What is the earliest departure I can book from China once I confirm?

Guangzhou and Yiwu weekly consolidation slots are typically booked 5-7 days before container cut-off. If you confirm before the cut-off day, your cargo makes that week's departure. Miss the cut-off, and your cargo rolls to the next week's container.

Do I need my own Indian IEC to use this corridor for Nepal cargo?

No. For pure transit cargo (arriving at Kolkata and moving to Nepal under transit protocol), you do not need an Indian IEC — the cargo does not clear into India. You do need a Nepalese PAN / VAT registration and a customs broker at Kakarbhitta, both of which we coordinate or can introduce.

Can I pick my cargo up at Kakarbhitta myself?

Yes. The default routing lands your container at Kakarbhitta ICP where you can take onward custody yourself, or we run the last leg to Mechinagar / your warehouse. Both are supported.

What is the cost saving versus air freight for this corridor?

For a full 20' container, sea + road is typically 70-85% cheaper per kg than air freight into Kathmandu, at the cost of 3-4 additional weeks in transit. For under-container-load cargo, see our Consolidated Shipping option which shares one weekly container across multiple buyers.

Do you handle Bhairahawa-bound cargo through this corridor, or is Birgunj better?

For Nepal cargo west of Chitwan / Butwal, Kolkata → Raxaul → Birgunj is the shorter road leg. See our Birgunj corridor page. For anything Kathmandu-east or Terai-east, Siliguri wins on road time and coordination overhead.

The default corridor

China to Nepal via Siliguri — the corridor we live on.

For Nepal-bound cargo from China, this is the shortest documented path with continuous Fortune Sourcings supervision at every stage. Sea freight into Kolkata, road via Panitanki (India) into Kakarbhitta (Nepal), then onward to Mechinagar where our Nepal office sits — 22 minutes by road from the border crossing.

Route

Guangzhou / Yiwu → Kolkata port → Siliguri (India border) → Kakarbhitta (Nepal) → Mechinagar

Sea leg

18–25 days depending on carrier and China-side origin (typical for the Yiwu / Guangzhou → Kolkata pairing)

Road leg

3–5 days from Kolkata to Mechinagar including port clearance, transit paperwork and onward truck

On-ground

Fortune Imports & Exports (India), Siliguri · Fortune Imports & Exports (Nepal), Mechinagar

Ideal for

Nepalese importers based in Kathmandu, Bhairahawa, Biratnagar, Pokhara, and East Nepal

Section 01

Why this corridor exists

Nepal is landlocked. Every container that reaches a Nepalese warehouse from China has been on a truck at some point. The question is who owns the transition — the sea to road handover at Kolkata, and the India to Nepal handover at Kakarbhitta. Getting either wrong is where landlocked import projects lose four to six weeks. We own both ends because we already had offices there before we started running this corridor formally.

Section 02

What is coordinated on this corridor

China-side booking, factory consolidation, container stuffing under our name.
Full export documentation set — commercial invoice, packing list, BL, Certificate of Origin, Form A (where destination is Nepal directly), Form E where applicable to the India transit leg.
Kolkata port clearance either through our vetted CHA or the client's own — we coordinate either way.
India-Nepal transit protocol paperwork, filed by the Siliguri office. This is the specific piece landlocked buyers usually cannot execute themselves.
Road leg from Kolkata dock to Kakarbhitta ICP — same-team supervision throughout.
Nepal-side clearance at Kakarbhitta and onward to Mechinagar warehouse or your onward truck.
Optional: consolidation storage at our Siliguri hub if you are staging incoming cargo before releasing to your Nepal warehouse in batches.

Section 03

Products this corridor handles best

Furniture (Foshan / Dongguan origin), building materials (tiles, hardware, sanitaryware), general merchandise (Yiwu origin), machinery, and hotel FF&E. Anything that ships via container and has a viable Nepal duty and IRD compliance path.

Frequently asked