What determines transit time on the US line, and why does it move around?
End-to-end transit is five segments stacked: domestic pickup and consolidation, export declaration and the wait for cut-off, the ocean or air leg, US clearance, and final-mile delivery. The variance almost always comes from the two ends — miss the cut-off in China and the box rolls to the next sailing; at the US end, terminal congestion, a customs exam or peak-season delivery backlogs push the date out. The product you buy matters too: express vessels, standard vessels and air sit in different brackets to begin with, and air-plus-final-mile and ocean-plus-final-mile each run to their own rhythm. The practical way to keep transit stable is to book space early, confirm the description and HS classification before the vessel sails, and submit a complete document set the first time, so you avoid exams and demurrage. We do not publish day counts on this site — schedules, space and exam rates differ week to week on the same lane. Send your origin, destination, cargo profile and sailing window to our US-line team and operations will build a workable timeline against that week's actual schedule.