Shipping from China to Canada

Routes and gateways

Canada has two coasts and most of its population a long way inland, so the choice of gateway matters more than on most lanes. Vancouver is the main port for Asian cargo. Prince Rupert, further north, is the shortest sailing from Asia of any North American container port and has a direct CN rail line to Toronto, Montreal and Chicago. For Quebec and the Maritimes, cargo can also come all-water to Montreal or Halifax, through either the Suez or the Panama Canal.

For an importer in Toronto, the usual route is ocean to Vancouver or Prince Rupert and double-stack rail east, about four to six days by train after discharge. That is normally faster door to door than an all-water service to Montreal, which spends over 30 days at sea. Airfreight into Toronto Pearson or Vancouver typically takes about a week door to door.

Drewry does not publish a China–Canada lane, so the calculator has no benchmark here: enter your forwarder's rate. Canadian West Coast rates tend to move with the US West Coast market, but inland rail is quoted separately.

Canadian customs for importers

• Business number and import account. Commercial importers need a CRA business number with an import-export (RM) account.
• CARM. Since October 2024 importers deal with CBSA through the CARM Client Portal, and since 20 May 2025 every commercial importer who wants goods released before paying duty and taxes (release prior to payment) has to post its own financial security. A customs broker's bond no longer covers you.
• Advance data. Marine carriers must send CBSA cargo data electronically 24 hours before the container is loaded in China, under the Advance Commercial Information programme.
• Duty and GST. Duty is charged on the value for duty, broadly the price paid excluding the international freight. GST of 5 % is then charged on the duty-paid value; in Ontario and the Atlantic provinces it is collected as HST (13 % or 15 %), and some provinces add PST.
• Surtaxes. Canada has applied surtaxes to certain Chinese goods, including electric vehicles, steel and aluminium, since 2024. Check the current Customs Tariff for your goods before you price them.
• Low-value parcels. Courier shipments from China get only the general CAD 20 threshold. The higher CAD 40 and CAD 150 thresholds under CUSMA apply only to goods shipped from the US or Mexico.

Mistakes on China–Canada shipments

• Booking to the wrong gateway. A cheap ocean rate to Vancouver is no bargain if the rail leg to Toronto is not included or not available.
• Waiting until the goods land to sort out CARM. Without RPP security, goods wait until duty and taxes are paid.
• Using a US forwarder's assumptions. Canada does not use the US ISF, and duty is not charged the same way. Use a Canadian customs broker.
• Ignoring winter. Rail and trucking in the Prairies and northern Ontario slow down in severe weather; build a few days of buffer from December to March.