Route playbooks
Practical briefings on 57 lanes we move cargo on — realistic transit ranges, what genuinely drives the cost, the documents you will be asked for, and the mistakes that cost the most time.
These are planning guides, not client case studies. Each page sets out industry-typical figures for that lane so you can plan a shipment before you ask anyone for a price. They do not describe specific customer shipments. Our two documented project moves are on the case studies page.
57 routes
Europe
19 routesOur largest westbound corridor, served by ocean via the Cape of Good Hope and by China–Europe rail through the Kazakhstan and Belarus border crossings.
Shenzhen → Rotterdam
Netherlands- Main leg
- 28–35 days
- Door to door
- 42–50 days
Shenzhen → Hamburg
Germany- Main leg
- 30–38 days
- Door to door
- 44–52 days
Shanghai → Rotterdam
Netherlands- Main leg
- 28–35 days
- Door to door
- 42–50 days
Ningbo → Antwerp
Belgium- Main leg
- 30–37 days
- Door to door
- 44–52 days
Shenzhen → Felixstowe
United Kingdom- Main leg
- 30–38 days
- Door to door
- 45–53 days
Qingdao → Le Havre
France- Main leg
- 32–40 days
- Door to door
- 46–54 days
Shanghai → Gdansk
Poland- Main leg
- 32–40 days
- Door to door
- 46–55 days
Ningbo → Valencia
Spain- Main leg
- 27–34 days
- Door to door
- 40–48 days
Xiamen → Genoa
Italy- Main leg
- 28–35 days
- Door to door
- 42–50 days
Shenzhen → Piraeus
Greece- Main leg
- 25–32 days
- Door to door
- 38–46 days
Xi’an → Duisburg
Germany- Main leg
- 16–20 days
- Door to door
- 22–28 days
Chongqing → Duisburg
Germany- Main leg
- 16–19 days
- Door to door
- 22–27 days
Xi’an → Małaszewicze
Poland- Main leg
- 12–14 days
- Door to door
- 17–22 days
Chengdu → Warsaw
Poland- Main leg
- 14–18 days
- Door to door
- 19–25 days
Zhengzhou → Hamburg
Germany- Main leg
- 15–19 days
- Door to door
- 21–26 days
Yiwu → Madrid
Spain- Main leg
- 18–22 days
- Door to door
- 24–30 days
Shenzhen → Frankfurt
Germany- Main leg
- 4–7 days
- Door to door
- 6–10 days
Shanghai → Amsterdam
Netherlands- Main leg
- 4–7 days
- Door to door
- 6–10 days
Hong Kong → London Heathrow
United Kingdom- Main leg
- 4–6 days
- Door to door
- 6–9 days
Central Asia & Russia
9 routesRail and road corridors through Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and the Russian Federation, where border-crossing procedure matters more than raw distance.
Xi’an → Moscow
Russia- Main leg
- 12–16 days
- Door to door
- 17–22 days
Shenzhen → Moscow
Russia- Main leg
- 20–28 days
- Door to door
- 26–35 days
Shanghai → St Petersburg
Russia- Main leg
- 35–45 days
- Door to door
- 48–58 days
Lianyungang → Almaty
Kazakhstan- Main leg
- 10–14 days
- Door to door
- 15–20 days
Xi’an → Tashkent
Uzbekistan- Main leg
- 12–16 days
- Door to door
- 17–23 days
Urumqi → Bishkek
Kyrgyzstan- Main leg
- 5–9 days
- Door to door
- 8–14 days
Zhengzhou → Yekaterinburg
Russia- Main leg
- 11–15 days
- Door to door
- 16–21 days
Shenzhen → Novosibirsk
Russia- Main leg
- 14–19 days
- Door to door
- 20–26 days
Urumqi → Baku
Azerbaijan- Main leg
- 16–22 days
- Door to door
- 22–30 days
North America
14 routesTranspacific ocean to both US coasts, plus Mexican gateways increasingly used to serve North America under nearshoring programmes.
