Germany is the EU entry point that most China-origin containers actually clear through — Hamburg and Bremerhaven handle more Chinese cargo than any other EU gateway. Two things dominate the number: duty is charged on CIF, and 19% import VAT is recoverable, which turns a frightening-looking total into a working-capital question rather than a cost question.
The EU sequence differs from the UK in one important way: import VAT is charged on the duty-paid value plus the cost of transport to the place of destination, which means your inland truck is inside the VAT base. That is a small line on a container and a large one on a full truck.
Chinese suppliers quote FOB as standard: inland haulage, export declaration, origin terminal handling and documentation included. If you are buying EXW, add 2–4% for those origin costs — the difference is real money on a container.
Per container, so the fill rate is the lever. South China to North Europe, 2026 planning figures:
| Port pair | 40ft HQ | 20ft GP | Transit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hamburg | ~$2,700 | ~$1,700 | 30–38 days |
| Bremerhaven | ~$2,650 | ~$1,680 | 29–37 days |
| Rotterdam (EU entry, truck to DE) | ~$2,600 | ~$1,650 | 28–36 days |
| Wilhelmshaven | ~$2,700 | ~$1,700 | 31–38 days |
Rotterdam is often cheaper on the ocean leg and more expensive on the truck, so the cheapest ocean quote is regularly not the cheapest landed cost. Price both legs together before you book.
The EU customs value is CIF: goods, freight and insurance. Rates come from the Common Customs Tariff — furniture 0–2.6%, electronics 0–2.1%, apparel 12%, footwear 8–17%. Plastics and ceramics carry anti-dumping measures on some China-origin lines, and those are not inside the reference rate. On this shipment duty is $1,427, or 2.6% of the customs value.
German import VAT (Einfuhrumsatzsteuer) is 19% on the CIF value plus duty plus onward transport. For a business registered for German VAT it is fully deductible as input tax (Vorsteuer), so it behaves as a cash-flow item, not a cost. For a non-EU seller shipping DDP without a German VAT registration, it is a real and irreversible cost.
| Charge | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Destination terminal handling (THC) | €250–€380 per 40ft |
| Customs brokerage + import entry | €90–€160 per declaration |
| German VAT + EORI registration | Free; takes 1–3 weeks |
| Product compliance / testing (per SKU) | €300–€2,500 |
| Inland Hamburg → Bavaria | €600–€850 |
| Storage after free time | €25–€60 per day |
Germany is a truck market: a container that clears in Hamburg still has 600 km to travel to most industrial buyers. Book the pre-carriage and the main carriage as one contract, otherwise the terminal will charge you for the equipment while you negotiate the road leg.
FOB $52,000 of goods, $2,700 of ocean freight into North Europe (Rotterdam / Hamburg), 260 sellable units, and the reference duty rate for HS chapter 94. Every line below comes from the same engine the calculator runs:
| Component | Basis | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Goods — FOB value | Supplier quote (FOB) | $52,000.00 |
| Main freight to destination port | Forwarder | $2,700.00 |
| Marine / cargo insurance (0.3% on 110% CIF) | 0.30% on 110% CIF | $181.11 |
| Import duty (2.6% on CIF) | 2.6% × CIF | $1,426.91 |
| Destination port, THC, brokerage & docs | Agent estimate | $500.00 |
| Inland delivery to final destination | Estimate | $650.00 |
| VAT (MwSt) (19%) | 19% × (CIF + duty) | $10,822.02 |
| Total landed cost | — | $68,280 |
| Cost per sellable unit (260 units) | — | $262.62 |
| Uplift over FOB | — | +31.3% |
Read the composition rather than the total. Freight and insurance together are 4.2% of the landed cost, duty is 2.1%, and VAT is 15.8%. The line that looks biggest is the one a registered importer gets back.
German import VAT is 19% on the duty-paid value plus the inland transport. Whether it is a cost or a cash-flow item has nothing to do with the goods and everything to do with whose name is on the declaration. The same container, three structures:
| Structure | VAT at the border | Recovered later | True landed cost | Against the best case |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| German-registered importer of record | $10,822 | Yes, as Vorsteuer | $57,458 | — |
| Chinese supplier ships DDP, no German VAT number | $10,822 | No | $68,280 | +$10,822 |
| EU entry in the Netherlands, delivery in Germany | $10,822 | Yes, on the Dutch return | $57,458 | — |
The third row is the one importers under-use. Duty and VAT paid in one member state put the goods in free circulation, so entry in Rotterdam with a truck to Bavaria is the same customs outcome as entry in Hamburg — and frequently $50 to $150 cheaper on the ocean leg, which is a rounding error on the freight and a real number on the duty, because the EU taxes freight inside the customs value.
