Shipping Guide
Shipping from China to Canada: two coasts, two answers
Canada is served from both the Pacific and the Atlantic. The right corridor depends on where your goods are actually delivered, not on where they ship from.
Two corridors to Canada
Canada has two plausible answers for a China-origin container, and the choice is not really about ocean transit — it is about where the container has to end up.
| Corridor | Ports | Reference ocean transit from China | Serves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pacific | Vancouver, Prince Rupert | 15–20 days, direct trans-Pacific | British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and the west |
| Atlantic / St Lawrence | Montreal | 30–35 days, via the Panama Canal or transshipment | Quebec, Ontario, the Maritimes and the east |
Reference figures as of September 2026; actual sailings are confirmed per booking. The Pacific route is roughly half the ocean time of the Atlantic route, which is why it carries the majority of China-origin volume. But ocean time is not the whole cost, and for a business in Toronto or Montreal the Atlantic routing can still win once the inland leg is priced. Our Canada lanes page has the current port and service detail.
Vancouver and Prince Rupert
Vancouver is the primary entry point for China-origin container cargo and the most developed gateway on the west coast. It has extensive double-stack rail service inland, direct highway access to the US Pacific Northwest and the Mountain West, and container connections north and south. For cargo destined anywhere in western Canada, and for most of the Prairies, Vancouver is the shortest and most reliable answer.
Prince Rupert, further north on the British Columbia coast, is smaller and less congested. It has the shortest ocean routing to Europe and Asia, and it connects to the same rail grid, but its inland road connections are thinner. Its practical advantage is capacity: when Vancouver is tight, Prince Rupert is a genuine alternative, and it is worth having quoted as a fallback.
Montreal and the East
Montreal is Canada's principal Atlantic port and the gateway to the St Lawrence seaway, and it is served from China with a reference transit of 30–35 days. That is a long ocean leg — Panama Canal routing or a transshipment — but it lands the container roughly 500 km closer to Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes than Vancouver does.
For a consignee in Toronto, Montreal or Quebec City, this frequently works out well: a longer voyage but a much shorter and cheaper inland haul, and a faster door-to-door delivery date in real terms. For a consignee in British Columbia or Alberta it is simply the wrong answer. The corridor decision is really a decision about the consignee, and it is worth making explicitly at booking rather than defaulting to the Pacific because it is the shorter ocean run.
Getting inland from Vancouver
This is where most planning failures on Canada-bound cargo happen. Vancouver is not the destination; it is the entry point, and the inland move from it is a genuine leg that has to be planned.
- Rail to Toronto and the Prairies — the standard move for a full container destined east of Winnipeg. Double-stack rail reaches Toronto, Montreal, Chicago and the US midwest. It is reliable and cost-effective, but it runs to a schedule with a defined departure and arrival window, and it is the leg that most often determines the promised delivery date rather than the ocean transit.
- Road to the Mountain West and US Northwest — shorter, faster and more flexible, and the usual choice for British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and Idaho destinations.
- Road across the Rockies is not the default — long-haul trans-mountain trucking is possible but is a specialized move and is priced accordingly. Rail is normally the answer for a full container going east.
The practical point: ask for the inland leg to be quoted with a delivery window, and confirm whether the quote is port-to-port or door-to-door. A Vancouver port-to-port quote and a Vancouver-to-Toronto door-to-door quote can differ enough that the mode decision changes.
Canadian customs and taxes
Canada's import process is straightforward in structure and worth understanding in three parts.
- Importer identification. Commercial importers need a Business Number (BN) issued by the Canada Revenue Agency, and that number identifies the party on the entry. A non-resident importer shipping own-account needs an import-export account in the same way. Your forwarder or broker will tell you which applies to your structure.
- The entry. The import entry is filed electronically by a licensed Canadian customs broker. The broker also determines the HS classification, which sets the duty rate, and the declared value. Accuracy in the classification is as important here as it is in the US — an under-declared value leaves the importer of record with an unpaid duty liability.
- Taxes on top of duty. Canadian customs duty is only part of the cost. GST and HST apply at import, and several provinces levy their own PST or QST on top. Which of them applies depends on the province where the goods are delivered, and a shipment moving from Ontario to British Columbia can be subject to a different set at the moment of entry. On a DDP or door-to-door quote, ask whether provincial taxes are included — this is a common ambiguity.
Origin marking requirements also apply, and goods must be legibly marked with their country of origin. Section 301 and the US-specific tariff measures do not apply to goods entering Canada, which is a meaningful cost difference between a US-bound and a Canada-bound container of similar goods. More on the document set is in our documents guide.
Wood packaging and delays
ISPM-15 is enforced strictly in Canada. Any solid wood packaging — pallets, crates, skids, dunnage — must be heat-treated to the specified core temperature and permanently marked with the IPPC stamp. Non-compliant wood is treated as a biosecurity risk: it can be held, fumigated, re-exported or destroyed, and the cost of that is charged to the importer. This is worth raising with the factory at purchase order stage, because replacing packaging after the container has been sealed means re-stuffing.
Beyond wood, the delays that recur on this lane are mostly inland and documentation related: rail schedule slippage on an eastbound move, an entry held for a missing or inconsistent document, and a classification or value query that has to be answered by the supplier after the fact. The pattern is the same as on most lanes — the data is decided at booking in China, and everything that goes wrong afterwards traces back to it. Our transit time guide covers what adds time on the Pacific route and on the Panama routing.
Frequently asked questions
Should my container go to Vancouver or Montreal?
It depends on where the goods are delivered. Vancouver is the primary Pacific gateway at 15–20 days reference transit and serves British Columbia, the Prairies and the west. Montreal is 30–35 days but lands the container much closer to Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes, so for a Toronto or Montreal consignee the longer ocean leg can still produce a faster door-to-door delivery. Tell us the final delivery address and we will price both.
How long does it take to move a container inland from Vancouver to Toronto?
By double-stack rail this is typically a few days, but it runs to a defined schedule and the arrival window is fixed at the time the container is handed to the rail. That rail leg, not the ocean transit, is usually what determines the delivery date for an eastbound Canada-bound container. For British Columbia, Washington and Oregon destinations, road is faster and is the normal choice.
What taxes do I pay importing to Canada?
Canadian customs duty applies based on the HS classification, and on top of it GST or HST is collected at import depending on the province of delivery. Several provinces also levy their own provincial sales tax, PST or QST. Because provincial tax depends on where the goods land rather than where they go next, a shipment can be subject to a different tax treatment depending on its delivery province. On a door-to-door or DDP quote, confirm whether provincial taxes are included.
Does wooden packaging have to be ISPM-15 treated for Canada?
Yes. Canada enforces ISPM-15 strictly, and any solid wood packaging, including pallets, crates, skids and dunnage, must be heat-treated and permanently marked with the IPPC stamp. Non-compliant wood can be held, fumigated, re-exported or destroyed, with the cost charged to the importer. Raise it with the factory at purchase order stage, because changing packaging after the container is sealed means re-stuffing.
Is Canada subject to the same tariffs as the United States?
No. The Section 301 tariffs and the US-specific additional duties apply to goods entering the United States, not to goods entering Canada, so a Canada-bound container of similar goods avoids those measures. Canadian import still attracts normal customs duty under the HS classification plus GST or HST and any applicable provincial sales tax.
Need a quote for your shipment?
Tell us the cargo, the container type and where it needs to go. We come back with an itemized rate, usually within 24 hours.