- Your packed volume is under about 15 m³ — a living room, a bedroom and a dining set together.
- You can accept 26–31 days port to port plus consolidation in Foshan and deconsolidation at Dublin.
- Nothing in the order is a stone top, a glass panel or a single heavy slab.
- You accept that terminal handling, deconsolidation and the customs entry are charged per consignment, not per cubic metre.
Destination guide · Ireland
Envío de muebles desde China a Irlanda
Furniture shipped from Foshan reaches Dublin in 25–27 days port to port in a full container, or 26–31 days as an LCL consignment, on Cape of Good Hope routing. Seats and furniture under headings 9401 and 9403 carry 0% EU duty; mattresses under 9404 carry 3.7%. Irish VAT is 23% on the customs value plus duty and charges to the point of entry, and a VAT-registered trader can use postponed accounting. Source Foshan, a sourcing agent based in Foshan, China, consolidates the order, inspects it, crates it to ISPM 15 and arranges the delivery leg.
Página revisada by the Source Foshan sourcing team in Foshan · freight and duty figures are dated and sourced at the foot of the page.
De un vistazo
Five numbers to carry into the first conversation.
25–27 daysShenzhen to Dublin, port to port, full container
USD 4,140–5,06040 ft ocean freight to Dublin, September 2026
0% dutyOn seats (9401) and furniture (9403); 3.7% on mattresses (9404)
23% VATIrish standard rate on the landed value; postponed accounting available
15 m³Where a 20 ft container starts to beat an LCL consignment
Before it sails
What leaves Foshan, whatever the destination.
The same three steps stand behind every container we send to Ireland. These are our own warehouse photographs, not stock images.
01 · The one decision
A full container or an LCL consignment?
Ireland is a straightforward European route with one local quirk: the domestic delivery leg from Dublin is short, so the container decision is almost purely about volume.
- Your packed volume passes about 15 m³; a 20 ft loads 28–33 m³ of crated furniture in practice.
- You are furnishing a whole house or a set of apartments: 45–70 m³, which is a 40 ft high-cube.
- The order includes marble, sintered stone or solid-timber slabs that should be handled once.
- You want one arrival and one customs entry rather than a deconsolidation queue.
LCL territory
under 15 m³
One 20 ft container
30 m³ loaded
One 40 ft high-cube
68 m³ loaded
A three-seat sofa carton is 1.6–2.2 m³; four stacked dining chairs 0.6–0.9 m³; a knock-down wardrobe 0.5–0.8 m³. Send the list and we return the packed volume per line.
Dublin Port handles most Irish container imports; Cork is the deep-water alternative for the south and Shannon for the west. Choosing the nearer port usually saves more in inland haulage than any difference in the ocean rate.
02
What does it cost to ship furniture to Ireland?
Every line that appears between the ex-works price and the furniture standing in the room. Ranges, not promises.
- Goods, ex-works Foshan USD 32,000
- Export packing and consolidationAbout USD 30 per m³ USD 1,950
- Ocean freight, 40 ft HCMid-point of the September 2026 band USD 4,600
- Marine insuranceAbout 0.5% of goods plus freight USD 183
- Customs duty0% on headings 9401 and 9403 nil
- Irish import VAT (23%)Recoverable, or postponed, if you are VAT-registered USD 8,418
- Delivery, unload and assemblyIndicative; access decides it USD 1,500
One basket, priced into all eleven destinations, so the bars are comparable. The duty and tax block is what actually changes — as a share of the goods value, Ireland at 26.3%, against 9.2% into Singapore and 50.0% into the United States.
| Line | Indicative | Notas |
|---|---|---|
| Ocean freight, 20 ft | USD 2,610–3,190 | Shenzhen to Dublin Port |
| Ocean freight, 40 ft HC | USD 4,140–5,060 | The same sailing; about twice the volume for well under twice the price |
| LCL ocean freight | About USD 65 per m³ | Before destination charges, which is where LCL quotes mislead |
| LCL destination charges | EUR 350–800 per consignment | Terminal handling, deconsolidation and the customs entry — fixed, not per m³ |
| Export packing and consolidation | About USD 30 per m³ | Re-crating, bracing, labelling, packing list |
| Marine insurance | About 0.5% of insured value | On goods plus freight |
| Customs duty | 0% on 9401 and 9403 | 3.7% on mattresses under 9404; check anti-dumping before you order |
| Irish import VAT | 23% | On customs value plus duty and charges to the point of entry |
| Delivery, unload and assembly | Quoted per address | Dublin and the commuter belt are short runs; the west adds haulage |
Indicative landed cost, Foshan to an Irish address, September 2026. Ocean freight moves monthly — confirm at booking.
