Importing from China to Canada, end to end: 22 steps, 9 parties, one cost checklist

Last year I imported a shipment from China to Canada for the first time: a few dozen EV charging accessories, from a factory in Guangdong to my home in Halifax. This is the walkthrough I wrote for myself at the time, spelling out who is responsible at each step, what you pay, and where the pitfalls are. The quantity was small enough that it had to be a consolidated shipment, but the process is the same as for a full container.

0. Get the mental model right first

Many first-timers think “the forwarder route” and “the standard route” are two different paths. They are not.

From the factory floor to your front door, the physical steps a shipment goes through are fixed and identical:

factory floor → truck → Chinese port → container ship → Canadian port → truck → your door

Only one thing varies: which of these steps the factory pays for and arranges, and which you do. Where that line of responsibility sits is what Incoterms describe.

Term	Where the line is	Factory handles up to	You (via your forwarder) handle from
EXW ex works	The factory door	Packing the goods and leaving them on the floor	Sending a truck to collect, and everything after
FOB free on board	The Chinese port, the moment the goods are on the ship	Trucking, export clearance, loading	Ocean freight onwards
CIF cost, insurance and freight	The Canadian port (ship docks)	All the way to the Canadian port	Canadian customs clearance onwards
DDP delivered duty paid	Your door	Everything	Nothing; you just pay

The most common beginner mistake is thinking an EXW quote is “cheaper”. It isn’t. EXW looks low because trucking, export clearance and port charges have been stripped out of it; you still pay them, just to the forwarder instead of the factory. The total is almost the same.

Recommendation: negotiate FOB Shenzhen or FOB Guangzhou. It is the industry’s standard reference point, easy to compare across quotes, and the factory is better at domestic trucking and export clearance than your forwarder is.

1. The cast: how many companies are in the chain

List every player first and the process becomes easy to follow.

#	Role	Also called	What they do	Who hires them
1	Factory	Supplier	Manufactures, packs, produces documents	You
2	Inspection company	Third-party QC	Checks quality before shipment	You (optional, strongly recommended)
3	Trucking company	Drayage	Moves goods from factory to port or warehouse	Factory under FOB, forwarder under EXW
4	Chinese customs broker	Export broker	Declares the export to Chinese customs	Usually handled by the forwarder or factory
5	Chinese freight forwarder	Forwarder	The coordinator: books space, consolidates, issues the B/L, arranges the whole journey	You
6	Shipping line	Carrier	Actually carries the goods (Maersk, COSCO, ONE)	Booked by the forwarder on your behalf
7	Canadian customs broker	Customs Broker	Declares the import to CBSA	You (or the forwarder on your behalf)
8	CBSA	Canada Border Services Agency	Government: collects duty, releases or examines	None
9	Delivery trucking	Last mile	Takes the goods from the port to your door	Forwarder or you

The key insight: a “freight forwarder” is not a transport company. It is a general contractor. It usually owns no ships, trucks or warehouses. Its value is stringing together 3, 4, 6, 7 and 9 above so you deal with one party and get one invoice. DDP door-to-door, or “double clearance, tax included”, just means the forwarder covers 3 through 9.

2. The full process: 22 steps

Stage A: ordering and production (steps 1 to 7)

Step 1: quotes and samples

Ask the factory for an FOB quote, not EXW and not “factory price”.
At the same time ask, for every SKU: net weight, gross weight, carton dimensions, units per carton, HS code. These numbers are the basis of every logistics quote; without them no forwarder can quote you.
Samples: buy one to three units and have them air-freighted (DHL or FedEx, about a week) so you can test them yourself.

Step 2: confirm the PI (proforma invoice)

The factory’s formal quote, effectively the contract.
It states product, quantity, unit price, total, Incoterm (write FOB Shenzhen explicitly), lead time and payment terms.
Check it carefully; every later document descends from it.

Step 3: pay the deposit

Industry norm: 30% deposit, 70% balance against a copy of the bill of lading. Never pay 100% up front on a first order.
Wire (T/T) to the factory’s corporate account. If they ask for a personal account, WeChat or Alipay: red flag, stop.

Step 4: production

Usually 15 to 30 days.
Use the time to register as an importer (Stage B) and sort out product certification.

Step 5: inspection (strongly recommended, especially the first time)

Use a third-party inspection company (SGS, BV, or a cheaper independent inspector found on Taobao; a few hundred to a couple of thousand RMB).
You are in Canada; no inspection means you have no idea what is in the boxes.
Check quantity, appearance, a powered functional test, packaging fit for sea freight, and that certification labels are correct.

Step 6: pay the balance

Pay the 70% once inspection passes.
Safer still: pay only after seeing a scan of the bill of lading. The B/L is the document of title; the factory can’t get your balance and you can’t collect the goods, so both sides are bound.

Step 7: the factory issues three core documents

These three travel through the whole process, and every party at every step will look at them:

Commercial invoice: what the goods are worth; customs taxes on this.
Packing list: how many cartons, what is in each, total weight, total volume.
Product certificates (if required): cUL or CSA certificate, CE, MSDS (mandatory for anything with a battery).

Stage B: what you must set up in Canada (in parallel with Stage A)

Step 8: register as an importer

This must be done before the goods arrive, or you cannot clear them and storage charges accrue daily.

Business Number (BN9): apply to the CRA, free, online.
Import/Export Program Account (RM account): “RM0001” appended to your BN; this is your importer number.
CARM Client Portal registration: the mandatory system Canadian customs introduced in recent years. Every commercial importer must register in the CARM portal and link their own account. It used to be possible to leave all this to a broker; not any more. After registering you either post financial security yourself or use your broker’s. Many first-timers get stuck here; start it four to six weeks ahead.
GST/HST registration (if not already registered): the 5% GST paid at import can be recovered as an input tax credit once registered. Not registering means that money is simply gone.

Step 9: confirm the HS code and duty rate

The HS code decides how much duty you pay.
Ask the factory for a reference code, but the Canadian broker’s confirmation is what counts (the first six digits match between China and Canada; the rest differ).
Many Chinese-made electronics attract 0% duty in Canada under the MFN rate, but you always pay 5% GST.
Don’t guess the code. A wrong code means back taxes plus penalties.

Step 10: product compliance certification (this is the real gate)

Electrical products sold in Canada must carry certification from an SCC-accredited body: cUL, cULus or CSA.
Note: CBSA usually doesn’t check this at the border, so the goods will get in.
But Amazon will demand the certificate and delist you without it, and if a product catches fire, the liability is 100% yours personally.
The CE mark a Chinese factory holds is worthless in Canada.
Certification is not a logistics problem. It is whether you can legally sell. It has to be solved.

Stage C: the Chinese export leg (steps 11 to 15)

Under FOB the factory arranges this leg; under EXW your forwarder does.

Step 11: booking

Your forwarder books space with the shipping line.
A few dozen or a hundred units is almost certainly LCL (less than container load), not FCL. LCL means your goods share a container with others and are charged by volume (cubic metres, CBM); FCL means you take a whole container, about 28 CBM for a 20-foot box and 58 CBM for a 40-foot.
The forwarder issues an S/O (shipping order).

Step 12: trucking pickup

The trucking company collects from the factory. The factory pays under FOB, you pay under EXW.
LCL goods don’t go straight to the terminal; they go to the forwarder’s consolidation warehouse (CFS) to wait for other cargo to fill the container.

Step 13: export clearance

The broker declares to Chinese customs what the goods are, what they are worth and who the buyer is. Needs the commercial invoice, packing list and a customs power of attorney. Under FOB this is the factory’s job.

Step 14: loading

The goods go into the container and onto the ship.
The moment they are on board, FOB risk passes from the factory to you. From then on, if the ship sinks or the goods are lost, it is your loss.
So buy marine insurance. Typically 0.3% to 0.5% of the goods’ value, a few tens of dollars. Don’t skip it.

Step 15: the bill of lading (B/L)

The single most important document in the whole process. The B/L is title to the goods: whoever holds the original can collect them.
Two forms: the original B/L, paper, couriered to you in Canada; or telex release, electronic, where the factory tells the shipping line “we’ve been paid, release to him” and you collect against an email. Small LCL shipments almost always use telex release; faster and simpler.
The B/L shows vessel name, voyage number, ETD (estimated departure), ETA (estimated arrival) and the consignee, which is you.

Stage D: on the water (step 16)

Step 16: the crossing

Shenzhen or Guangzhou to Canada’s east coast usually goes through the Panama Canal or transships via the US east coast.
Halifax has a deep-water port with direct calls (the Port of Halifax), an advantage for east-coast buyers: many Canadian importers land at Vancouver or Montreal and still need a rail or truck leg. You don’t.
Transit is 35 to 45 days. The east coast is slower than the west because of the detour.
If a forwarder routes you through Vancouver and then across the country by land, it will be slower and dearer. Insist on a direct Halifax call.

Advance reporting: ACI / eManifest. Canada requires the carrier to file the manifest with CBSA before arrival. That is the carrier’s or forwarder’s job, but wrong information leads to holds on arrival. Your job is to make sure the details you give the forwarder (consignee name, address, BN) are 100% correct.

Stage E: the Canadian import leg (steps 17 to 22)

Step 17: pre-arrival, the broker prepares the entry

Three to five days before the ship docks, your Canadian broker starts the declaration.
You provide the commercial invoice, packing list, B/L and your BN/RM number.
The broker files a CAD (Commercial Accounting Declaration) in CARM.

