Container cranes lit up along a dock at night, reflected in still water.

Reference

Six worked cases, from nothing to warehouse door

Six buyers, four markets, three desks. Every element of the landed cost on its own line, with the figure and where it came from.

Six buyers, four markets, three desks. Each case is one running table: every element of the landed cost on its own line, the dollar figure on the right and where it came from underneath, then the total and the cost per unit. Nothing in a table is typed. The duty rates, tariff lines and read dates come from the same file the duty page prints from; the box rate is the Freightos Baltic Index composite the freight page shows; the euro and the pound are the European Central Bank reference rates. The rest is round placeholders, marked in this colour, for you to replace with your own quotes.

VAT is shown on the line where it is paid and left out of the landed total, because a VAT registered importer gets it back. Nothing of ours is in any table: the desk is paid by the mill or factory after it ships, and the buyer is never invoiced.

Market

What is bought

Showing all six cases.

placeholder a round number for you to replace; read from a source a rate the site read, with its line and date; formula arithmetic on the figures above it; rule a published rule the site could not read at source, or a line with no figure.

What this means for the six worked cases

What this is Six landed costs in United States dollars, one per case, built from the duty rates read on the dates each line shows, the Freightos Baltic Index composite of the index date shown, and the ECB euro and pound reference rates of the date shown.

How to read it Each case is a list. A line has the element on the left, the dollar figure on the right and, under the element, the basis: the tariff line and read date for a duty, the arithmetic for a formula, or the word placeholder for a round number. The coloured tag says which of those it is. The total at the foot counts every line except VAT, and the per unit figure divides it by the quantity.

What moves it The factory or mill price moves everything, because duty is a percentage of it. The box rate moves with the index week to week. A tariff line can move the duty more than a price negotiation can, as the sheet set case shows. A preference removes a duty entirely, if the origin paperwork holds.

How to use it Whether a quote that looks cheap at the factory gate is still cheap at your door, and which element to push on: price, trim, origin or lane.

The trap Reading a placeholder as a market figure. The prices, weights, box loads, insurance, broker, inland and testing lines are round numbers so the shape of the sum is visible; none of them is a quotation, and the table says so on every such line.

Case 1 of 6. United States. Garments.

A Dallas retailer wants 4,000 cotton T-shirts

Worked from Getting garments made, step by step.

“What will 4,000 printed cotton tees cost me delivered to my Dallas warehouse, and from where?”

Knitted cotton T-shirt, heading 6109.10, made in Chattogram, shipped by sea to a US port and trucked to Dallas. The United States charges duty on the FOB price, so freight and insurance sit outside the duty base.

Factory price, FOB Chattogram, 4,000 at $3.00 placeholder Round placeholder, the same figure the garments guide uses at its landed step. Put the factory quote here.

$12,000.00

Ocean freight to a US port formula Grid formula: $3,357 per forty foot box, the FBX composite of 16 October 2026, over a placeholder 12,000 kg load is 28 cents per kg; 720 kg. No lane is priced, and a part box costs more per kg.

$201.39

Marine insurance placeholder Round placeholder. Put your own figure here.

$50.00

Base duty, 16.5% of the FOB price read from a source Tariff line 6109.10.00, read 23 August 2026. The transaction value. Essentially FOB. International freight and insurance are excluded from the duty base. So a 16.5 per cent US rate is charged on a smaller number than a 12 per cent European rate on the same shipment, and the two percentages are not directly comparable.

$1,980.00

Extra United States layer on goods from Bangladesh, +10% read from a source Heading 9903.05.26, on top of the base rate, read 2 September 2026. The same shirt from Pakistan carries +10% under 9903.05.62.

$1,200.00

Merchandise Processing Fee, 0.3464% of entered value read from a source Duty page, not read at source. A floor and a ceiling per entry apply and were revised for the US fiscal year from October 2025; confirm them with your broker.

$41.57

Harbor Maintenance Fee, 0.125% of cargo value, uncapped read from a source Duty page, not read at source. Ocean freight through a listed US port only, not air, truck or rail.

$15.00

Cotton research and promotion assessment read from a source About 1.2 to 1.6 cents per kilogram, duty page, not read at source, charged by the ten digit line on cotton goods: on 720 kg that is $8.64 to $11.52; the higher figure is counted.

