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Sarakhs is where the truck enters Iran, not where the cargo is handed over

On this page

1. Three words, three places
2. What goes wrong when the border lands in the destination field
3. Two customs points you can actually buy
4. Splitting one load across two customs points is two bookings
5. Where the rate stops, and what sits outside it
6. Cargo that clears documents before it gets a loading slot
7. Four slips that show up in the destination field
8. What this page will not tell you
9. Frequently asked

2026-11-07

On the Khorgos line the trailer crosses Xinjiang, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, and then enters Iran at Sarakhs. That is a border crossing, not a delivery. This page separates three points that get folded into one word: the exit gate in China, the entry border in Iran, and the customs where the cargo actually changes hands. Delivery on this line runs CPT or DAP to Mashhad customs or Tehran West customs (Shahriyar / Aprin). No freight figure appears here, and no day count is published for the Khorgos line.

• Three places on one shipment: exit at Khorgos, entry into Iran at Sarakhs, delivery at the destination customs
• Sarakhs is not a sellable destination; Mashhad customs and Tehran West customs (Shahriyar / Aprin) are
• Delivery is CPT / DAP to the destination customs — not door-to-door, not DDP
• The Iranian import declaration belongs to the consignee and their licensed broker, not to us
• One trailer carries 80 CBM and 22 tonnes at most; the Khorgos line runs curtain-side trailers, not containers

Three words, three places

Ask a shipper where the cargo is going and the answer is usually one word: the border. That single word hides three different points with three different owners. The exit gate is where the trailer leaves China. The entry border is where it enters Iran. The delivery customs is where the cargo comes off the trailer and an import file opens. Move one of the three into the wrong line of an enquiry and the other two shift with it — and the correction is cheapest before dispatch, most expensive after.

What goes wrong when the border lands in the destination field

An enquiry closes on five fields: origin warehouse, destination customs, goods description with HS code, gross weight in kilograms, packed volume. The destination field takes a customs point, because the rate is priced to that point and CPT or DAP stops there. Write Sarakhs into it and the rate is pinned to a place we do not sell: no handover happens there, and no import declaration there is our file. Two outcomes follow. Either the rate is written again from scratch, or the cargo sits at the border and moving it onward becomes the consignee's own arrangement at their own cost.

Two customs points you can actually buy

There are exactly two sellable delivery points on this line: Mashhad customs and Tehran West customs, in the Shahriyar / Aprin area. Choosing between them is mostly the consignee's decision, because the Iranian import declaration is filed in their name by a broker licensed to do it. Three things decide the choice: the city where the cargo is used or stored, the broker who will close the file, and whether clearance happens in that same city or the goods travel onward afterwards. Until those three are settled, naming one of the two is a guess — and a guess in the destination field turns into a re-quote later.

Splitting one load across two customs points is two bookings

Part of a consignment for Tehran West and part for Mashhad is not one shipment with two destinations. It is two separate arrangements, each with its own quote, its own file and its own review. The reason is arithmetic as much as paperwork: the split has to fit inside one trailer's ceiling of 80 CBM and 22 tonnes, and a split decided after loading tends to produce two half-full trailers instead of one clean load. Decide it at enquiry stage, when the numbers can still be moved.

Where the rate stops, and what sits outside it

The rate carries three blocks: line-haul freight, warehousing with loading and unloading plus China export clearance, and the foreign transit broker's fee. Delivery is CPT or DAP to the destination customs, which is neither door-to-door nor DDP. Everything after the handover is reviewed separately — destination clearance, insurance, inspection, lashing and crane work, and out-of-scope items such as unsealing, national registration or radiation questions. None of those sit inside the figure you receive.

Cargo that clears documents before it gets a loading slot

General cargo is the base case. Chemicals, dangerous goods and branded goods are reviewed before loading, and a review is not an acceptance. Lithium batteries need a complete 16-section MSDS and a UN packing certificate. Cargo under compulsory inspection that cannot produce the inspection paperwork is handled shipment by shipment. Send those documents with the enquiry rather than on loading day; they matter more once a destination customs has been named and an import file exists in the consignee's name.

Four slips that show up in the destination field

First, Sarakhs written where the destination customs belongs. Second, a city name instead of a customs point — Tehran is a city, Tehran West customs is a place where a trailer is unloaded. Third, "delivery to our warehouse", when delivery on this line ends at the destination customs and the onward leg is a separate arrangement. Fourth, two customs points inside one enquiry for one trailer. All four are fixable before quoting. After loading, each one costs time and a second quote.

What this page will not tell you

There is no freight figure here; rates go out by email with a validity date. There is also no day count for the Khorgos line, because the schedule for this corridor is confirmed shipment by shipment and a table from another route is not carried across. If you have seen a day figure for Khorgos that did not come with your own enquiry, it does not belong to your shipment. What does belong to it: the validity of the rate, the delivery term, and the destination customs named in writing.

Frequently asked

Related: starting at Khorgos · export clearance on the Khorgos line · reading a Khorgos proforma

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