Freight forwarderfrom Vietnam to the USA

Looking for a freight forwarder Vietnam to USA importers can rely on from the first purchase order to the final delivery? Vietnam is a core sourcing country for furniture, footwear, garments, electronics assembly and seafood. The route has its own rhythm: a southern cluster of deep-water terminals with direct transpacific calls, a northern gateway around Hai Phong, and a factory calendar dominated by Tet.

This guide covers what is specific to shipping from Vietnam to the USA: how long each mode takes, which port to load from, what your Vietnamese supplier files before the box leaves, and what you must have in place on the US side. For an instant door-to-door quote, use the ExFreight quote form.

Vietnam to USA is a transpacific trade, so the real question is whether your cargo sails on a direct service from a southern port or is moved by feeder to a hub first. A direct sailing is typically on the water for about two to three weeks, and feeder routings, transshipment and port dwell add time on top. Treat the figures below as typical ranges and confirm the sailing before you commit to a ship-by date.

Two practical points shape the choice. First, Vietnamese factories often cluster around Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong and Dong Nai in the south and around Hai Phong and Bac Ninh in the north, so the shorter the inland leg to the port, the more predictable the cut-off. Second, ocean space tightens around Tet and ahead of the US peak season, so buyers with a fixed in-store date often split an order between ocean and a smaller air release.

For full containers see FCL services; for smaller lots see LCL shipping and air freight.

Vietnam's container trade is split between a northern gateway, a river-port cluster in Ho Chi Minh City and a deep-water cluster on the Thi Vai river. For US-bound cargo the deep-water terminals matter most, because they take large vessels that can sail to the US West Coast without a feeder connection. A transpacific loop connecting Cai Mep, Busan and Long Beach was inaugurated at Cai Mep International Terminal in 2026, and a weekly loop serving Haiphong and Vung Tau for the US West Coast has also been reported.

US gateways for Vietnam cargo

Los Angeles and Long Beach are the natural first call for transpacific boxes, with Oakland, Seattle and Tacoma as alternatives. East Coast delivery is possible by US inland movement from the West Coast or by a direct service to the East Coast. If the destination is far from the coast, ask your forwarder to price the discharge port and the US trucking together.

Your Vietnamese exporter is the legal declarant on the Vietnam side, normally through a customs broker. Export declarations are filed electronically on VNACCS/VCIS, the automated customs clearance and risk management system that Vietnam Customs rolled out nationwide from 2014 with Japanese grant support and a design based on Japan's NACCS. The system also handles e-manifests and e-payment, and a 2014 trade report noted that the export declaration was expanded from 27 to 109 data fields.

• Commercial invoice and packing list that match the declaration line by line: HS code, quantity, value and gross weight.
• Export declaration filed in VNACCS/VCIS with the customs office at the port or inland clearance depot; the declaration number is the reference your forwarder needs for container gate-in.
• Sector permits where relevant. Imports and exports in Vietnam must be inspected by competent agencies before customs clearance, so food, plant and wood products carry extra paperwork that the supplier must secure.
• Bill of lading or air waybill instructions that reflect the US importer of record, notify party and the ISF data the importer has supplied.

Because there is no US trade agreement to claim, a certificate of origin does not set the duty, but your supplier's origin statements must still match what you declare to CBP. Vietnam Customs and a licensed Vietnamese customs broker remain the authority for export procedure details, which change by commodity.

Every ocean shipment to the US needs an Importer Security Filing, the ISF 10+2, transmitted at least 24 hours before the cargo is loaded at the Vietnamese port. A late or inaccurate filing can draw liquidated damages of $5,000 per violation, so the data must be ready before the booking, not after. Our ISF guide lists the ten importer data elements and the two carrier elements.

After arrival the cargo needs a customs entry and a correct HTS code, and formal entries usually need a customs bond. Learn how US customs entry works, and settle classification early with the HTS classification guide.

Trade-program position

The United States and Vietnam trade under the 2001 bilateral trade agreement and Vietnam's WTO membership, not under a free trade agreement, so Vietnamese goods pay the normal HTS duty rate unless another measure changes it. Additional US duties on top of the HTS rate change often: Section 232 duties on steel, aluminum and certain derivatives, Section 301 where it applies, and temporary measures. The IEEPA reciprocal tariffs were struck down by the Supreme Court in February 2026, and a 2025 US-Vietnam trade framework was announced. We quote no rates here: check current CBP CSMS messages and HTSUS Chapter 99 before you price an order.

Products with AD/CVD orders from Vietnam

Antidumping and countervailing duty orders are product and country specific, and they sit on top of ordinary duty. Orders on Vietnam include, for example, certain frozen fish fillets (the pangasius and basa trade) and certain frozen warmwater shrimp. Look up your product on the International Trade Administration AD/CVD case list for current scope and cash deposit status; our AD/CVD importer guide explains how deposits and reviews work.

We do not publish rate ranges because the lane moves with the market, but these are the factors that decide what a Vietnam to USA quote looks like:

• Mode and routing. A direct deep-water call and a feeder-plus-mainline routing price differently, and so do air routings with and without a hub connection.
• Chargeable weight versus volume. Furniture and flat-packed goods fill cubic space before they reach weight limits, so carton design and container fill matter.
• Origin inland haul. Trucking from a factory in Binh Duong to Cai Mep is a different cost from a northern factory to Hai Phong, and congested approach roads add waiting time.
• Tet, the Lunar New Year. Factories close for days or weeks, space tightens before the holiday and output restarts slowly afterward, so cargo is often shipped early or compressed into the weeks around it.
• US peak season and port congestion. Late-summer and autumn demand, plus congestion at West Coast terminals, affect space, equipment and detention exposure.
• Duties and tariffs. HTS duty, any additional US duties, any AD/CVD cash deposit and the merchandise processing fee are paid at import, not on the freight invoice, but they belong in the landed cost.
• Add-ons. ISF filing, customs brokerage, cargo insurance and US delivery.

ExFreight Zeta Inc. has been in business since 2006. For a Vietnam purchase order, the useful part is seeing the whole move before you commit to the supplier's ship date:

• Price the split. Instant door-to-door rating between North America and 150+ countries lets you compare ocean FCL, LCL and air from the same Vietnamese pickup, which matters when a Tet deadline forces a part-air, part-ocean order.
• Estimate the duty side. The Global Duty and Tax Calculator gives estimates in 150+ countries, so the extra US duties on a Vietnamese HTS code do not surprise you after the order is placed.
• Add brokerage and insurance at booking. Customs brokerage can be added for the entry, and cargo insurance is offered at the time of booking.
• Follow the box. Map-based tracking with email status alerts covers air and ocean, and your invoice, packing list and bill of lading are uploaded and stored online.
• Finish the trip in the US. LTL and FTL trucking move cargo from the discharge port to your door, and Amazon FBA deliveries go to US fulfillment centers.
• Reach a person in US hours. Customer service is US-based and online from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM EST.

Ready to compare? Request your Vietnam to USA quote.

Transit times are typical ranges and can change. Duties, tariffs and rules change: confirm current requirements with CBP and your customs broker before you ship.