Shenzhen → Los Angeles
United States- Main leg
- 14–20 days
- Door to door
- 30–45 days
Shanghai → Long Beach
United States- Main leg
- 13–18 days
- Door to door
- 28–42 days
Ningbo → Oakland
United States- Main leg
- 15–21 days
- Door to door
- 30–45 days
Qingdao → Seattle
United States- Main leg
- 14–19 days
- Door to door
- 29–43 days
Shenzhen → New York
United States- Main leg
- 28–38 days
- Door to door
- 40–55 days
Shanghai → Savannah
United States- Main leg
- 30–40 days
- Door to door
- 42–56 days
Xiamen → Houston
United States- Main leg
- 32–42 days
- Door to door
- 44–58 days
Shenzhen → Vancouver
Canada- Main leg
- 15–21 days
- Door to door
- 30–45 days
Shanghai → Toronto
Canada- Main leg
- 30–40 days
- Door to door
- 42–56 days
Shenzhen → Manzanillo
Mexico- Main leg
- 18–26 days
- Door to door
- 32–46 days
Ningbo → Lázaro Cárdenas
Mexico- Main leg
- 19–27 days
- Door to door
- 33–47 days
Shanghai → Veracruz
Mexico- Main leg
- 30–40 days
- Door to door
- 44–58 days
Shenzhen → Mexico City
Mexico- Main leg
- 24–34 days
- Door to door
- 36–50 days
Hong Kong → Chicago
United States- Main leg
- 4–7 days
- Door to door
- 6–10 days
South Asia & the Gulf
9 routesShort-haul ocean into the Indian subcontinent and the Arabian Gulf, where clearance procedure rather than sailing time usually sets the delivery date.
Shenzhen → Nhava Sheva
India- Main leg
- 12–18 days
- Door to door
- 20–30 days
Shanghai → Mundra
India- Main leg
- 14–20 days
- Door to door
- 22–32 days
Shenzhen → Chennai
India- Main leg
- 13–19 days
- Door to door
- 21–31 days
Ningbo → Kolkata
India- Main leg
- 15–22 days
- Door to door
- 24–34 days
Shenzhen → Jebel Ali
United Arab Emirates- Main leg
- 18–26 days
- Door to door
- 24–34 days
Shanghai → Dammam
Saudi Arabia- Main leg
- 20–28 days
- Door to door
- 28–38 days
Xiamen → Colombo
Sri Lanka- Main leg
- 10–15 days
- Door to door
- 17–25 days
Shenzhen → Karachi
Pakistan- Main leg
- 14–20 days
- Door to door
- 22–32 days
Shanghai → Chittagong
Bangladesh- Main leg
- 15–22 days
- Door to door
- 23–33 days
Southeast Asia
6 routesRegional ocean and road movements, including transhipment through Singapore and Port Klang for onward long-haul connections.
Shenzhen → Singapore
Singapore- Main leg
- 5–9 days
- Door to door
- 10–16 days
Shenzhen → Port Klang
Malaysia- Main leg
- 6–10 days
- Door to door
- 11–18 days
Shenzhen → Ho Chi Minh City
Vietnam- Main leg
- 3–6 days
- Door to door
- 7–13 days
Shanghai → Laem Chabang
Thailand- Main leg
- 5–9 days
- Door to door
- 10–17 days
Shenzhen → Jakarta
Indonesia- Main leg
- 7–12 days
- Door to door
- 13–21 days
Xiamen → Manila
Philippines- Main leg
- 4–8 days
- Door to door
- 9–16 days
No routes match that combination.
Where these figures come from
Transit ranges on these pages are drawn from published industry data current to September 2026, cross-checked across more than one source. They are indicative planning figures, not quoted schedules: the actual time depends on the carrier, the service string, the season and the destination's clearance workload.
Two numbers are given on every lane because confusing them is the most expensive planning error we see. Main leg is departure to arrival. Door to door adds collection, export formalities, the wait for a departure slot, import clearance and final delivery — and it is the only one that answers "when will it be on my shelf?"
Ocean figures on the Asia–Europe and Asia–Mediterranean lanes assume routing via the Cape of Good Hope, which is the prevailing pattern while Red Sea transits are being avoided. That adds roughly one to two weeks against a Suez routing. Transpacific and intra-Asia services are not affected.
- Flexport Ocean Timeliness Indicator
- Freightos — China to United States shipping routes
- UNCTAD Review of Maritime Transport
External industry and standards sources, linked for reference. Transeasy is not affiliated with these organisations.