03 · Use this on us too
The fourteen lines a door-to-door quotation has to show.
Nearly every bad shipping story on this route starts with a quotation that was shorter than this list. Paste it into your next enquiry and ask for a price against each line. A forwarder who will not break the price out is quoting you a number, not a service.
- Inland move, factory to warehousePer supplier, or stated as waived. Buyers are caught by this line more than any other.
- Warehouse receipt and check-inCounted against the packing list, photographed, with the free storage days and the daily rate afterwards.
- Re-packing and cratingWhich items get closed crates, which get open frames, which stay in cartons — and the price for each.
- Timber treatment and the IPPC markTreatment, marking and the certificate, priced separately from the crate.
- Measured packed volume, line by lineThe m³ you are billed for, with the measurements it came from.
- Export declaration and certificate of originIncluding who files it and what it costs if the certificate is issued late.
- Ocean freight, with the surcharges namedBase rate plus each surcharge spelled out, and how long the rate is held.
- Marine insuranceThe premium, the deductible, and what the fragile-goods exclusion actually excludes.
- Destination terminal and deconsolidationTerminal handling, deconsolidation, and the free days before storage starts.
- Customs entryWho is importer of record, what value is declared, and whether duty and tax are inside the price or outside it.
- EntregaVehicle size, kerbside or room of choice, stairs and lifts, waiting time, and the radius the price covers.
- Assembly and packaging removalBoth, or neither, but in writing. A container leaves roughly a tonne of crate and carton behind.
- VAT at 23% and the TARIC lineThe commodity code used and who confirmed it.
- Transhipment legWhich European hub the box passes through and what the schedule assumes.
Send us the same list. We answer it line by line, in writing, before you pay anything.
04
How long does it take, week by week?
From the deposit to the last crate leaving your drive. The sea leg is the part nobody can compress.
- Foshan Consolidation warehouse, all suppliers
- Yantian / Nansha Load port, Shenzhen or Guangzhou day 0
- Singapore Usual transhipment call day 5
- Cape of Good Hope Suez is not in use on this lane day 16
- Dublin Arrival; Cork for the south day 26
Some services discharge at Rotterdam or Antwerp and feeder to Dublin, which adds two to four days but often improves sailing frequency. Where the delivery address is in Munster, Cork can save more in haulage than the feeder costs.
- Week 0Collected and coded
Pieces from each factory collected at one Foshan warehouse and re-crated. Codes go on the quotation early so anti-dumping exposure can be checked before a deposit moves.
- Week 6–10Inspection and loading
Every item photographed against the spec; the balance falls due after you approve the report. Timber treated to ISPM 15 before the container is sealed.
- Week 10–14At sea
25–27 days Shenzhen to Dublin on Cape of Good Hope routing. Tracking shared weekly.
- Week 14–15Despacho de aduana
Declaration lodged through Revenue's Automated Import System by your broker; duty where it applies and 23% VAT settled or postponed. EORI number required.
- Week 15–16Delivery and carry-in
Delivery booked to the address, crates opened, pieces carried in and assembled, packaging taken away the same day.
05
Duty, tax and clearance into Ireland
Ireland charges no duty on most furniture and the highest standard VAT rate of the five destinations we cover. How you account for that 23% decides your cash position, not your cost.
Seats under 9401 and furniture under 9403 carry 0% third-country duty into the EU; mattresses under 9404 carry 3.7%. Classification decides it, so the codes belong on the quotation.
Irish import VAT is 23% of the customs value plus duty and charges to the point of entry. A VAT-registered trader can use postponed accounting and declare it on the VAT3 rather than paying at the border. A private importer pays it and does not recover it.
Revenue can assess unpaid duty with interest going back four years, and an anti-dumping measure on a component or material is the usual cause. We list the codes early so your broker can check them before a deposit is paid.
