How to ship goods from China to Ghana

Posted by Felix Okoli on Friday May 25, 2012 8:58:22:

China is the new factory of the world capital of the world as most major manufactures have established factories in China making it a huge industry that is exporting to the rest of the world, including Ghana.

If you want to import goods from China into Ghana, then you've made a good business decision as there are lot of consumer items you can get for really cheap there that are also really needed in Ghana. You could sell for huge profits and the goal here is to import in bulk.

Ghanaian business travellers or importers are not left out of the many opportunities one can find in doing business with China and the big business really is in importing needed goods from China into Ghana's market.

How to do this:
2 ways to import from China into Ghana
- By Air
- By Sea

By Air:
This basically involves using an airplane to import your purchased goods into Ghana. You could use the services of a cargo or freight forwarding company or you can use your own flight package allowance. There is a kg limit however on how much many goods you can carry as your personal effects or package on a plane. Shipping by cargo is much faster option for getting goods to Ghana from China but it is also more expensive. It's more preferred that you ship only light and smaller quantity goods using this method.

By Sea:
Shipping by sea simply means hiring the services of a shipping company to ship your goods to Ghana by sea. When it arrives the sea port, you would then have to clear it before getting your goods. Shipping by sea can take more time and it's more preferred for shipping large quantity or heavy items that may require a container.

How long does shipping take?
Depends on the method you've chosen. Sea shipping is slower than air shipping. Sea shipping could take a month or more while air shipping could take 5 days to 10 days.

Do one need to travel to China before shipping to Ghana?
Not necessarily. There are websites you can use in Ghana to shop online from the Chinese market. Examples of these include alibaba.com, aliexpress.com and dhgate.com. However, items I've seen listed there could be more expensive than they actually are in the local Chinese market. So it really depends on how many items you are buying and what price you really want. There are advantages however of travelling to China to inspect your goods before shipping them to Ghana as you would get it cheaper, verify it's specifications and so on.