Freight forwarder Singapore: China to Singapore, sea and air

1One route, two modes

We do one thing: cargo from China to Singapore, by sea or by air. Sea means LCL, where your cartons share a container, and FCL, where the 20', 40' or 40' high-cube container is yours. Air means general cargo priced on chargeable weight. Express courier and single parcels are outside what we do, and so is any other route. The narrowness is the point: every departure, permit and delivery we handle is on the same lane, so the process is one we run six days a week rather than one we look up.

If you are deciding between sea and air, or between LCL and a full container, the guide to shipping from China to Singapore is the place to start; the sea freight guide and LCL versus FCL go deeper on the sea side.

2What is a freight forwarder? An agent, not a carrier

A freight forwarder is an agent. We do not own vessels or aircraft; we book your cargo onto the carriers that do, and we take responsibility for the pieces around the freight that a carrier does not touch: receiving and counting your cartons, consolidating them, lodging the import permit, paying the GST at clearance, and putting the goods on a truck to your address. Because we are not tied to one carrier, your shipment goes on whichever departure fits your deadline. It also means our published figures are hub to door rather than port to port, because a port-to-port price leaves you to sort out the part that actually goes wrong; port to port is there on request for anyone who already has a mover at the Singapore end.

3Shipping agent or freight forwarder: what is the difference

People looking for a shipping agent from China to Singapore usually want what a freight forwarder does: someone who receives the goods in China, books them onto a ship or a flight, clears Singapore Customs and delivers. Strictly, the two jobs differ. A shipping agent represents a shipping line at a port, looking after the vessel's calls and the line's paperwork; it works for the carrier. A freight forwarder works for you, the cargo owner, and arranges the whole journey across whichever carriers fit.

So when you compare a shipping agent and a freight forwarder for goods from China, ask the questions that matter to the cargo owner: is there a receiving hub in China your suppliers can deliver to, who lodges the Singapore import permit, is the price hub to door or only port to port, and when do you pay. Our answers are a hub in Foshan for sea and a warehouse in Shenzhen for air, a permit lodged in-house as a Registered Declaring Agent, one all-in price at S$82 per CBM by sea, and payment when your cargo reaches Singapore. The six questions further down go through the rest.

4Freight forwarder Singapore: what being registered here means for you

You can book China to Singapore freight through an agent in China, an online platform or a forwarder in Singapore. Choosing the Singapore-registered one changes some practical things, and they are the reason this section exists.

• A Singapore company with a UEN. Shiplet is the freight-forwarding brand of Empirical Marine and Trading Pte. Limited, UEN 202418701E, registered office 7 Fourth Lok Yang Road, Singapore 629704. Your invoice, your contract and your recourse are all in Singapore.
• Registered Declaring Agent. We lodge your import permits with Singapore Customs in-house, with no third party in the chain and no waiting in someone else's queue. Singapore Customs explains the role on its Declaring Agent page.
• GST paid at clearance and passed through at cost. GST at 9% is due on the import value. We pay it when the permit is cleared and show it as a separate line on your invoice, at cost, so it is never buried in the freight rate. The GST and customs guide explains the calculation.
• Pay on arrival in Singapore. PayNow or bank transfer when your cargo reaches Singapore, before we deliver it. No card details, no deposit, no paying a stranger overseas up front.
• A Singapore contract. Every shipment is carried on our Standard Trading Conditions, which set out cargo cover, liability and how a claim is handled. The key terms are on that page, and we send the full text before you commit to a booking.
• Someone who answers. WhatsApp +65 8162 1037 or info@empiricalmarine.com, every day, 9:00am to 6:00pm Singapore time, from quote to delivery.

5What we do, and what we do not

Restricted goods such as batteries, liquids, powders, food, cosmetics, magnets and medicines are accepted in many cases, but the paperwork has to be arranged before the goods are packed. The restricted goods guide lists what needs attention, and the rule is simple: contact us before shipping.