$11.52

Customs broker placeholder Round placeholder. Put your own figure here.

$150.00

Port to the Dallas warehouse placeholder Round placeholder. Put your own figure here.

$500.00

Sampling, testing and inspection placeholder Round placeholders: sampling 300, testing 400, a third party final inspection 300. The factory names its own sample charge; the guide says why no average is printed.

$1,000.00

What you pay the desk rule Nothing. The mill or factory pays the desk after it ships; the buyer is never invoiced.

$0.00

Landed at the Dallas warehouse $17,149.48

$4.29 per shirt, against $12,000.00 at the factory gate for the lot

Box rate: Freightos Baltic Index (FBX), Freightos., composite of 16 October 2026. Duty read dates as shown on each line. Exchange rates: European Central Bank euro foreign exchange reference rates.

What the site cannot tell this buyer

Any of the placeholders: the factory price, the packed weight and box load, insurance, broker, inland, sampling, testing and inspection.
Whether the extra layer is still +10% on the day the goods land.
Your ten digit line for the cotton assessment, and the fee floor and ceiling in force on the entry date.

The landed step of the garments guide Run your own numbers in the landed quick check The duty page

Case 2 of 6. United States. Home textiles.

A California buyer wants 3,000 digitally printed full size sheet sets

Worked from Buying home textiles, step by step.

“Same sheet set, once for a hospital group and once for my shop. Why is the duty different?”

Printed cotton bed linen, heading 6302.21, made in Karachi. Pakistan shipped 32.3 per cent of what the United States imported under this heading in 2025 (UN Comtrade, our own calculation). A full size set is a fitted sheet, a flat sheet and two pillowcases, counted at the border as four pieces.

The duty question has one answer: the hospital set is plain, the shop set has a piped edge, and in the US tariff that trim moves the set from 6.7 per cent to 20.9 per cent. Both are in the table.

Mill price, FOB Karachi, 3,000 sets at $12.00 placeholder Round placeholder for a four piece set. For scale only: the US customs value of printed cotton bed linen from Pakistan was $5.59 per piece in 2025, sheets and pillowcases counted separately (UN Comtrade, our own calculation).

$36,000.00

Ocean freight to a California port formula Grid formula: $3,357 per forty foot box, the FBX composite of 16 October 2026, over a placeholder 12,000 kg load is 28 cents per kg; 4,500 kg. No lane is priced, and a part box costs more per kg.

$1,258.69

Marine insurance placeholder Round placeholder. Put your own figure here.

$100.00

Duty on the plain set, not napped, no piping, 6.7% of the FOB price read from a source Tariff line 6302.21.90, read 1 September 2026. The whole answer to the question: the hospital set is plain, the shop set has a piped edge, and the piped line reads 20.9%. Same cloth, same print, a different tariff line.

$2,412.00

The same set with a piped or embroidered edge, 20.9% $7,524.00

Extra United States layer on goods from Pakistan, +10% read from a source Heading 9903.05.62, on top of the base rate, read 2 September 2026.

$3,600.00

$124.70

Harbor Maintenance Fee, 0.125% of cargo value, uncapped read from a source Duty page, not read at source. Ocean freight through a listed US port only, not air, truck or rail.

$45.00

Cotton research and promotion assessment read from a source About 1.2 to 1.6 cents per kilogram, duty page, not read at source, charged by the ten digit line on cotton goods: on 4,500 kg that is $54.00 to $72.00; the higher figure is counted.

$72.00

Customs broker placeholder Round placeholder. Put your own figure here.

$150.00

Port to the California warehouse placeholder Round placeholder. Put your own figure here.

$500.00

Sampling, testing and inspection placeholder Round placeholders: strike offs and a sample set 300, a fibre and colourfastness test 300, a final inspection 300.

$900.00

What you pay the desk rule Nothing. The mill or factory pays the desk after it ships; the buyer is never invoiced.

$0.00

Landed at the California warehouse, plain set $45,162.39

$15.05 per set, against $36,000.00 at the factory gate for the lot

With the piped edge: $50,274.39, $16.76 per set. The trim costs $5,112.00 in duty alone.

