Shipping industrial equipment from China: release checks, Incoterms, crating, oversized cargo and dangerous goods

This guide is for buyers of machinery, process skids, electrical panels, switchgear, transformers, generating sets and their spare parts shipped from China by sea or air. A forwarder moves the cargo; the checks before release decide whether it is ready to move. Once the balance is paid and the crates leave the factory, a wrong configuration, a missing accessory or an undeclared battery costs far more to put right, so the guide starts at that release.

1. Four checks before release

Each check answers its own question, so a passed FAT still leaves the packing and the loading to check.

Ask for the FAT on the configuration that will be delivered: the voltage, frequency and phases of your site, the control system and its software version, and the options on the order. Where the factory supply differs from your site, for example 50 Hz at the factory for 60 Hz equipment, agree how those parts are tested and record any limit in the FAT report before the balance is paid. The FAT guide covers the protocol and the signed record, and the pre-shipment inspection checklist the final inspection.

When several suppliers ship together, the arrival checks move to the warehouse where the set is assembled; the consolidation warehouse guide walks through that workflow.

2. Choose the Incoterms rule and the named place

The Incoterms rule in the purchase contract settles three questions: who books and pays the main freight, who clears the goods for export, and where the risk of loss or damage passes to the buyer. Write the rule, the named place and the edition together, for example “FCA Ningbo terminal, Incoterms 2020”. The release for shipment belongs in the contract’s payment and acceptance clauses; the Incoterms rule says nothing about it.

• EXW leaves loading at the factory and the export declaration to the buyer. In China, the export declaration is lodged by a company registered with customs, usually the factory or an export agent, and the export VAT refund normally follows that exporter. Agree in writing who declares, or buy FCA at the factory instead.
• FOB Ningbo or Shanghai is a common term for equipment: the seller trucks the goods to the port and clears export, and your forwarder books the vessel. For a container the factory hands over at a terminal, FCA at that terminal moves the risk to you at the handover.
• CIF and CIP put the freight and the insurance with the seller, while the risk passes to you in China. CIF requires only minimum cover, Institute Cargo Clauses (C); CIP requires all-risks cover, clauses (A) or similar, for at least 110% of the contract price. For high-value equipment the cover matters more than who books the ship: ask for clauses (A) under CIF, or insure under your own policy. Charges at the destination terminal often fall to the buyer; ask your forwarder for them before you compare quotes.
• DAP and DDP bring the goods to the named place ready for unloading. Unloading, rigging and placing the machine on its foundation stay with the buyer unless the contract assigns them, so name the crane, the riggers and who pays them; only DPU makes the seller unload. Under DDP the seller also clears import and pays the duties in your country. Before accepting DDP, ask who is the importer of record, whose customs account is used, who reclaims the import VAT, and who pays if customs reassesses the duty later.

Read the rule next to the payment terms. Under FCA, FOB, CIF and CIP, risk passes in China: transit damage found at your site becomes a claim on the cargo insurance, and a fault the factory missed becomes a warranty claim handled from abroad. That is why the checks in section 1 happen at the factory, and why the balance payment is usually tied to their signed records.

3. Export packing and crating

Equipment travels in a crate the factory builds, so the packing specification goes into the purchase order, agreed before the crate is built. A useful specification states:

• The crate type — closed case, framed crate or a skid base with a cover — and a base built for the weight, with forklift entries and the slinging points marked.
• Fixing — the equipment bolted or braced to the base, loose parts and spares numbered, boxed and fixed inside the crate, and moving assemblies locked for transit.
• Protection for a sea voyage — barrier foil sealed around the equipment with desiccant sized for the voyage, rust protection on bare machined surfaces, and tilt or shock indicators on sensitive instruments.
• Dry timber — the CTU Code names timber bracing, pallets and packaging as sources of the moisture that condenses inside a closed container, and asks for their moisture content to be controlled: dry timber, desiccant and sealed foil keep bare steel below the humidity at which it rusts.
• Marks — shipping marks, the package number in sequence (3/7), the equipment serial number, gross and net weight, dimensions, the centre of gravity, and the ISO 780 handling symbols.

Solid wood in a crate, pallet or dunnage must meet ISPM 15, the international standard for wood packaging: treated by heat (HT), dielectric heating (DH), methyl bromide (MB) or sulfuryl fluoride (SF), and stamped with the IPPC mark, the country code, the producer number and the treatment code. Plywood, oriented strand board, other processed wood and wood 6 mm thick or less are exempt, which is why many equipment crates are made of plywood. Ask the factory for photographs inside the crate with the equipment fixed and protected, before it is closed, then of the closed and marked crate.

4. Container loading, lashing and loading supervision

For equipment that fits a container, the door opening and the floor load decide more than the internal volume. Ask the forwarder for the carrier’s specification of the box to be used, with its door height and payload, and check them against the crate list before booking.