The second row is where quotes go wrong. A DDP price into Germany that does not carry the 19% is not aggressive, it is insolvent: $10,822 of irrecoverable tax on this container, arriving two months after the invoice was agreed.
The declaration needs an EU-established importer of record. A Chinese seller cannot be the importer of record on a DDP shipment without an EU entity or a fiscal representative. Importers who discover this at the port are looking at a bonded warehouse bill.
CE is a self-declaration supported by a technical file: test reports, risk assessment, EU declaration of conformity, and an EU Responsible Person for many categories. A Chinese supplier certificate alone will not survive a market-surveillance query.
Cosmetics need CPNP notification and an EU Responsible Person before they are placed on the market. REACH applies to everything with a chemical content, and Germany enforces packaging registration (LUCID / VerpackG) — a registration obligation that has nothing to do with customs and still stops sales.
Ceramic tableware, solar glass, certain steel fasteners and e-bikes carry anti-dumping duties on China-origin goods. These are additional to the tariff rate and are the single most common reason a German landed-cost estimate comes in 20–60% light.
Get the VAT back, or do not ship DDP. $10,822 of VAT sits in this shipment. A German-registered importer recovers it and the true landed cost falls to $57,458 — $220.99 per unit instead of $262.62. A DDP seller without a German VAT number simply donates it.
Clear in Rotterdam, deliver in Germany. The EU is a single customs territory. Entry in the Netherlands with duty paid there is free-circulating in Germany, and the ocean leg is frequently $50–150 cheaper per container. The truck is the only variable that changes.
Check anti-dumping before you quote. If your product sits near a measured category, the reference rate is fiction. This is worth one broker call before you commit to a selling price.
Push the fill rate, not the freight rate. The 40HQ is the unit of cost. A load that goes from 82% to 96% fill cuts freight per unit by about 15% with no negotiation at all — run it in the container loading calculator.
Fix the classification in writing. Furniture at 0% and at 2.6% are both defensible from the same product description. A binding tariff information (BTI) ruling costs nothing and settles the argument for three years.
Three of the seven tools on this site are what this corridor actually needs, and they are not the same three as on the German or Nigerian route.
Freight is a 2026 planning benchmark for a 40ft HQ from South China to Hamburg or Bremerhaven, all-in. The three North European gateways are quoted separately above because the spread between them is small and the inland leg is not: Rotterdam is regularly the cheapest ocean quote and the most expensive door-to-door delivery.
Duty is the Common Customs Tariff at the MFN rate for HS 94 — 2.6% of the CIF value. The customs value includes the international freight, which is the structural difference from the American model and the reason a US cost sheet ported into the EU understates duty on every shipment.
Anti-dumping duties are excluded and matter more here than anywhere else on this site. Ceramic tableware, solar glass, certain steel fasteners and e-bikes carry measures on China-origin goods that sit outside the tariff rate entirely; a chapter-level reference number cannot see them. Check the TARIC measure for your own commodity code before you believe any number on this page.
The destination charges are agent estimates for a Hamburg entry. Compliance costs are not included at all, because they are per SKU rather than per container and they belong to the product, not to the route.
The calculator opens pre-set to Germany with this chapter's reference duty rate, the freight benchmark above and your unit count. Change the chapter, drop in your forwarder's real rate, and add any additional tariff programme on its own line:
CIF. The EU customs value includes goods, freight and insurance, which is the opposite of the United States. On a $2,700 freight line at 12% duty the basis difference alone is $324 per container.
Only for a seller who cannot recover it. A business registered for German VAT deducts import VAT as input tax and treats it as working capital. A non-EU seller shipping DDP without a German registration carries it permanently — which is why DDP quotes into the EU are so often priced wrong.
Yes. Once duty and VAT are paid in one EU member state the goods are in free circulation and can move to Germany without a second declaration. Many importers route through Rotterdam for exactly this reason.
For many product categories, yes. Cosmetics require an EU Responsible Person for CPNP notification, and CE-marked goods need an EU-established economic operator for market surveillance. This is a compliance requirement that sits outside customs and is checked after the goods are already selling.
The same six-layer model, with each destination's own customs basis, levies and certification: