Many of our clients wonder about the logistics of getting product to a US warehouse on either the West Coast (if you are shipping from Asia) or the East Coast (if you are shipping from Europe or Latin America. So we put together a quick snapshot of general costs you should be aware of when shipping to the US. There are many routes and access points but there are two things you should know:
- Port (Foreign) to Warehouse (US)
- Inland Costs
For the purpose of this post we will discuss port costs from Asia to the US both East and West Coasts. Remember that 70% of the US Consumer market lives EAST of the Mississippi River.
| Hong Kong to | Voyage | Terminal | Inland | Total | Days | Inventory Carrying Cost | Total Cost/ Move |
| Los Angeles | $1,990 | $406 | $3,660 | $6,057 | 28.5 | $1,423 | $7,479 |
| South Florida | $3,932 | $235 | $705 | $4,872 | 30.0 | $1,499 | $6,371 |
| Northeast Florida | $ 3,993 | $216 | $446 | $4,655 | 30.6 | $1,530 | $6,185 |
| Savannah | $4,005 | $216 | $660 | $4,881 | 30.8 | $1,539 | $6,419 |
You can see from this simple chart that entering the market in Los Angeles is cheaper, but the overall move from Asia to Florida and Savannah is on average $1000 cheaper than Los Angeles.
There are many reasons for this, the biggest is that you are not worrying about off loading in California and shipping cross country. The product stays on a ship traverses the Panama Canal and enters an East Coast Port.
If you are shipping from Europe the same would be true opposite, shipping to California might be cheaper if you use water the entire way, BUT, you loose 70% of your consumer base and backhaul to California can be much cheaper east to west.
So when deciding where to port your products in the US think about Eastern ports and access to those markets first, remember that is 70% of your consumer market.
No responses yet