How board game freight works

Most board games are manufactured in China, commonly in the Guangdong region around Shenzhen and Panyu. Once your games come off the production line, they are packed into master cartons (typically 6 to 12 games per carton) and those cartons are loaded into a shipping container or consolidated with other shipments. From there the freight journey has three broad legs: origin (trucking from the factory to the port, export customs, loading), the main voyage (ocean or air), and destination (import customs, duties, trucking to a warehouse).

The key vocabulary is worth learning early. A "full container load" (FCL) means you rent an entire container, either a 20-foot container (about 28 cubic meters of usable space) or a 40-foot container (about 58 cubic meters, or 68 for the taller 40-foot high cube). "Less than container load" (LCL) means your cartons share a container with other shippers' goods, which is cheaper for small runs but slower and charged by volume. A typical print run of 1,500 to 3,000 games usually ships LCL or fills a 20-foot container, depending on box size.

Timing matters as much as cost. Ocean freight from China to the US West Coast commonly takes 2 to 4 weeks on the water, plus 1 to 2 weeks on each end for customs and trucking. East Coast and European destinations run longer, often 5 to 7 weeks door to door. Add port congestion, holidays like Chinese New Year (when factories close for weeks), and customs inspections, and smart publishers build 2 to 3 months of freight buffer into their delivery promises.

You will almost never book any of this yourself. A freight forwarder acts as your travel agent for cargo, booking space, preparing documents, clearing customs, and arranging trucking. Your job is to understand the terms in your manufacturing quote (EXW, FOB, or DDP) so you know where the factory's responsibility ends and yours begins.