China To Middle East Sea Shipping Routes
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are both countries located on the Arabian Peninsula. They are neighbors and are both world-famous oil-rich countries. Exports to the two countries can be shipped by sea, air or express, depending on the amount of goods and the timeliness requirements.
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia's existing ports are mainly distributed along the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf, namely: West Coast - Jeddah Port, Jizan Port, Yanbu Port; East Coast - Dammam Port, Jubail Port, Ras Tanura Port and Zawar Port under construction. Take Shenzhen to Jeddah Port as an example. It is directly accessible by sea, with a voyage of 16 days and can be reached by many shipping companies.
Saudi Arabia currently has 27 airports, including 4 international airports, namely Riyadh King Khalid Airport, Jeddah King Abdul Aziz Airport, Dammam King Fahd Airport, and Medina Prince Mohammed bin Abdul Aziz Airport.
Notes on export to Saudi Arabia
1. For goods whose destination port is Dammam or transited through Dammam, the correct and complete consignee information must be displayed on the bill of lading and manifest, and the authenticity and validity of the consignee company must be guaranteed, including: a. Consignee name b. Consignee address c. P.O. Box d. Telephone number e. Fax, otherwise the goods may be shipped back to the loading port by the original ship.
2. Goods transited through Dammam to the destination port of Riyadh must be reinforced with pallets. If pallets are not reinforced, the customs will impose a fine of SAR 1000.00 (USD267.00) /20', SAR 1500.00 (USD 400.00) / 40'.
3. The origin of the goods must be indicated on the mark. The customs of Jeddah, Dammam and Riyadh will force the goods without the origin to be returned to the port of departure.
4. The data of cargo sub-packing should be declared truthfully.
5. For goods shipped with prepaid freight, if there are other charges charged locally in Saudi Arabia, such charges must be listed on the bill of lading. Goods shipped with paid freight are not included in this regulation.
6. For goods shipped to RIYADH, the total weight of a 20-foot container must not exceed 24 tons. Once found to be overweight, the local railway department will force the goods to be converted into a 40' container and charge an additional fee of USD500.0.
The above regulations are basically applicable to any shipping company.
Saudi Arabia's customs clearance policy for different types of goods
1. The following goods require a SASO certificate of conformity
(1) Mobile phones sets
(2) Lap tops, PCs, Computer Monitors, I-Pads
(3) Auto Spare Parts
(4) Electrical Appliances (ACs, Refrigerators, Heaters, TVs, VCRs etc). Household electrical appliances
(5) Electrical Sets (Circuit Breakers, Electrical Switches, Transformers etc.)
(6) Cosmetics products
Please note: SASO certificate of conformity should be obtained at the place of origin before the express is sent.
2. The following products require approval from the Saudi Food and Drug Administration (SFDA)
(1) Reagents and Diagnostics
(2) Medications and Pharmaceuticals
(3) Laboratory Chemicals and Solutions
Please note: Please confirm whether the recipient has SFDA import qualifications before sending the express
3. The following products require approval from the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOT)
(1) Chemicals Ink products
Please note: Before sending the express, please confirm whether the recipient has the MOT import qualification
4. The following products need to be approved by the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC)
(1) All Wireless Telecommunication equipment.
(2) Wireless Computer and Networking sets
(3) GPS equipment
(4) Satellite Communication equipment
(5) Receivers with Internet Support
(6) Detection of Movement Equipment, Tanks Level Probing Radar Applications and Ancillary Equipment (Radio determination Applications)
(7) Fibre Optics Equipment
(8) Voice over IP Equipment (Private usage only)
(9) General IT Equipment General IT Equipment
Please note: Before sending the express, please confirm whether the recipient has CITC import qualification
Before shipping goods to Saudi Arabia, the recipient must be notified in advance to check the local customs, restrictions and regulations on relevant imported goods to ensure that the recipient has the ability to clear customs and has obtained relevant import documents
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates has 15 ports, 308 docks (total length 45 kilometers), and an annual cargo throughput of 700 million tons. Dubai Rashid Port is the second largest deep-water port in the Middle East. Taking Shenzhen to Dubai Port as an example, the voyage is about 14 days, and it is directly accessible by sea.
The United Arab Emirates has 6 international airports including Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and 10 helicopter airports. In 2004, the passenger flow reached 22 million. In the global airline competition ranking, Emirates Airlines ranks first among Arab countries. The UAE has signed bilateral aviation agreements with 35 countries including China, and 60 airlines from all over the world have regular flights to various airports in the UAE.
Customs tariffs.
The legal basis for the implementation of customs duties is Article 10 of the GCC Common Customs Law. According to this article, customs duties are levied on imported goods. Tariffs are divided into ad valorem and special taxes, or a combination of the two.
Ad valorem: At present, most tariffs are ad valorem, that is, they are levied in proportion to the price of the goods. Only tobacco is levied at a relatively high rate of ad valorem or specific tax.
Tariff rate: According to Announcement No. 9 of 2009, ordinary goods imported from non-GCC member states are subject to a tariff rate of 5%. Tobacco is taxed at 100% (levied at a relatively high rate of ad valorem or specific tax), and alcohol is taxed at 50%.
Customs regulations
1. Goods weighing more than 50 kilograms will be considered high-value goods and require a formal customs declaration.
2. Goods with a value of less than US$270 will be considered low-value goods.
3. Goods need to arrive at the duty-free zone with the original invoice, otherwise they cannot be cleared.
4. High-value goods will be cleared within 24 hours after customs collects duties and obtains relevant documents.
5. According to the new customs regulations of the UAE, a fine of 500 dirhams (137 US dollars) will be paid for any goods that are not declared in the country of origin or the customs valuation is not declared. This fee will be automatically recorded at the place of origin.
6. Express shipments picked up in areas other than Jebel Ali need to pay an additional customs clearance fee of 40 US dollars.
I believe everyone often hears about the Middle East countries in the news. There are abundant oil there, and it is a place with three continents and five seas. The geographical location is very important, so it has always been the object of competition among Western countries. So do you know how long it takes to ship to the Middle East by sea?
The Middle East usually refers to the eastern and southern regions of the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf, northeastern Africa, southwestern Asia and Central Asia, generally including Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Palestine, UAE and Yemen and other 18 countries and regions. The basic ports in the Middle East are Jeddah, Aqaba, Sudan, Abbas, Bahrain, Hodeidah, Kuwait City, Dammam, Riyadh, Umm Qasr, Basra, Manama, Sharjah, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Muscat, etc. It generally takes about 15-18 days for China to ship to Iran, 17-24 days for Bahrain, 14 days for the UAE and Oman, 16 days for Saudi Arabia, and 14 days for Qatar. The time varies according to the location.
Things to note when shipping to the Middle East:
1. The total amount of goods is strictly restricted at each point on the Middle East line. Many shipping companies start to charge overweight fees for small cabinets over 14 tons, and many shipping companies do not accept bookings for goods over 20 tons. Therefore, heavy goods need to carefully confirm the weight limit terms of each shipping company.
2. When packing, pay attention to the color and style of the packaging: clean or mixed, mixed inner boxes or mixed outer boxes. All goods should be printed with "MADE IN CHINA" as much as possible.
The main shipping companies that ship to the Middle East are: NYK, YML, COSCO, WANHAI, APL, PIL (these shipping companies have the fastest sea voyage); CSCL, TSLINE, MSC, ESL (these have more affordable freight rates); OOCL, RCL, HMM, ZIM, NCL (these have good voyages and freight rates).
The Middle East has special customs, culture and business habits. Chinese companies that do business in the Middle East need to fully understand the characteristics here to avoid risks.
