vessel is full.
Around 0.2–0.5% of the insured value, conventionally 110% of CIF. On a $20,000 shipment that is $50–$110. Cheap, and the one line item people skip. Don't.
This is the part American importers most often get wrong when they copy a European cost model. US Customs assesses duty on the transaction value, which excludes international freight and insurance. The EU and UK assess on CIF. If you take a European landed-cost template and run your US shipment through it, you will overstate duty by the freight multiplied by the duty rate — on $2,400 of freight at 25%, that is $600 of phantom cost.
For China-origin goods, the MFN rate is only the first layer. Section 301 tariffs have applied to the majority of Chinese consumer and industrial goods since 2018–2019, at rates that have ranged from 7.5% to 25% depending on the list, with substantially higher rates imposed on strategic categories. These stack on top of MFN and are assessed on the same FOB value.
There is no responsible way to present a single number here, because the rate depends on the exact HTS line and the programme in force. That is why the calculator has a dedicated field for it: enter the rate that applies to your line, and the total stays honest.
The layer that surprises first-time importers. On a 40ft container expect roughly:
| Charge | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Destination terminal handling (THC) | $250–$450 |
| Customs brokerage and ISF filing | $100–$200 |
| Drayage from port to warehouse (within 50 miles) | $350–$900 |
| Chassis, per diem, exam fees if pulled | $0–$1,500 |
A container selected for a CBP exam adds $500–$1,500 and five to ten days. It is not rare, and it is not predictable. Budget a contingency.
Assume FOB $42,000, a 40HQ of plastic housewares at HS chapter 39, West Coast routing, and a 25% Section 301 rate on the line. This is the archetypal American shipment rather than a hard case: a low MFN rate, a tariff programme worth eight times the MFN rate, and freight small enough to be almost irrelevant to the decision.
| Component | Basis | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Goods, FOB | Supplier quote | $42,000 |
| Ocean freight, 40HQ to LA | Forwarder | $2,400 |
| Cargo insurance | 0.3% on 110% CIF | $147 |
| MFN duty | 3.0% × FOB $42,000 | $1,260 |
| Section 301 | 25% × FOB $42,000 | $10,500 |
| MPF | 0.3464% × $42,000 | $145 |
| HMF | 0.125% × $42,000 (ocean) | $53 |
| THC, brokerage, drayage | Estimate | $1,100 |
| Total landed | $57,605 | |
| Uplift over FOB | +37.2% |
Look at the composition. Freight is 4% of the landed cost. Duty and the additional tariff programme are 20%. For Chinese goods entering the US in 2026, tariffs, not freight, are the dominant variable — and unlike freight, they are decided at classification, which is a decision you can influence before the goods ship.
MPF looks like a small percentage and behaves like a flat fee at both ends, because it has a floor and a ceiling per entry. That makes it the one line on an American cost sheet where the number of entries matters more than the value inside them:
| Entered value | 0.3464% of value | MPF actually paid | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| $9,000 | $31.18 | $33.58 (floor) | 0.37% |
| $42,000 | $145.49 | $145.49 | 0.3464% |
| $190,000 | $658.16 | $651.50 (cap) | 0.34% |
Two consequences. Below about $9,700 of entered value you pay the $33.58 minimum, which is why a small first order is disproportionately expensive at the border. Above about $188,000 the $651.50 cap bites, so a single consolidated entry pays less MPF than two half-value entries — the one fee on this route where consolidating is unambiguously cheaper.
HMF does the opposite: 0.125% of the cargo value, ocean shipments only, no floor and no cap. On the $190,000 entry it is $237.50, and on a $1.9m entry it is $2,375. Only one of the two entry fees stops growing with value, and it is not this one.
The calculator below opens pre-set to the US with the reference duty rate loaded. Change the chapter, add your Section 301 rate, and drop in your forwarder's freight:
1. Classification. The HTS line decides both MFN and which Section 301 list applies. A defensible classification is worth more than any freight negotiation. Get a binding ruling if the product sits near a boundary.
2. Section 321 and de minimis. For small parcels the de minimis threshold has been the traditional route to avoid duty — but for China-origin goods the treatment has tightened considerably, and the economics of splitting shipments into small parcels no longer work the way they did. Model it before relying on it.
3. Fill the container. Freight per unit is freight divided by units. Going from 82% to 96% fill is a 15% cut in freight per unit, obtained by changing a carton dimension — see the container loading calculator.
4. Coast choice. West Coast is cheaper and faster from South China; East Coast costs about 50% more but saves inland rail. Compare the door-to-door total, not the ocean rate.
5. Incoterm. A CIF quote hides the freight inside the goods price, which makes it harder to see lever 3. Ask for FOB and price the freight separately at least once.
Importers compare the two constantly, and the comparison is not intuitive. The EU assesses duty on CIF, adds 19–23% import VAT that a registered business reclaims, and rarely has tariffs as high as the stacked US rate on Chinese goods. The US assesses duty on FOB, has no federal import VAT, and layers additional tariffs that can exceed 25%. For a Chinese consumer product in 2026 the US duty burden is usually higher; the EU's cash-flow burden is usually higher. Both are modelled in the landed cost calculator — switch the destination and the customs logic changes with it.
The American route fails on classification and entry structure rather than on freight, so these three tools are the ones worth opening:
Freight is a 2026 planning benchmark for a 40ft HQ from South China to the US West Coast, all-in. The East Coast is roughly 50% more on the ocean leg and cheaper inland, which is why the coast decision is a door-to-door question rather than a rate question.
MFN duty is the HTS rate at chapter level — 3.0% for HS 39 on this example. The Section 301 rate is a policy variable, not a tariff line: it attaches to a Chapter 99 subheading, it has been amended repeatedly, and it is the single number on this page most likely to be wrong by the time you read it. Both are shown separately so that a change in one does not silently move the other.
MPF, HMF and the merchandise processing rules are statutory and modelled exactly, including the floor and the cap. Destination charges are agent estimates.