Box rate: Freightos Baltic Index (FBX), Freightos., composite of 16 October 2026. Duty read dates as shown on each line. Exchange rates: European Central Bank euro foreign exchange reference rates.

What the site cannot tell this buyer

Any of the placeholders: the mill price, the packed weight and box load, insurance, broker, inland, sampling, testing and inspection.
Whether the extra layer is still +10% on the day the goods land.
Which of the four 6302.21 lines your set falls under: napped or not, trimmed or not. Classify to ten digits with the sample in hand.

The landed step of the home textiles guide Run your own numbers in the landed quick check The duty page

Case 3 of 6. United Kingdom. Fibre, yarn and fabric.

A Leicester knitter buys 20 tonnes of cotton yarn

Worked from Buying fibre, yarn and fabric, step by step.

“One container of 30s combed from Pakistan. What does it cost me landed, and in pounds?”

Ne 30/1 combed ring spun cotton yarn, heading 5205, one forty foot box from Karachi to Felixstowe. Britain charges duty on the customs value, which includes freight and insurance, and the rate on this line is 0.00%.

Mill price, FOB Karachi, 20,000 kg at $3.00 per kg placeholder Round placeholder: it is the reference yarn price the site’s own freight reckoner uses, not a market price. Put the mill quote here.

$60,000.00

Ocean freight, one forty foot box formula Grid formula: $3,357 per forty foot box, the FBX composite of 16 October 2026, over the reckoner’s 20,000 kg yarn load is 16.8 cents per kg; 20,000 kg. No lane is priced, and a part box costs more per kg.

$3,356.50

Marine insurance placeholder Round placeholder. Put your own figure here.

$150.00

UK duty, 0.00% of the customs value of $63,506.50 read from a source Tariff line 5205 11 00 00, read 23 August 2026. The customs value, the same CIF-type basis. The same yarn pays 4.00% into the European Union, $2,540.26 on this shipment.

$0.00

UK import VAT, 20% of customs value plus duty read from a source Duty page, not read at source. Cash that leaves the account and comes back on the VAT return of a registered importer, so it is shown and not counted; postponed VAT accounting turns it into a paper entry.

$12,701.30 not counted

Port handling and haulage, Felixstowe to Leicester placeholder Round placeholder. Put your own figure here.

$1,400.00

Customs broker placeholder Round placeholder. Put your own figure here.

$150.00

Yarn testing on arrival placeholder Round placeholder for a count, strength and evenness test on the shipment sample.

$200.00

What you pay the desk rule Nothing. The mill or factory pays the desk after it ships; the buyer is never invoiced.

$0.00

Landed at Leicester, before VAT $65,256.50

$3.26 per kg, against $60,000.00 at the factory gate for the lot

Cash out before recovery, with VAT: $77,957.80.

In pounds: £48,936.26, at 1.3335 dollars per pound, the ECB reference rate of 16 October 2026.

Box rate: Freightos Baltic Index (FBX), Freightos., composite of 16 October 2026. Duty read dates as shown on each line. Exchange rates: European Central Bank euro foreign exchange reference rates.

What the site cannot tell this buyer

Any of the placeholders: the mill price, insurance, haulage, broker and testing.
The cost of the payment term the mill offers: put the price, the days and your cost of money into the payment terms tool on the calculators page.

The yarn basis step of the raw materials guide Run your own numbers in the landed quick check The duty page

Case 4 of 6. The Gulf. Fibre, yarn and fabric.

A Jeddah importer buys cotton fabric by the metre

Worked from Buying fibre, yarn and fabric, step by step.

“50,000 metres of cotton poplin for thobes. Duty is five per cent, isn’t it? And SABER?”

Combed cotton poplin, 110 gsm, 150 cm wide, plain weave, heading 5208, from Karachi to Jeddah. The Gulf charges duty on the CIF value, and Saudi Arabia collects it at its own rate at the first point of entry.

Mill price, FOB Karachi, 50,000 m at $1.20 per metre placeholder Round placeholder. Put the mill quote here.

$60,000.00

Ocean freight to Jeddah formula 110 gsm at 150 cm is 0.165 kg per metre, so 8,250 kg. Grid formula: $3,357 per forty foot box, the FBX composite of 16 October 2026, over a placeholder 12,000 kg load is 28 cents per kg; 8,250 kg. No lane is priced, and a part box costs more per kg.

$2,307.59

Marine insurance placeholder Round placeholder. Put your own figure here.

$150.00

Saudi duty, 5% of the CIF value of $62,457.59 read from a source ZATCA tariff export, heading 5208, all 19 lines, in force from 10 January 2003, read 3 September 2026. CIF, written into the GCC Common Customs Law. So the five per cent the buyer expects is right for this line, and it is charged on the price including freight and insurance.

$3,122.88

Saudi VAT, 15% of CIF plus duty read from a source Duty page, not read at source. Recoverable by a VAT registered importer, so shown and not counted.

$9,837.07 not counted

SABER and SASO conformity certification rule Per product and per shipment (duty page). Every Saudi line the site read carries the procedure code that calls for a SABER conformity certificate. No figure is held on the site: a certification body quotes it per product and per shipment.

no figure

Port fees and inland, Jeddah port to warehouse placeholder Round placeholder. Put your own figure here.

$900.00

Customs broker placeholder Round placeholder. Put your own figure here.

$150.00

Fabric testing on arrival placeholder Round placeholder for a weight, count and shrinkage test on the shipment sample.

$300.00

What you pay the desk rule Nothing. The mill or factory pays the desk after it ships; the buyer is never invoiced.

$0.00

Landed at the Jeddah warehouse, before VAT and SABER $66,930.47

$1.34 per metre, against $60,000.00 at the factory gate for the lot

Cash out before recovery, with VAT: $76,767.54.

Box rate: Freightos Baltic Index (FBX), Freightos., composite of 16 October 2026. Duty read dates as shown on each line. Exchange rates: European Central Bank euro foreign exchange reference rates.

What the site cannot tell this buyer

Any of the placeholders: the mill price, the box load, insurance, port and inland, broker and testing.
The SABER certificate cost, the Arabic labelling rule, and whether this fabric needs a product certificate, a shipment certificate or both.
A riyal figure: the site holds no riyal rate, so this case stays in dollars.

The fabric basis step of the raw materials guide Run your own numbers in the landed quick check The duty page

Case 5 of 6. European Union. Garments.

A Dutch brand buys 6,000 cotton hoodies

Worked from Getting garments made, step by step.

“6,000 brushed fleece hoodies from Bangladesh into Rotterdam. Landed, in euros?”

Knitted cotton hooded pullover, heading 6110.20, from Chattogram to Rotterdam. The Union charges duty on the customs value, which includes freight and insurance, and Bangladesh enters free under Everything But Arms when the origin paperwork is right.

Factory price, FOB Chattogram, 6,000 at $9.00 placeholder Round placeholder. Put the factory quote here.

$54,000.00

Ocean freight to Rotterdam formula Grid formula: $3,357 per forty foot box, the FBX composite of 16 October 2026, over a placeholder 12,000 kg load is 28 cents per kg; 3,300 kg. No lane is priced, and a part box costs more per kg.

$923.04

Marine insurance placeholder Round placeholder. Put your own figure here.

$100.00

EU duty on goods from Bangladesh, 0% under Everything But Arms read from a source Preference read 3 September 2026: Bangladesh 0% under EBA, Pakistan 0% under GSP+. The third country rate is 12.00% on line 6110 20 91 00, read 3 September 2026, which would be $6,602.76 on the customs value of $55,023.04. The zero needs the origin paperwork in order; without it the full rate applies.

$0.00

Dutch import VAT, 21% of customs value plus duty read from a source Taxes in Europe Database, Netherlands standard rate, situation 1 July 2026, read 3 September 2026. Recoverable by a VAT registered importer, so shown and not counted.

$11,554.84 not counted

Port and inland, Rotterdam to warehouse placeholder Round placeholder. Put your own figure here.

$700.00

Customs broker placeholder Round placeholder. Put your own figure here.

$150.00

Sampling, testing and inspection placeholder Round placeholders: sampling 300, testing 400, a third party final inspection 300.

$1,000.00

What you pay the desk rule Nothing. The mill or factory pays the desk after it ships; the buyer is never invoiced.