Step 18: the ship arrives (ETA) and the container is unloaded at the Halifax terminal.

Step 19: exchanging for the delivery order (telex release / D/O)

You (or the forwarder) present the telex release to the shipping line’s Canadian agent and receive a D/O (delivery order). Without a D/O the terminal won’t hand over the goods.

Step 20: customs release

CBSA reviews the entry. Three outcomes: released (most cases); document review, asking for more paperwork; or examination, where the boxes are opened, you pay the fee (typically a few hundred to over a thousand dollars) and lose three to seven days.
Pay the taxes: duty (possibly 0%) plus 5% GST on goods value + freight + insurance + duty. Then CBSA releases.

Step 21: deconsolidation and delivery

LCL cargo has to come out of the container first (the CFS or deconsolidation charge).
A delivery truck brings your cartons to your home.
Residential delivery carries a surcharge, and the driver does not carry anything inside; it goes to the curb or the garage door. Dozens of cartons are yours to move.

Step 22: sign, check, store

Count the cartons on the spot against the B/L.
Photograph the condition of the outer boxes. Note any damage on the delivery receipt there and then, or a claim is impossible later.
Into your “warehouse”: the garage or the basement.

3. The cost checklist (everything you pay under FOB)

Take this table to your forwarder and go line by line to see whether anything is hidden:

#	Item	English	Paid to	Notes
1	Goods	Goods value	Factory	FOB price
2	Ocean freight	Ocean freight	Forwarder	LCL charged per CBM
3	Marine insurance	Marine insurance	Insurer	0.3–0.5% of value; mandatory
4	B/L fee	B/L fee	Forwarder
5	Destination charges	DTHC / destination charges	Terminal	Most often hidden; always ask
6	Deconsolidation	CFS / deconsolidation	Terminal	LCL only
7	Delivery order fee	D/O fee	Line’s agent
8	Brokerage	Customs brokerage	Broker	CAD $100–250 per entry
9	Duty	Duty	CBSA	Possibly 0%, depends on HS code
10	GST	GST 5%	CBSA	Recoverable if GST-registered
11	Last mile	Last-mile delivery	Trucker	Ask whether Halifax counts as remote
12	Residential surcharge	Residential surcharge	Trucker
13	Exam fee (if it happens)	Exam fee	CBSA / terminal	Bad luck if selected
14	Storage (if it happens)	Demurrage / storage	Terminal	Slow clearance burns money daily

4. Specific advice

The “clear under our name / tax included” trap

Many Chinese-run forwarders offer DDP tax-included at a very low all-in price. It sounds great, but ask one question: “Whose name is this shipment cleared under?”

If it is their name (known as buying an entry): you don’t exist in CBSA’s records, you have no import history, no proper proof of tax paid, and you cannot recover the GST. Later, when you sell on Amazon, do B2B, or get audited by the CRA, every one of these is a landmine.
If it is your own BN/RM: a little dearer, a little slower, but you have a clean import record, you get the GST back, and the business can grow normally.

Clear your first shipment properly, in your own name. The few hundred dollars extra buys a business that can keep going.

Products with batteries

Anything with a lithium battery (a power bank, for example) is dangerous goods, Class 9.
It needs a UN38.3 test report, an MSDS and a dangerous-goods packaging certificate.
Sea freight for DG is dearer, fewer ships accept it, and many LCL forwarders refuse it outright.
Leave battery products out of the first shipment. Start with categories without batteries and handle batteries separately once the process runs smoothly.

A recommended first shipment

Product: small items without batteries (mine were charging cables and adapters)
Quantity: 50 to 100 units as a trial, US$2,000 to 5,000 of goods
Term: FOB Shenzhen
Transport: LCL, sea, direct to Halifax
Clearance: your own BN/RM with a local broker
Storage: your garage
Insurance: yes
Certification: cUL or CSA, confirmed with the factory before you order

The one sentence that matters most: logistics can be outsourced; certification cannot. Solve cUL/CSA first, then talk to forwarders.

5. Action list

Ask the factory for: FOB quote + weight, dimensions, carton specs and HS code per SKU
Ask the factory for: a scan of the cUL or CSA certificate (the most important item; no certificate, no deal)
Buy one or two samples by air and test them yourself
Register a CRA Business Number + RM import account
Register on the CARM Client Portal (four to six weeks ahead)
Take the factory’s specs to three China–Canada forwarders for quotes, and compare line by line against the cost checklist above
Talk to a Halifax-based customs broker

This is my experience as an individual importer in 2026, not legal, tax or trade-compliance advice. Rules change, especially CARM and certification requirements; rely on official CBSA, CRA and SCC information. 中文版.