Logistics and Shipping
Movement of finished goods from the production floor in Quanzhou to the destination warehouse, with packing, documentation and Incoterms set before the run begins.
Logistics and Shipping is the management of finished goods from the production floor in Quanzhou, Fujian to the destination warehouse. Standard terms are FOB Xiamen, with EXW, CIF and DDP arranged on request. The service covers packing specification, export cartoning, documentation, freight booking and loading supervision, all of which are settled before bulk begins rather than negotiated at the point of dispatch. The port of Xiamen serves as the primary gateway, with Jinjiang airport available for urgent air freight.
Programme parameters at a glance
| Parameter | Commitment |
|---|---|
| Minimum order quantity | 500 pieces per style / colourway |
| Sampling lead time | 6–10 working days (12–15 days for complex constructions) |
| Bulk production lead time | 35–50 days after sample approval |
| Inspection standard | AQL 2.5 (ISO 2859-1), single sampling, general level II |
| Incoterms | FOB Xiamen — EXW, CIF and DDP available on request |
| Payment terms | T/T 30% deposit / 70% before shipment; L/C at sight for container loads |
| Verified production floor space | 4,950 m² (SGS-verified) |
| Team | 137 staff across 7 production lines |
| Equipment | 149 machines including computerised saddle-stitch and edge-painting units |
| Monthly capacity | 200,000 pieces |
| Entity | Founded 2014; principal has worked in bag development since 2004 |
What the Service Covers
Shipping is specified alongside the bag, because packing and cartoning decisions affect unit cost, container utilisation and the condition goods arrive in. Treating them as a downstream detail is the usual source of transit damage.
How It Works
The logistics sequence starts at specification stage and finishes at the destination door. Most delays trace back to documentation rather than transport.
- Incoterm selection — the brand states whether it will control freight or prefers it arranged, and the term is fixed in the quotation.
- Packing specification — individual packing, inner cartons, master cartons and marks are written into the specification and costed.
- Pre-production confirmation — the packing specification is confirmed alongside the sealed sample, before bulk cutting.
- Production and inline checks — bulk runs 35–50 days after sample approval, with goods held to the packing specification throughout.
- Final inspection and cartoning — the lot is inspected to AQL 2.5 (ISO 2859-1), then packed to the agreed specification.
- Documentation, loading and transit — the document set is issued, loading is supervised and photographed, and the shipment is tracked to destination.
What You Provide / What We Provide
Responsibility is divided by Incoterm. The table below sets out the standard arrangement under FOB Xiamen, which is the default for most programmes.
| What you provide | What the programme team provides |
|---|---|
| Incoterm selection and destination port or address | Freight options with transit times and cost implications for each route |
| Forwarder nomination, or instruction to arrange freight | Booking through established forwarders and shipping lines at agreed rates |
| Packing intent: retail-ready, e-commerce, or bulk | Packing specification covering wrapping, stuffing, cartons and drop-test considerations |
| Shipping marks and any import labelling requirements | Carton marking, numbering, weight declaration and destination labelling |
| Import clearance and duties under FOB and CIF terms | Export clearance, port charges and complete export documentation |
| Delivery address and any appointment constraints | Loading supervision with photographic records and proactive shipment tracking |
Freight Options and Transit Times
Mode selection is a trade between landed cost and calendar. Ocean freight is the default for volume; air is reserved for samples, launch deadlines and high-value goods; rail sits between the two for European destinations.
| Mode | Typical transit | Best used for |
|---|---|---|
| Ocean FCL | 18–35 days by destination | Full container loads where landed cost governs the decision |
| Ocean LCL | Transit plus consolidation time | Pilot runs and top-up quantities below container volume |
| Air freight | 5–10 days worldwide | Launch deadlines, high-value goods and urgent re-orders |
| Express courier | 3–7 days | Samples, documents and small urgent shipments |
| Rail to Europe | 18–25 days | European importers needing faster than sea at less than air |
Mode choice is rarely made once. Programmes with a fixed launch date often split a shipment: the bulk travels by ocean to hold landed cost, while a smaller quantity moves by air to cover the selling window. Where a split is likely, the packing specification should be agreed for both modes at the outset, because air-freight cartons are packed to different constraints than containerised cargo.
