Sea freight between the Netherlands and China runs both ways on the same trade, with the paperwork mirrored. Importing is the everyday direction: China is the Netherlands' biggest source of containerised imports, and the work sits on the EU side. Exporting is the lighter flow, where China wants its cargo data before the box is even loaded in Europe. Either way a clean shipment needs a bill of lading, the right advance filing, correct HS codes and an agreed Incoterm. The deep-sea leg between the main Chinese ports and Rotterdam realistically runs around 30 to 40 days.
Chinese container ports and their LOCODEs
The mainland's container gateways cluster on the eastern and southern coasts; Hong Kong sits alongside as a separate customs territory.
| Port | LOCODE | Region |
|---|---|---|
| Shanghai | CNSHA | Yangtze River Delta |
| Ningbo-Zhoushan | CNNGB | Yangtze River Delta |
| Shenzhen (Yantian) | CNYTN | Pearl River Delta |
| Guangzhou (Nansha) | CNNSA | Pearl River Delta |
| Qingdao | CNTAO | North (Shandong) |
| Tianjin | CNTSN | North (Bohai) |
| Xiamen | CNXMN | South-east (Fujian) |
| Hong Kong | HKHKG | Pearl River Delta |
Shanghai is the world's busiest container port and the usual default. Ningbo-Zhoushan sits right next to it in the same delta and often loads the same Europe services. In the south, Shenzhen's Yantian terminal (CNYTN) and Guangzhou's Nansha (CNNSA) cover the Pearl River Delta manufacturing belt; Qingdao and Tianjin serve the north. Hong Kong (HKHKG) is a separate customs territory, so a shipment routing through it is not a mainland-China customs movement — that matters for the CCAM on the export side.
Who sails the lane
Asia–Europe is the backbone trade and is covered by every major grouping. The Ocean Alliance is the strongest single block on Far East–North Europe by direct port pairs and service count; the Gemini Cooperation (Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd), the Premier Alliance (ONE, HMM, Yang Ming) and MSC on its own network all run the route too, with MSC offering the widest direct coverage. Which carrier actually moves your box depends on the service sharing, but the booking carrier owns your bill of lading. The full picture of carriers and alliances is on Container Shipping Lines.
Transit time, each way
Count on roughly 30 to 40 days port to port for the deep-sea leg, in either direction, between the main Chinese ports and Rotterdam. Shanghai and Ningbo tend to sit at the faster end; the southern and northern ports can add days depending on the rotation. The import and export legs are not mirror images — each is a separate service with its own rotation and transhipment calls, and routing around the Cape rather than through Suez has stretched and re-shuffled schedules. Plan each direction on its own timetable and treat every number here as a range, not a guarantee.
Importing from China: the everyday lane
This is the direction most of our China traffic runs, and the work is all on the EU side. The shipment is announced before it loads: the ENS (Entry Summary Declaration) under ICS2 is due 24 hours before loading at the Chinese port, the EU's advance cargo-security filing. The carrier files the master-level ENS and the forwarder the house-level data. On arrival in Rotterdam the container is released through the Secure Chain, then either clears at the port or moves inland under a T1 to be cleared at destination. Import duty and VAT settle at clearance. The whole inbound chain — Secure Chain, documents, Article 23 VAT deferment — is on Importing Into The Netherlands, and Customs covers the declaration itself.
China pays the standard duty rate
China has no preferential trade agreement with the EU, so there is no duty-free or duty-reduced route: imports pay the standard third-country tariff set by the HS code. There is no EUR.1 or invoice declaration to chase, because there is no preference to claim. The detail of when origin does and doesn't cut your duty is on Preferential Origin.
The compliance traps
China imports are where the extra duties and product rules bite hardest. Check these before you order:
- Anti-dumping and countervailing duties: the EU has them on a long list of Chinese goods — steel and steel products, ceramics and tiles, bicycles and e-bikes, solar panels, and more. They can be several times the normal duty, so confirm the rate on the official Dutch customs tariff before you commit.
- CBAM: carbon-intensive goods (iron and steel, aluminium, cement, fertilisers, hydrogen) carry reporting and, since 2026, a financial obligation. A lot of Chinese imports fall inside it.
- REACH and product compliance: chemicals, articles, CE marking, RoHS — customs and market-surveillance authorities do check, and Chinese-sourced goods draw attention.
- Dangerous goods and dual-use: lithium batteries and chemicals need the right sea-freight classification; some electronics and components are Dual Use goods with their own export controls on the way out of the EU if you re-export.
Exporting to China: the CCAM
Exporting flips the advance filing to the Chinese side. The CCAM (China Customs Advance Manifest) has to reach China Customs 24 hours before the cargo is loaded at the European port, for all import, export and transshipment cargo via mainland China ports. The part that trips people up is the Chinese enterprise code: give it as USCI + code when the China party has a Unified Social Credit Code, or OC + code when it only has an organisation code, alongside the full shipper and consignee details on the shipping instruction. The carrier files the master bill and the NVOCC the house bill, and the data has to match across both. The full mechanics and the reject reasons are on China Ccam.
A common confusion: AMS and ISF are US filings, not Chinese ones. A China export does not need them. What it needs is the CCAM with a correctly formatted enterprise code, and an EU-established exporter on the export declaration — an Incoterm never shifts that obligation, however the invoice is worded.
Common mistakes
- Treating a Hong Kong routing as a mainland-China customs movement, or missing that the CCAM still applies to mainland legs.
- Filing the CCAM against departure instead of loading, and missing the 24-hour mark.
- Ordering Chinese steel, tiles, bikes or solar without checking the anti-dumping rate first, then finding the duty has doubled the landed cost.
- Assuming a preferential rate exists for China — it doesn't.
How Nexport Logistics handles it
Importing, we arrange the carrier, file the ENS under ICS2, clear the goods in Rotterdam or move them under a T1 to your door, and check the duty, anti-dumping and CBAM position up front. Exporting, we book the sailing, file the CCAM 24 hours before loading with the right USCI/OC enterprise code, build the bill of lading and clear the EU export. You follow the shipment in the Nexportal portal either way. Shipping a container to or from China? Email info@nexportlogistics.nl and we'll set it up to load clean.
Related: China Ccam · Importing Into The Netherlands · Container Shipping Lines · Incoterms · Customs It Systems · Preferential Origin