Factory Pickup in China: Between the Factory Gate and the Port

Factory pickup sounds like a truck. It is a truck, a date, a piece of equipment sized to the cargo, a loading window, a count, a weighbridge and a seal, and the sequence matters. Booked well, it is invisible. Booked from whenever the factory says it is ready, it is the reason a shipment misses its sailing by a day and waits a week for the next one.

The date comes from the vessel, not the factory. The carrier publishes a container-yard cut-off, which is the last moment a loaded container can enter the terminal for that sailing, and a documentation cut-off before it. Inland transit from the factory to the port is a matter of hours from the Pearl River Delta and one to three days from inland provinces. Work backwards from the cut-off through the transit and you have the collection day; add the factory's loading window and you have the appointment. Everything else in the plan depends on that arithmetic.

Equipment follows the cargo. Palletised cartons in container quantities are loaded live at the factory: an empty container is drayed to the gate, the factory loads it within its free time, the seal goes on and the truck goes to port. Loose, mixed or part-container cargo goes by truck to a warehouse near the port where it is counted, checked and consolidated. Heavy and out-of-gauge pieces need a route survey before the truck is booked, because inland bridge clearances and axle limits are often tighter than anything at the port.

The count at loading is the last chance to find a discrepancy cheaply. The packing list says 480 cartons; the loader counts 472; the factory says the other eight are on the next order. Found at the gate, that is a corrected packing list and a phone call. Found at destination, it is a short-shipment claim, a customs query and a delay. Where the value justifies it we supervise the loading, photograph the cargo and the seal, and record the count against the packing list before the doors close.

Weight is verified before the port. Every loaded container needs a verified gross mass declared to the carrier before it is loaded on the vessel, and a container that arrives at the terminal without one, or with one that does not match, does not sail. The factory's estimate is not a verified mass. A weighbridge on the way to the port is, and it is cheap relative to a rolled container.

Special cargo changes the pickup. Dangerous goods need a licensed carrier and packing that matches the declaration; lithium batteries need their test summary before anyone will move them; oversized pieces need permits and sometimes an escort. None of this is difficult when it is known at quotation. All of it is a delay when it is discovered at the gate.

Factory pickup is one of the six things we do on the China side, and we do it from any manufacturing province to any major Chinese port or airport. If your supplier is inland and its delivery to port has been the weak point of your FOB purchases, or you buy EXW or FCA and need the collection run properly, send us the factory address and the cargo and we will plan the pickup from the sailing backwards.