You need an EORI number to import in your own name, and the declaration goes through Revenue's Automated Import System. We are not a customs broker: we supply the codes, packed volume per line and documents early enough to be checked.
06
Clearance is not delivery. What happens at the door.
Dublin to most Irish addresses is a short run, which makes access rather than distance the thing that decides the delivery day.
Dublin's older stock has a characteristic problem: a wide room at the end of a hall nothing wide will pass through. Measure the tightest point, not the room.
Single-track lanes, gateposts and soft verges decide the vehicle for a country address more than the distance from Dublin does.
Crates opened outside, pieces carried in, beds and tables assembled and positioned by room against the packing list.
Timber, cardboard and wrap leave with the crew the same day; a container's crating will not fit in a domestic bin.
07 · What arrival looks like
Photographs from the research file.
Other people’s shipments, not ours. In September 2026 we read 20 first-hand Chinese-language shipping notes and their comment threads from buyers who moved furniture from China to Ireland, and cleared their photographs for publication. They show what the process actually looks like at the kerb and in the room. Our own delivery photographs are further down, under case notes.
Published with the rights holder’s permission. Faces, house numbers, vehicle plates and third-party company marks have been cropped or redacted; nothing else in these frames has been altered.
08 · Field notes
What goes wrong, in the words of people who have already done it
Compiled in September 2026 from 20 first-hand Chinese-language shipping notes on the China–Ireland route and their comment threads, cross-read against our own files. Poster experience, forwarder marketing and our practice are kept apart: the left column is what buyers reported happening, the right column is what we do about it. Every rate, duty and border rule stays with the authorities listed at the foot of this page.
-
The trap
Peak-season rolling, transhipment strikes and an inspection, stacked on one shipment.
Lo que hacemosBuild about two months of buffer into the move-in date. A documented Dublin consignment lost roughly a week to a Rotterdam strike and another to inspection, on top of a rolled container.
-
The trap
Stone and cabinet edges chipped inside open timber frames.
Lo que hacemosSlabs and stone tops travel in closed, braced crates. A Dublin buyer needed eight people to move a single 1.2 × 2.4 m slab — treat it as freight, not furniture.
-
The trap
Cargo insurance with a fragile-goods deductible you only read after the damage.
Lo que hacemosRead the deductible before you ship. A 20% excess on fragile items means most realistic claims pay nothing.
-
The trap
The carrier will not unload without a forklift.
Lo que hacemosUnloading, carry-in and assembly go in writing, with the vehicle size and the access checked first.
-
The trap
An all-in rate that quietly absorbs 23% VAT.
Lo que hacemosAsk how the goods will be declared and who the importer of record is. A door-to-door price that swallows Irish VAT at a low per-m³ figure is arithmetic that has to come from somewhere.
-
The trap
Furniture that will not turn on an Irish stair.
Lo que hacemosMeasure doorways, returns and lifts before you order, and prefer knock-down construction where the turn is tight.
09 · The honest version
When an Irish import is not worth it
Ireland carries the highest standard VAT of any destination we ship to, which decides who this route suits.
- You are not VAT-registered. At 23% the Irish import VAT is the highest on this site and a private importer cannot reclaim a cent of it. It belongs in the budget from the first quotation, not as a surprise at the border.
- You have not checked anti-dumping on components. Revenue can assess unpaid duty with interest going back four years, and a measure on a material rather than the finished piece is the usual cause.
- Under about 15 m³. Dublin LCL destination charges are fixed per consignment; a small order carries them whole.
- A Georgian terrace with a narrow return. Dublin’s older housing stock is unforgiving on large single pieces. Measure the stairwell and the door before the frame is cut.
For a VAT-registered Irish business at container volume this is a clean EU route; Rotterdam with an Article 23 licence is the comparison if you are distributing rather than furnishing.
Preguntas frecuentes
Shipping furniture to Ireland, answered.
¿Cuánto tarda en llegar el mobiliario desde China a Irlanda?
