How to reduce the cost of air freight for children’s products from China to Eastern Europe? The latest guide for 2025

The following is an in-depth guide to help you minimize the air freight costs of children’s products from China to Eastern Europe by 2025, covering operational strategies, packaging optimization, carrier selection and other multi-dimensional information.

Key Takeaways

By concentrating shipments, optimizing packaging volume and weight, negotiating insurance services, selecting routes and carriers, utilizing multimodal transport combinations, and dynamically monitoring rate indices, you can reduce air freight costs by 15%–30%. This article provides specific steps and example calculations, and provides links to relevant ocean freight and rail transport guides to help you flexibly combine the best logistics solutions.

1. Air freight cost structure and charging principles

1. Volumetric weight vs actual weight

Air freight is charged by the higher of “weight” and “volume weight”. Volume weight formula:

Volume weight (kg) = length (cm) × width (cm) × height (cm) ÷ 6000

By using compression packaging and disassembling parts, the volume weight can be effectively reduced to a smaller value than the actual weight, thus saving costs.

2. Main expense items

• Basic freight (based on kg, actual weight or volume weight)
• Aviation fuel surcharge (BAF, generally 10%–20%)
• Safety/security fee (SSF, about US$0.1–0.3/kg)
• Miscellaneous charges at the destination (PCS, AWB fees, etc., about US$20–50/ticket)
• Insurance fee (1%–3% of declared value)

2. Optimization Strategy

1. Reasonable packaging and volume optimization

• Disassembly design : For example, children’s study tables and chairs can be disassembled, and separate box packaging can be used to reduce the volume of a single box.
• Vacuum compression : Use vacuum bags to compress fabric children’s products (cushions, dolls) by 50% of their volume.
• Modular packaging : Standardized box specifications facilitate stacking and loading of high cabinets, improving containerization efficiency.

2. Bulk Shipping and Bulk Discounts

• Negotiate with the freight forwarder for a “bulk shipment” discount. Apply for a special rate for shipments ≥500 kg or ≥5 m³, and enjoy a 10%–15% discount on freight rates.
• Regular group order: Multiple SKUs at the same destination are combined into a single ticket to share PCS/destination port miscellaneous fees.

3. Route and carrier selection

• Direct flight vs. transfer : Direct flights are faster but have higher rates; transfer routes (such as Guangzhou → Istanbul → Warsaw) save 20% of freight, but the delivery time is extended by 2-3 days.
• Compare multiple airlines : Get quotes from IATA or freight forwarding platforms (Freightos, SeaRates) regularly to lock in low-priced seats during the off-season.

4. Insurance and claims

• Appropriately declare the value and purchase insurance to transfer the risk of claims and prevent additional costs caused by the loss of high-value items.
• Compare the carrier’s default liability insurance and third-party freight insurance, and choose the one with a high claim settlement rate and fast claims settlement.

3. Example Calculation

Assume that a shipment of electronic training machines for children weighs 100 kg and has a packed volume of 0.5 m³ (volume weight ≈ 83 kg, 100 kg is taken for calculation), the basic freight is US$4/kg, BAF is 15%, other miscellaneous fees are US$50/shipment, and the insurance fee is 2%.

Basic freight = 100×4 = US$400
BAF = 400×15% = US$60
Miscellaneous fees = US$50
Insurance fee = (400+60+50)×2% ≈ US$10.2
Total fee ≈ US$520.2 ≈ ¥3,640 (at 7 times the exchange rate)

After optimization, the volume of the disassembled parts is compressed to 0.3 m³ (the volume weight is 50 kg, and the actual weight remains unchanged at 100 kg). However, it can be combined with another SKU on the same ticket to apply for a bulk discount of 10% for 200 kg:

Basic freight = 200×4 = US$800
BAF = 800×15% = US$120
Miscellaneous fees = 50
Insurance fee = (800+120+50)×2% ≈ US$19.4
Subtotal = 989.4
Discount 10% ≈ US$89
Total cost ≈ US$900 ≈ ¥6,300 (combined cost of two tickets ≈ ¥3,150/ticket, saving about 13%)

4. Related recommendations

• 《Comparison of door-to-door shipping services from China to Southeast Asia》
• Freightos Air Freight Rate Platform
• IATA DGR Dangerous Goods Regulations
• Vacuum compression packaging solution

Through the above multi-dimensional optimization, you can significantly reduce the air transportation costs of children’s products from China to Eastern Europe by 2025, while maintaining high efficiency and controllable risks.