UsChina Shipping, What is transit time?

When asked how long it will take to ship a container from Shenzhen to Los Angeles, your forwarder would probably answer 14 days.

14 days, that’s the estimated time from port to port.There's some time, inevitable, before departure(shipment lead time) and after arrival(customs clearance, discharge, truck transport, etc). Keep in mind that it can take a few days, sometimes up to a whole week before the cargo departed from port of loading.

After arrival, discharge may take 1-2 days(hopefully there's no port congestion), and then you can get your cargo cleared and arrange pickup.

Customs clearance is slow in most countries of Africa, which prolongs the total shipping time.

US brokers clear shipments before arrival, so people can pick up once the container is discharged at port of delivery. 

Therefore, delivery time is a little bit longer than transit time.