Shipping from China to Italy — 33–70 days sea freight, duty and customs
Ocean freight from South China to Genoa runs 33–70 days port to port, with direct services at 33–52 days from Yantian; La Spezia is 35–77 days, direct at 35–56. Duty follows the EU Common Customs Tariff and China has no EU trade agreement, so the third-country rate applies. The position is confirmed per shipment.
33–70 days sea freight from China to Italy. What Italy requires on arrival: who may import, what duty and tax apply, and which certification and product rules must be in place.
What does Italy require before the cargo can be imported?
Italy is served from China by ocean, air and express, and the arrival-side requirements below are the part that most often changes a landed cost or holds a shipment at the port. Each position is the one we publish for this market and is confirmed per shipment against the actual commodity code and destination city.
What duty, tax and levies apply on arrival?
Duty and tax
Italy is in the EU customs union, so duty follows the EU Common Customs Tariff and the Combined Nomenclature. China has no trade agreement with the EU, so the third-country (erga omnes) rate applies rather than a preferential rate. Example positions read from TARIC for China origin: footwear with leather uppers (6403 99 96) 8.00%; cotton T-shirts (6109 10 00) 12.00%; routing and switching apparatus (8517 62 00) 0%. Your rate depends on the commodity code. Source: EU TARIC — Measures Information (European Commission, taxation_customs) · Reference date 19-09-2026; last TARIC update 18-09-2026 · retrieved 2026-09-19
Import tax
Import VAT is charged on the customs value plus duty. The rate is not published here: it has not yet been substantiated from a primary national source, so it is confirmed per shipment. Source: Not substantiated · retrieved 2026-09-19
Who is allowed to import into this market?
Import requirements
EU EORI and an import-of-record arrangement; import VAT is charged at destination and is normally recoverable by a VAT-registered importer
Importer of record
An EU-established importer of record is required, normally with an EORI number and a local VAT registration; fiscal representation is available where the importer has no establishment in the member state. The structure is confirmed per shipment. Source: Not substantiated · retrieved 2026-09-19
What certification or product rules must be in place before shipping?
Product rules
GPSR responsible person, EUDR for timber and furniture, CE marking for regulated categories
Certification and product rules
CE marking is part of the EU harmonisation legislation and applies to the product groups that legislation covers: the manufacturer carries out the conformity assessment, sets up the technical file, issues the EU declaration of conformity and affixes the CE marking, while importers and distributors must ensure only compliant, CE-marked products are placed on the EEA market. Separately, the EU Deforestation Regulation covers cattle, wood, cocoa, soy, palm oil, coffee and rubber and derived products such as leather, chocolate, tyres and furniture: an operator or trader placing them on the EU market must be able to prove the goods do not originate from recently deforested land. The General Product Safety Regulation also exists but its exact scope and dates have not yet been verified from a primary source here, so it is confirmed per shipment. Which instruments apply to a given shipment is confirmed per shipment. Source: European Commission, CE marking (Internal Market DG) and Regulation on Deforestation-free products (Environment) · EUDR application as amended Dec 2024 / Dec 2025: large and medium operators 30-12-2026; micro and small operators 30-06-2027 · retrieved 2026-09-19
What thresholds and reliefs change the cost?
Low-value consignments
The EU has replaced the low-value relief with a low-value consignment customs duty; a measure of 3.00 EUR per item was read in force for 01-07-2026 to 31-10-2026 under regulation R0382/26. The amount attached to a given goods code is read from TARIC at quoting time. Source: EU TARIC — Measures Information (European Commission, taxation_customs) · Reference date 19-09-2026; last TARIC update 18-09-2026 · retrieved 2026-09-19
How long does the freight take from China?
Published carrier or forwarder ranges for this lane. Where no figure could be substantiated the row says so rather than offering an estimate.
Mode
Typical transit
What it covers
Ocean freight FCL / LCL — Genoa
33–70 days
Port to port, measured across 54 published sailings in October 2026. Direct services from Yantian run 33 days and from Shanghai 37–52. Source: ONE (Ocean Network Express) public point-to-point schedule API · retrieved 2026-09-19
Ocean freight — La Spezia
35–77 days
Port to port, measured across 63 published sailings. Direct services run 35–56 days. Source: ONE (Ocean Network Express) public point-to-point schedule API · retrieved 2026-09-19
Air freight
Confirmed per shipment
No authoritative airport-to-airport figure for this lane has been substantiated yet. Source: Not substantiated · retrieved 2026-09-19
Express courier
Confirmed per shipment
The courier networks do not publish a China-to-Italy door-to-door day count we can cite. Source: Not substantiated · retrieved 2026-09-19
Which gateway does cargo arrive through for Italy?
The port, airport or inland terminal this destination's cargo arrives through.
Gateway ports
Rotterdam, Hamburg, Antwerp, Felixstowe, Le Havre; Genoa, La Spezia, Barcelona, Valencia, Piraeus
Gateway airports
FRA, CDG, AMS, LHR
Destination ports
Genoa and La Spezia are the Mediterranean gateways for this market. Both were priced against real carrier sailings from Yantian, Shanghai, Ningbo, Nansha, Qingdao and Shekou; the Mediterranean calls are faster from China than the North Range.
How do you turn this into a landed cost?
Duty is assessed per commodity code, so the positions above tell you what to prepare rather than what you will pay. Screen the official duty range for the HS chapter your product falls in with the HS chapter duty lookup, then put the rate for your actual code through the landed cost calculator to see duty, import tax and levies on the CIF value. Sailing schedules, loading ports and the stage-by-stage breakdown for this lane are confirmed per shipment and come back with your quotation.
Positions reviewed 2026-09-19 by Helen Peng. Duty, importer-of-record and certification answers are confirmed per shipment: a change of commodity code, origin documentation or destination city can change the position.
Where is the rest of this lane documented?
This page covers arrival requirements only. Sailing schedules, loading ports and the stage-by-stage breakdown are confirmed per shipment and come back with your quotation, so they are not restated here.
We have not yet photographed this lane's destination operations. Rather than borrow a stock or generated picture, the slots below are left empty and labelled. They are filled only with our own photographs from this lane.
Photo to be addedArrival and handling of our cargo in ItalyOur own photograph from this lane, once recordedPhoto to be addedFinal delivery in ItalyOur own photograph from this lane, once recorded
Need the duty confirmed for your product?
Send the commodity, its material, its use and the destination city, and we will confirm the position.