Entre veinticinco y veintisiete días de puerto a puerto en un contenedor completo desde Shenzhen a Dublín, y entre veintiséis y treinta y un días como envío LCL, siguiendo la ruta actual por el Cabo de Buena Esperanza. Hay que añadir entre dos y cuatro semanas de producción y consolidación antes de la salida del barco, y unas dos semanas para el despacho de aduana y la reserva de entrega. De puerta a puerta, un pedido típico tarda entre catorce y dieciséis semanas desde el pago del anticipo.
¿Qué aranceles e IVA se aplican a los muebles importados de China a Irlanda?
Los asientos de la partida 9401 y los muebles de la partida 9403 están sujetos a un arancel del 0% al entrar en la UE; los colchones de la partida 9404, a un arancel del 3,7%. El IVA irlandés se aplica al tipo estándar del 23% sobre el valor en aduana más los derechos de aduana y cualquier otro gravamen hasta el punto de entrada. Un operador irlandés registrado a efectos del IVA puede acogerse al régimen de contabilidad diferida y declarar el IVA en la declaración VAT3 en lugar de pagarlo en la frontera; un importador particular debe pagarlo y no puede reclamarlo.
¿Debería enviar un envío LCL o un contenedor completo a Irlanda?
Por debajo de unos 15 m³, LCL. Por encima de esa cantidad, un contenedor de 20 pies suele resultar más barato por metro cúbico y más seguro para la piedra y la madera maciza. El transporte marítimo LCL a Dublín ronda los 65 dólares estadounidenses por metro cúbico, pero la manipulación en terminal, el desconsolidado y el despacho de aduana se cobran por envío, por lo que en un envío pequeño esos costes fijos son predominantes.
¿A qué puerto irlandés debería llegar mi contenedor?
El puerto de Dublín da servicio a Dublín, Leinster y la mayor parte del país: gestiona la mayor parte del tráfico de contenedores de Irlanda y cuenta con los servicios más frecuentes. Cork es la alternativa de aguas profundas para Munster, mientras que Shannon da servicio al oeste. El ahorro en el transporte terrestre que supone elegir el puerto más cercano suele ser mayor que cualquier diferencia en la tarifa marítima.
Do I need to worry about anti-dumping duty on furniture from China?
There is no EU anti-dumping measure on Chinese furniture, seating or mattresses as things stand, but measures do exist on components and materials, and Revenue can assess unpaid duty with interest going back four years. That is why we put an indicative code and packed volume on every line of the quotation, so your broker can check them before a deposit is paid rather than after the container sails.
How much buffer should I build into a Dublin move-in date?
About two months beyond the quoted transit, and more between August and November. A documented Dublin consignment lost a week to a strike at the transhipment port, another week to an Irish customs inspection, and was rolled once in peak season before any of that. The sailing time is the predictable part of this route; the European hub and the arrival week are not.
Can a door-to-door rate really include Irish VAT at 23%?
Only if the declared value is honest, and you should ask what it is. Irish VAT at 23% on goods plus duty plus freight is a large number, and an all-in per-m³ rate that absorbs it has to get the money from somewhere. Ask the forwarder who the importer of record is and what value goes on the entry. If the answer is vague, the liability is still yours. Irish Revenue and TARIC are the authorities for the rate on your goods.
What does a stone island or a large slab need?
A closed, braced crate and a delivery plan, not an open frame. A Dublin buyer's 1.2 × 2.4 m sintered-stone slab needed eight people to move on the day and arrived with chipped edges after travelling in an open frame. We crate slabs flat with edge protection, and we tell you in advance how many people the delivery needs.
Send your list and your Ireland address
Quantities, rooms or a rough list are enough. You get compared factory options, the packed volume, the container call and a landed estimate within one business day.
Campos marcados son obligatorios.
No spam, no obligation. Replies come from the sourcing team in Foshan, usually within one business day.
Sources & further reading
Where these figures come from.
- Sino Shipping — Freight from China to Ireland — FCL and LCL rate ranges and port-to-port transit times to Dublin, September 2026
- European Commission — EU Customs Tariff (TARIC) — Third-country duty rates for Chapter 94 headings
- Revenue — VAT on imports and postponed accounting — Irish import VAT rate and postponed accounting for registered traders
Ocean freight is a spot market and moves monthly; duty and tax rules change without notice. Treat every figure here as a starting point and confirm it at booking with your broker.