The IMO/ILO/UNECE Code of Practice for Packing of Cargo Transport Units (CTU Code) is the reference for stowing and securing: heavy items low and centred along the container’s length, the load blocked and braced against the walls, and lashings taken to the container’s lashing points. Before the container goes on board, the shipper declares its verified gross mass, a SOLAS requirement since July 2016.

Loading supervision records the result: each crate tallied into the container against the packing list, photographs at each stage of loading and lashing, and the container and seal numbers written on the tally sheet. Those numbers then appear on the packing list and the bill of lading, and the record supports any claim at destination.

5. Oversized and heavy equipment: flat rack, open top and breakbulk

Cargo wider, taller or longer than a closed container is out of gauge. Book it on the final packed envelope: the machine on its skid or in its crate, with any lashing that stands proud, its measured weight, the centre of gravity and the lifting points. Catalogue dimensions leave out the skid and the crate, and the carrier plans the stowage and the lift on the figures you declare.

For a firm quote, send the forwarder:

• Packed length, width and height of each piece, with a dimensioned drawing.
• The measured gross weight of each piece, and how it was weighed.
• The centre of gravity and the lifting points, marked on the drawing and on the crate.
• The factory address and the date the cargo is ready.
• The port of loading, the destination and the Incoterms rule.
• Any batteries, fuel or gas on board.
• Which parts can be removed to fit a smaller route.

Payload and dimension limits for a flat rack or an open top depend on the carrier, the container series, the terminal and the road leg, so take them from the carrier’s acceptance for that shipment. The road leg in China matters as much: a heavy or wide load from the factory to the port travels on a special trailer, often with a permit and a set route. Ask the forwarder to confirm it before the crate design is frozen, since the crate’s size and lifting points depend on it.

6. Dangerous goods: batteries, fuel and gas inside the equipment

Industrial equipment often carries dangerous goods inside it. Sea shipments follow the IMDG Code, air shipments the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations; both build on the UN Model Regulations. Screen each machine with the factory before asking for a freight quote:

• Batteries — starter, UPS or memory batteries: the chemistry, the watt-hour rating, and whether they are installed or packed separately.
• Fuel — fuel left in the tank or the lines, and which fuel.
• Gas — gas cylinders, an engine that runs on gas, refrigerant in a cooling circuit, and insulating gas in switchgear.
• Pressure — hydraulic or pneumatic accumulators, and fire extinguishers.
• Fluids — oils, coolants or process chemicals classed for transport.

A generating set often carries two at once: fuel and a starter battery. The answers decide the entry, and the forwarder and the carrier confirm it for the route.

Every lithium cell and battery type must have passed the UN 38.3 tests, and its manufacturer makes a test summary available; ask for it, and for the safety data sheet, with the order rather than at booking. Small cells and batteries within the limits of special provision 188 ship with lighter requirements. For the rest, by sea, the shipper declares the goods on a dangerous goods declaration, the container packer signs a container packing certificate, and the container carries the placards. In China, customs appraise the packaging of dangerous goods for export, and the appraisal result sheet joins the booking file. By air the limits are tighter: lithium-ion batteries shipped on their own, and since 1 January 2026 most of those packed with equipment, travel at a state of charge of no more than 30%, with a higher charge only under state approval. For a forwarder’s view of battery shipments by express, air, rail and sea, see DFH Freight on shipping batteries from China.

For a generating set or a machine with an engine, the fuel on the safety data sheet decides the entry: its flash point, and whether it is classed as environmentally hazardous. Diesel grades differ, so read the sheet for the fuel actually in the tank. With a fuel that is flammable or environmentally hazardous in the tank, the unit travels as dangerous goods, with valves closed and the declaration naming special provision 363; the batteries, fire extinguishers and accumulators the machine needs to run travel under that entry, securely mounted. Shipped empty, with the tank drained so the engine cannot run and no other dangerous goods on board, it leaves the IMDG Code, and the fuel lines need no purging; a starter battery counts as other dangerous goods unless it is a non-spillable battery exempt under special provision 238.2, so remove it or declare it. Agree the condition with the factory and the forwarder, and record it on the packing list.

Gas and pressure have their own entries. Equipment holding a non-flammable gas under pressure, such as switchgear filled with sulphur hexafluoride (SF6), can be dangerous goods by sea, for example as UN3538, articles containing non-flammable, non-toxic gas; the transport filling pressure decides it. Refrigerating machines travel as UN2857, exempt below 12 kg of non-flammable refrigerant, an exemption that does not cover flammable refrigerants such as R290; hydraulic and gas accumulators as UN3164; fire extinguishers as UN1044. Give the forwarder the gas, the quantity and the filling pressure from the nameplate, and let the carrier confirm the entry.

7. Export documents that agree with each other

The same facts appear on several documents, and the destination customs, the bank and the carrier compare them. Keep one shipment data sheet — seller and buyer, consignee, Incoterms rule and named place, descriptions, models and serial numbers, packages, weights and dimensions, HS codes, origin, and any UN numbers — and draft every document from it.