$0.00

Landed at the Dutch warehouse, before VAT $56,873.04

$9.48 per hoodie, against $54,000.00 at the factory gate for the lot

Cash out before recovery, with VAT: $68,427.88.

In euros: €50,540.33, at 1.1253 dollars per euro, the ECB reference rate of 16 October 2026.

Box rate: Freightos Baltic Index (FBX), Freightos., composite of 16 October 2026. Duty read dates as shown on each line. Exchange rates: European Central Bank euro foreign exchange reference rates.

What the site cannot tell this buyer

Any of the placeholders: the factory price, the packed weight and box load, insurance, port and inland, broker, sampling, testing and inspection.
Whether your paperwork will carry the preference: the exporter’s statement on origin is the factory’s job and the buyer’s risk.

The landed step of the garments guide Run your own numbers in the landed quick check The duty page

Case 6 of 6. The Gulf. Home textiles.

A Dubai hotel group buys 20,000 bath towels

Worked from Buying home textiles, step by step.

“Same towel as your example, but into Dubai and for our own use. What changes?”

Cotton terry bath towel, 600 gsm, 70 by 140 cm, heading 6302.60, from Karachi to Jebel Ali. What changes from the guide’s example: duty on CIF rather than FOB, a VAT the hotel recovers only if registered, and an Emirati rate confirmed by our own check in Dubai rather than read off the schedule.

Mill price, FOB Karachi, 20,000 at $4.00 placeholder Round placeholder, the home textiles guide’s own towel figure. Put the mill quote here.

$80,000.00

Ocean freight to Jebel Ali formula Grid formula: $3,357 per forty foot box, the FBX composite of 16 October 2026, over a placeholder 12,000 kg load is 28 cents per kg; 10,000 kg. No lane is priced, and a part box costs more per kg.

$2,797.08

Marine insurance placeholder Round placeholder. Put your own figure here.

$200.00

Emirati duty, 5% of the CIF value of $82,997.08 rule The Emirati schedule is not read at source (Dubai Trade’s lookup sits behind a login), but our own commercial check on a Dubai import found this rate charged. 5% is the Gulf customs union’s common rate, and it is also what Saudi Arabia’s ZATCA export reads for line 6302 60 00 00 00, in force from 11 December 2005, read 3 September 2026. CIF, written into the GCC Common Customs Law.

$4,149.85

Emirati VAT, 5% of CIF plus duty read from a source Duty page. The Emirati schedule is not read at source. A hotel buying for its own use recovers it only if registered and making taxable supplies; assumed yes, so shown and not counted.

$4,357.35 not counted

Port fees and inland, Jebel Ali to the hotel stores placeholder Round placeholder. Put your own figure here.

$900.00

Customs broker placeholder Round placeholder. Put your own figure here.

$150.00

Sampling, testing and inspection placeholder Round placeholders: a sample towel 200, an absorbency and wash test 400, a final inspection 300.

$900.00

What you pay the desk rule Nothing. The mill or factory pays the desk after it ships; the buyer is never invoiced.

$0.00

Landed at the hotel stores, before VAT $89,096.94

$4.45 per towel, against $80,000.00 at the factory gate for the lot

Cash out before recovery, with VAT: $93,454.28.

Box rate: Freightos Baltic Index (FBX), Freightos., composite of 16 October 2026. Duty read dates as shown on each line. Exchange rates: European Central Bank euro foreign exchange reference rates.

What the site cannot tell this buyer

Any of the placeholders: the mill price, the packed weight and box load, insurance, port and inland, broker, sampling, testing and inspection.
The Emirati rate as the Emirates publish it: their schedule never opened for us, so what is printed is the union rate plus our own commercial check on a Dubai import, marked as such and not as a reading.
A dirham figure: the site holds no dirham rate, so this case stays in dollars.

The landed step of the home textiles guide Run your own numbers in the landed quick check The duty page

Your turn

Build your own

Every figure above came out of the same two things: a rate somebody else published, and arithmetic you can repeat. Put your own quantity and your own destination into the calculators and you will have every line of a case like these except one, the mill price. That one has to be asked for: garments, home textiles or fibre, yarn and fabric.