Timelines and Terms
Production and shipping are planned as one window. A first programme from brief to delivery typically sits inside a single selling season; re-orders are shorter because sampling is already settled.
| Item | Standard term |
|---|---|
| Sampling | 6–10 working days; 12–15 for complex constructions |
| Bulk production | 35–50 days after sample approval |
| Final inspection and packing | 3–5 working days after production completion |
| Minimum order quantity | 500 pieces per style and colourway |
| Incoterm | FOB Xiamen; EXW, CIF and DDP on request |
| Payment | T/T 30% deposit, 70% before shipment |
| Inspection | AQL 2.5 (ISO 2859-1), single sampling, general level II |
| Primary gateway | Port of Xiamen; Jinjiang airport for air freight |
Standards and Compliance
Compliance in shipping is documentary. Goods that are correctly made will still be held if the paperwork does not match the physical shipment or the destination's requirements.
- Inspection before packing — AQL 2.5 under ISO 2859-1, single sampling, general level II, with defects classified critical, major or minor before cartons are sealed.
- Packing integrity — export cartons specified by ply and burst strength, packed to a stacking plan and photographed at loading to document condition at dispatch.
- Material declarations — REACH for the European market, CPSIA and lead testing for the United States, Proposition 65 for California, and OEKO-TEX references where specified.
- Document set — commercial invoice, packing list, certificate of origin, and any additional declarations required by the destination, issued before vessel departure.
- Management systems — operations run to ISO 9001 discipline with environmental aspects under ISO 14001 practice on an SGS-verified 4,950 m² production floor in Quanzhou, Fujian.
- Traceability — carton-level packing lists and inspection reports retained against the shipment for claims, re-orders and audit.
Where Shipments Actually Lose Time
Most late shipments are not late in transit. They are late in the days before loading, and the cause is almost always documentary rather than physical: a packing list that does not reconcile with the carton count, a certificate of origin raised against the wrong consignee, a forwarder waiting on dimensions that were never confirmed. The goods sit finished, inspected and cartoned while the paperwork catches up. Planning the document set alongside the packing specification, rather than after inspection, is the change that removes the most delay.
| Delay point | Usual cause | How it is removed |
|---|---|---|
| Document set | Consignee or description differs from the commercial invoice | Invoice, packing list and certificate raised from one confirmed data set |
| Freight booking | Weights and dimensions confirmed only after cartoning | Packing specification costed and confirmed at pre-production |
| Export clearance | Declaration details inconsistent with the physical shipment | Carton-level packing list reconciled to the marked cartons |
| Collection window | Forwarder arrives outside the agreed loading slot | Collection window confirmed in writing before inspection completes |
| Destination clearance | Import labelling or declaration missing for that market | Destination requirements collected while the specification is written |
The second category of delay is commercial rather than administrative, and it is self-inflicted. A shipment held because the balance payment has not landed is a payment-process delay wearing a logistics costume. Under the standard T/T terms the balance of 70% falls due before shipment once inspection has passed, so initiating the transfer when inspection opens rather than when it concludes removes several days from the window without altering the terms at all.
- Documents from one data set — invoice, packing list and certificate of origin describe the same consignment in the same words.
- Dimensions confirmed at pre-production — the forwarder books against real carton data instead of an estimate.
- Balance initiated at inspection — the transfer starts as inspection opens, so funds clear as the lot passes.
- Collection window in writing — a nominated forwarder collects inside an agreed slot rather than at its own convenience.
- Destination requirements gathered early — labelling and declaration rules are collected when the specification is drafted.
Where a buyer ships to several markets, the document set is built per destination rather than per programme. A packing list that satisfies one consignee will not necessarily satisfy another, and consolidating two destinations into a single booking to save freight usually costs more in clearance time than it saves in freight. The programme team keeps one document template per destination and confirms which applies at the point of booking.