Serial numbers carry the shipment’s identity: when the same numbers run from the FAT record to the packing list and the crate marks, the machine that passed the test is the machine that arrives. The bill of lading also controls release at destination: an original bill releases the goods to whoever presents it, while a telex release or a sea waybill lets the carrier release them to the named consignee. Tie the balance payment and the release method together in the contract.

8. Destination checks before sailing

Some destination requirements must be met before the goods leave China, others before they arrive. Settle them with the importer and the customs broker at the destination before the release:

• Nigeria — regulated products need a SONCAP certificate from the Standards Organisation of Nigeria before the goods leave China, and the standards body charges a default of 20% of the CIF value or ₦2 million, whichever is higher, when it is missed. Machinery that a manufacturer imports to make SON-regulated products, and project-specific items, can use the SONCAP import permit instead.
• Saudi Arabia — the importer issues a shipment certificate for commercial imports on SASO’s Saber platform (in Arabic), after registering the product with a certificate of conformity for regulated products or a self-declaration for the others. The certificate is valid for 90 days, so time it with the importer before the goods arrive.
• European Union — the Machinery Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 applies from 20 January 2027 and replaces the Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC: machinery placed on the EU market from that date follows the Regulation, so equipment shipping late in 2026 needs its conformity file planned for the date it reaches the market. Finished machinery sits outside CBAM; steel structures and fasteners shipped on their own can fall under it once the importer’s CBAM goods exceed 50 tonnes a year.
• Every destination — the supplier’s HS code is an input; the destination broker confirms it, with the duties and any permits. Confirm the HS code and the export-control status in China before fixing a sailing.

For destinations with a conformity programme, the certificate of conformity guide explains which body issues what.

9. When equipment arrives damaged

• Note visible damage, or a broken or different seal, on the delivery receipt before signing it, and keep a copy.
• Photograph the crates, the marks and the seal before unpacking, then each stage of the unpacking.
• Keep the packing, the blocking and the damaged parts: they are evidence.
• Call the insurer’s surveyor before any repair, give the carrier written notice and invite it to a joint survey.
• Check the notice periods in the policy and the bill of lading. Under the Hague-Visby Rules, where they apply to the bill of lading, damage that is not apparent at delivery is notified in writing within three days, or the carrier is presumed to have delivered in good order. By air, the Montreal Convention allows 14 days from receipt, after which the claim is lost.

Cargo cover on Institute Cargo Clauses (A) asks the insured to take reasonable steps to limit the loss and to preserve the rights against the carrier, which is what these steps do. The FAT record shows the equipment working at the factory; the packing photographs and the loading record show how it left. With them, a claim starts from documented facts, and it is clear whether it belongs with the insurer, the carrier or the factory.

10. Sheets to print

Three working sheets follow this guide. Each is a generic sample, printed in English with Chinese for the factory.

Buyer checklist

In the purchase contract

• Incoterms rule, named place and edition, with the insurance clauses under CIF or CIP, and who unloads under DAP or DDP.
• The packing specification, ISPM 15 for any solid wood, and the marks.
• The FAT on the delivered configuration, the final inspection and their signed records as conditions for release and the balance payment.
• For batteries, fuel or gas: the UN number, the UN 38.3 test summary and the safety data sheet.

Before booking

• Measured packed dimensions and weights, with the centre of gravity and lifting points for anything heavy.
• Container, open top, flat rack or breakbulk confirmed by the forwarder, with the road leg for oversized cargo.
• Dangerous goods accepted by the carrier where they apply.
• Destination certificates and the HS code confirmed by the destination broker.

Before the balance payment

• Signed FAT record, final inspection report and packing photographs.
• Loading record with container and seal numbers.
• Invoice, packing list and draft bill of lading consistent with each other and with the contract.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

Checked at the sources on 26 October 2026.

• Delivery terms: ICC, Incoterms 2020, ICC Academy, FCA or FOB, ICC Academy, CPT or CIP, ICC Academy, DAP or DDP
• Packing and loading: IPPC, ISPM 15, IMO/ILO/UNECE CTU Code, IMO, verification of the gross mass of packed containers
• Dangerous goods: UN Model Regulations, 24th revised edition, IMO, IMDG Code, IMDG Code Amendment 42-24 (resolution MSC.556(108)), IATA, lithium batteries, IATA Battery Guidance Document, 2026, China customs, appraisal of packaging for dangerous goods for export (in Chinese)
• Destination: Standards Organisation of Nigeria, SONCAP, Saber, shipment certificate (in Arabic), Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, European Commission, CBAM definitive regime
• Claims: Hague-Visby Rules, article III rule 6 (Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 1971, schedule), Montreal Convention, article 31 (Carriage by Air Act 1961, schedule 1B)