Planning an import with the timeline wrong costs you lost sales or idle inventory. These are the timelines we see in live operations — not the brochure version.
Ocean transit to Mexican ports
| Origin | Port of arrival | Typical transit |
|---|---|---|
| China (Shanghai, Ningbo, Shenzhen) | Manzanillo / Lázaro Cárdenas | 18 to 30 days |
| Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Thailand) | Manzanillo | 25 to 35 days |
| Europe (Rotterdam, Hamburg, Valencia) | Veracruz / Altamira | 18 to 28 days |
| South America (Brazil, Chile) | Veracruz / Manzanillo | 12 to 22 days |
| U.S. East Coast | Veracruz / Altamira | 5 to 12 days |
Those are port-to-port times on direct services. If your shipment transships, add 5 to 10 days. And they’re estimates: weather, port congestion and schedule changes move these numbers.
Air and overland transit
- Air from Asia: 3 to 7 days to Mexico City (AICM) or Guadalajara, including consolidation and connections.
- Air from the U.S. or Europe: 2 to 5 days.
- Cross-border trucking from the U.S.: 2 to 6 days depending on origin and the border crossing.
Customs clearance: 1 to 3 business days
With a complete file and the customs entry (pedimento) transmitted, clearance is fast. What stretches it out:
| Situation | Typical extra days |
|---|---|
| Everything in order, green light | 0 — clears the same day |
| Customs inspection (red light) | 1 to 3 days |
| Missing permit or NOM certificate | 3 to 15 days (or more) |
| Registry suspended or broker authorization not accepted | Until the paperwork is resolved |
| Document mismatch (BL vs. invoice) | 1 to 5 days |
The full math, end to end
For an ocean import from China, realistic planning looks like: production (15-45 days) + transit (18-30) + clearance (1-3) + inland delivery (1-4). That is, 5 to 12 weeks from placing the order to goods in your warehouse.
Inventory rule of thumb: if you sell a product that ships by ocean from Asia, your reorder point should assume at least 10 weeks. Plan on 6 and you’ll stock out twice a year.
What you can actually control
- Have your registries and broker authorization (encargo conferido) ready before the goods ship (it costs no time when it runs in parallel).
- Review the draft BL before it’s issued — fixing it afterward costs days.
- Send your broker the documents when the vessel sails, not when it arrives: classification and filing can be pre-worked in transit.
- Confirm NOMs and permits at the quoting stage, not at the port.
Need the transit time for your specific lane? Write to us with origin, destination and cargo type and we’ll give you the real schedule with confirmed sailings. And if a term doesn’t ring a bell, our glossary explains it in plain language.