6How pricing works

LCL and air are on published rates. Sea LCL is S$82 per CBM, hub to door, with a 1 CBM minimum. Air is from S$6.50 per kg on chargeable weight, which is the greater of actual weight and volumetric weight (length × width × height in centimetres ÷ 6000), with a 10 kg minimum. Both rates include receiving and the carton check at our hub (Foshan for sea, Shenzhen for air), consolidation, the freight itself, the Singapore import permit and customs clearance, delivery to your Singapore address and cargo cover at declared invoice value. The sea rate also includes 5 days' storage at the Foshan hub; for air, we confirm storage at the Shenzhen warehouse when you book.

Excluded are GST at 9% and any duty, collection from your supplier to the hub (quoted separately on request), storage beyond 5 days at S$20 per CBM per day, and special handling such as stairs, timed delivery and unpacking. Duty applies only to liquor, tobacco, motor vehicles and petroleum products, so most general cargo pays GST alone.

FCL is quoted per booking. Carrier rates for containers move weekly, and a published container price would be wrong within days of being printed, so we quote each 20', 40' or 40'HC on the day against the carriers' current rates. Every figure, LCL, air or FCL, is indicative until it is on your confirmed quote, and nothing is booked or payable until you accept that quote. The CBM calculator gives you the volume and chargeable weight, and an indicative figure from the published rates, before you ask; the import GST calculator adds the tax.

7The Foshan hub and consolidation

Everything we ship by sea passes through our hub in Foshan, Guangdong; air cargo goes to our air freight warehouse in Shenzhen instead. Your suppliers, whether one factory or a dozen 1688 sellers, deliver there. We receive each delivery, count the cartons against your packing list and tell you if the numbers do not match, which is when a shortfall is still the supplier's problem rather than yours. Cartons wait free for 5 days while the rest of the order arrives, and the order then leaves as one consignment on the next working-day departure. Both warehouses receive Mon–Sat, 8:00am – 5:00pm; departures are Monday to Saturday.

Consolidation is what makes small orders from several suppliers workable. Five suppliers sending five separate shipments would each hit the 1 CBM minimum; consolidated into one consignment they pay for their combined volume once. The 1688 shipping guide covers the routine for business buyers.

8Track record

140,000+ CBM moved and 9,000+ shipments handled, all on this one lane. We count shipments, not sailings, because one departure carries many customers' cargo and the honest measure is how many consignments have gone from a supplier's door in China to a customer's door in Singapore. The about page has the company details.

9How to compare freight forwarders from China to Singapore

Two quotes for the same cartons can differ by half and both be honest, because they are not pricing the same job. Before you compare the figures, ask every forwarder the same six questions and write the answers side by side. Ours are in the second column.

The lowest figure is often the one that stops at the port. A port-to-port price leaves the permit, the clearance, the port charges and the truck to your door to be found and paid for afterwards, and those are the parts a first-time importer is least able to price. Ask for the all-in figure in writing and compare that. Shipping furniture or other bulky goods for a home? The furniture shipping guide adds the questions that matter for delivery into a flat.

10How to get a quote

1. Send the details through the quote request form: what the goods are, roughly how many cartons and how big, where the supplier is, and when they will be ready. You get a reference number immediately.
2. Your instant quote appears as you type on the form, and our team then sends the confirmed quote in writing within a few hours: the mode, the transit band and the all-in hub-to-door figure, with GST shown separately.
3. You confirm. Only then is anything booked, and nothing is payable until your cargo reaches Singapore.
4. Give your supplier the hub address and the marking code from your booking confirmation, to write on every carton. We receive, count, consolidate and ship; you pay when your cargo reaches Singapore, before we deliver it, by PayNow or bank transfer.

For a quick question, WhatsApp +65 8162 1037; for documents, info@empiricalmarine.com. Someone answers every day, 9:00am to 6:00pm Singapore time.