Container Planning, Cube and Carton Count
Freight is charged on space before it is charged on weight, which makes the carton a costing decision as much as a protective one. Two packing specifications that protect a bag equally well can produce different carton counts, different cube and therefore a different freight cost per unit. The question worth asking is not how strong the carton is, but how much air is being shipped with it.
| Container | Usable cube | Planning note |
|---|---|---|
| 20ft | Approximately 28–33 m³ | Weight-limited for dense goods; suited to shorter runs and pilots |
| 40ft | Approximately 58–67 m³ | The default for volume programmes |
| 40ft high-cube | Approximately 68–76 m³ | Suited to bulky travel pieces where cube governs before weight |
| LCL consolidation | Charged per cubic metre with a minimum | Adds handling at both ends; transit includes consolidation time |
Carton dimensions should be set against the container rather than against the bag. A carton leaving a few centimetres of dead space on each pallet layer pays for that space on every layer of every container, for the life of the programme. Where a style sits close to a break point, adjusting pack quantity by one or two units per carton often moves a programme from two containers to one, which returns more than any freight-rate negotiation.
Loading is planned before the cartons reach the port. A stacking plan sets the sequence, distributes weight across the container floor and keeps heavier cartons low, and supervised loading with photographic records documents the condition of the goods at dispatch. That record is what a claim is later judged against, which is the practical reason to require it rather than treat it as a formality.
Destination Rules That Change the Pack
A packing specification that works in one market can fail in another. The differences are rarely about the bag and almost always about the pack: labelling language and placement, country-of-origin marking, material content declarations, and the rules governing wood packaging. All of these are inexpensive to accommodate at specification stage and expensive to correct at the port, by which point the goods are cartoned, sealed and booked.
| Destination | What typically applies | Where it is handled |
|---|---|---|
| European Union | REACH declarations and material content information held against the shipment | Documentation set, prepared with the packing list |
| United States | CPSIA and lead testing documentation; Proposition 65 wording for California | Declaration set and retail labelling |
| United Kingdom | UK marking and origin requirements on the retail label | Specified with the branding package |
| Wood packaging | Heat-treated or fumigated timber bearing the required mark | Pallet specification, confirmed with the forwarder |
| Retail labelling | Barcode, price field and origin placement per retailer | Specified before bulk and sealed into the packing reference |
The pattern worth remembering is that destination rules attach to the pack and the document rather than to the construction. A bag that has passed inspection to AQL 2.5 will still be held if its country-of-origin marking sits in the wrong place, or if a pallet arrives without the treatment mark its market requires. Collecting these requirements while the specification is being written is what stops a compliant product from becoming a non-compliant shipment.
- Origin marking placed to rule — position, permanence and wording confirmed per destination rather than assumed.
- Declaration set matched to the market — REACH, CPSIA and Proposition 65 references included where that market requires them.
- Pallet treatment specified — heat-treated or fumigated timber with the mark applied, confirmed with the forwarder.
- Retailer labelling agreed early — barcode symbology and placement fixed before bulk rather than at packing.
- One template per destination — reused on every shipment to that market, which is what keeps repeats clean.
Where a buyer is entering a market for the first time, the sensible sequence is to confirm the rules before quoting rather than after. The programme team collects destination requirements at specification stage and holds them against the style, so a re-order to the same market is a repeat rather than a fresh investigation. It is also why a first shipment into a new destination should be planned with more margin than the one that follows it.
Damage, Shortage and How Claims Are Settled
Even a well-planned shipment can arrive damaged or short. What decides the outcome is not the incident but the record: whether the condition of the goods at dispatch was documented, whether the carton count was reconciled to the packing list, and whether the inspection report describes the lot that was actually shipped. Claims are settled against documents, so the document set is built to serve as evidence rather than as paperwork.
- Photographic record at loading — carton condition, stacking sequence and container number captured before the doors are sealed.
- Reconciled carton count — the packing list matches the marked cartons, one by one, before the truck leaves.
- Inspection report held against the lot — AQL 2.5 results recorded by lot so any defect claim has a documented baseline.
- Notification window observed — damage or shortage raised with the carrier inside the period the policy allows.
- Evidence assembled before unpacking — cartons photographed as received, before the contents are disturbed.
Shortage is usually a counting problem rather than a loss. A carton marked only with a style code cannot be verified without opening it, and a packing list stating totals rather than carton-level quantities cannot be reconciled at destination. Numbering cartons in sequence and issuing a carton-level packing list turns a shortage claim into a check that takes minutes and identifies exactly which carton is missing, which allows a replacement to be scheduled instead of argued.
Where a replacement is genuinely required, the shorter path is often a top-up run against the sealed specification rather than a settlement that takes months. Because the pattern, tooling and approved materials are retained against the style, a small replacement quantity can be scheduled without a sampling round. The programme team states the cost and calendar for that route alongside the claim, so the buyer chooses between them on the numbers.
Plan the route to your market
Tell us the destination, the volume and the date the goods need to land. The programme team will return freight options, transit times and a packing specification.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Incoterms can we ship under?
FOB Xiamen is the standard, which covers the goods to the point they are loaded on the vessel at the port. EXW, CIF and DDP can be arranged on request where a brand prefers to control freight at source, or prefers freight and duties handled on its behalf. The term is fixed in the quotation rather than decided at dispatch.
How long should we allow from sample approval to delivery?
Bulk runs 35–50 days after sample approval. Final inspection and packing then take a further three to five working days. Transit is additional and depends on mode and destination: 18–35 days by ocean, 5–10 days by air, or 18–25 days by rail to European destinations.
Can small batch orders be consolidated?
Yes. Less-than-container-load consolidation is available for pilot runs and top-up quantities below container volume. Consolidation adds handling time at origin and destination, so the transit estimate should include it. Where a programme is likely to repeat, consolidating several styles into one larger lot is usually cheaper than several small ones.
How are goods packed for transit?
Each bag is individually wrapped in non-woven fabric or a cotton dust bag, with tissue stuffing to hold shape. Inner cartons are five-ply corrugated with dividers, and master cartons are double-wall export grade with reinforced corners, sealed with waterproof tape and marked with shipping marks, carton numbers and gross and net weights.
Is container loading supervised?
Yes. Loading follows an optimised stacking plan that maximises container utilisation, and loading is supervised with photographic documentation. This is available for 20ft, 40ft and 40ft high-cube containers, and for less-than-container-load shipments at the point of consolidation.
What documents are issued with a shipment?
The standard set is the commercial invoice, packing list and certificate of origin, together with the inspection report and material declarations. Test certificates are included where testing was commissioned, and Proposition 65 or OEKO-TEX references are added where they have been specified for the destination market.
How is inspection connected to shipping release?
Inspection precedes packing. The lot is inspected to AQL 2.5 under ISO 2859-1, single sampling, general level II, and only a passed lot is cartoned to the agreed specification. A pre-shipment audit then verifies order completeness, packing accuracy and shipping marks before the shipment is authorised.
What are the payment terms relative to dispatch?
Standard terms are T/T with 30% deposit on confirmation to release materials and 70% before shipment, once inspection has passed and the goods have been cartoned. Prices are quoted FOB Xiamen. Where CIF or DDP is agreed, freight and duty components are itemised separately in the quotation.
Where do the goods ship from?
Finished goods move from the production floor in Quanzhou, Fujian to the port of Xiamen for ocean freight. Air freight is available through Jinjiang airport for urgent consignments, and express courier is used for samples and documents.
Can we collect using our own forwarder?
Yes. Brands that already have a forwarder in China can collect under EXW, with the forwarder handling transport, export clearance and shipping from the Quanzhou site. The programme team provides the packing list, weights and dimensions needed for the booking and confirms the collection window.
Can one order ship partly by sea and partly by air?
Yes. Programmes with a fixed launch date often split: the bulk travels by ocean to hold landed cost while a smaller quantity moves by air to cover the selling window. Where a split is likely, the packing specification should be agreed for both modes at the outset, because air-freight cartons are packed to different constraints than containerised cargo.
What information is needed to quote freight accurately?
Destination port or address, the carton count with dimensions and weights, and the date the goods must land. Those three determine mode, cube and booking lead time. An estimate given before the packing specification is confirmed will move once real carton data replaces it, which is why packing is costed at pre-production.
Can goods ship direct to retail locations rather than one warehouse?
Yes, where the buyer's forwarder or distribution arrangement supports it. Splitting a container across several delivery points adds handling and usually requires per-location labelling and documentation agreed in advance. Where store-level barcodes and carton marks differ, they are specified at the same time as the packing specification rather than at dispatch.
What is the process if goods arrive damaged or short?
Notify the carrier inside the policy window and photograph the cartons as received, before unpacking. The claim is then settled against the loading record, the carton-level packing list and the lot inspection report. Where a replacement is needed sooner, a top-up run can be scheduled against the sealed specification without a sampling round.