Ocean and Air Shipping from Sweden to India

Sweden’s top exports to India include vehicles, communications equipment, and paper products. The subcontinent is Sweden’s third-largest trade partner and the 19th-largest export market.

If your business is already importing from Sweden to India, you’ll find this page useful. So too if you’re looking to ship your first consignment of commercial goods between the two countries.

The page is packed with facts and guidance to simplify the business of ocean and air shipping from Sweden to India.

What Are Your Options for Shipping Freight From Sweden to India?

There are two ways to import or export from Sweden to India—by air or by sea. Each has advantages and drawbacks which we’ll outline on this page.

Ocean Freight From Sweden to India

Less than Container Load (LCL): LCL shipping is ideal for a variety of shipments, especially those that are small and not urgently required in India. Your goods will share a shipping container with other shippers’ products.

Full Container Load (FCL): This is usually the fastest way to send sea freight. You will have a container exclusively for your products, which you can fill completely or partially, as you prefer.

Air Freight from Sweden to India

Air cargo carriers offer the fastest way to ship freight from Sweden to India. But air freight is also the most expensive form of international shipping.

How Much Does it Cost to Ship Cargo From Sweden to India?

Shipping quotes are calculated by taking several factors into account. These include:

• The total distance your consignment needs to be shipped
• The type of goods that you want to transport from Sweden to India
• Your chosen mode of shipping, which might be air freight or LCL/FCL ocean shipping
• The total size, weight, and volume of your consignment

If your consignment weighs 35kg or less, you will need to contact international couriers for a quote as freight forwarders do not handle such light loads. If your goods fall into the 35 kg to 100 kg weight bracket, you’re likely to find that quotes for air or ocean shipping are very similar, making price less of a deciding factor.

For cargo that tips the scales over 100 kg, ocean shipping usually works out as the most cost-efficient mode of transportation.

How Long Does it Take to Ship Cargo From Sweden to India?

It’s over 5,500 kilometers from Stockholm to Delhi for direct air cargo flights. The route ocean carriers must take is much longer. A vessel must sail around the European mainland and through the Suez Canal in order to get your container from Sweden to India. That’s why sea freight takes much longer than air freight to reach its destination. You can expect air shipping to arrive at your chosen airport in India within six or seven days. Ocean shipping is likely to take at least 33 days.

How Long Does It Take to Ship Cargo by Sea From Sweden to India?

When using a freight forwarder to move your ocean shipping container from Sweden to India, you should allow at least 33 or 34 days for the shipment to complete. That’s certainly the case, for example, for goods being shipped from Gothenburg to Nhava Sheva and from Helsingborg to Chennai.

How Long Does It Take to Ship Cargo by Air From Sweden to India?

Air freight is by far the quickest way to import from Sweden to India. You should allow six days for shipments from Stockholm to Delhi to be completed. Seven days is more typical for processing and moving air freight from Gothenburg to Mumbai.

Customs Clearance in Sweden and India

Every commercial shipment from Sweden to India is subject to customs checks at ports in both nations. All consignments must be accompanied by correct documentation to satisfy the demands of customs officials in Europe and on the Indian subcontinent. The paperwork that must be submitted with every shipment includes:

1. Commercial Invoice

2. Packing List

3. Certificate of Origin

4. Letter of Credit or other payment terms (depends on the contract between the parties involved)

5. Bill of Lading for ocean freight or Airway Bill for air freight (Shipa Freight will provide this for you)

We’ve gathered examples of the above on this documents list page, so you can examine each one in detail if you wish.

Please note that the above list is not exhaustive and that additional paperwork may be necessary. This could include certificates, permits, and licenses, depending on the nature of the goods you’re shipping.

Customs requirements can leave many businesses feeling baffled, which is why hiring a freight forwarder is a good move for many. A forwarder can help ensure your consignment isn’t unnecessarily delayed and that all rules and regulations are adhered to.

Should You Choose Ocean or Air Shipping From Sweden to India?

Ocean Freight

When you choose ocean freight, your forwarder will coordinate the shipping of your goods, by ocean carrier, inside a shipping container.

Businesses tend to ship their products as sea freight when there is no urgent requirement for them in India. Door-to-door or port-to-port ocean shipping is usually more cost-effective than air freight for larger or heavier consignments. It’s also the only option for goods that cannot be sent as air freight for size, weight, or safety reasons.

With ocean shipping, it’s likely your goods will be shipped in a standard 20ft or 40ft container, either by LCL or FCL. The relative advantages and disadvantages of these are explained below:

Considerations for LCL Freight Shipping

With LCL shipping, your goods share a container with consignments belonging to other businesses. It’s likely to be right for your business if:

• You’re sending a consignment comprising no more than six standard pallets
• You only want to pay for the container space your goods fill, based on their volume
• Your freight is safe to be shipped in the same container as other products
• There’s no urgent requirement for your consignment to be in India

Sending your goods as air cargo is out of the question

You should consider avoiding LCL shipping if:

• Your goods are fragile, perishable, or have a high value
• You don’t want your freight moved or handled more than is necessary
• You’re not happy about your goods sharing the same container as those of other shippers

Considerations for FCL Freight Shipping

Full-container-load shipping gives you exclusive use of a container, along with the following benefits:

• You can more accurately predict when your goods will arrive in India
• You can have an entire container, but you don’t have to fill it
• You can seal your container before its departure, and it will remain sealed until received by your consignee (unless customs officials decide to inspect the goods)

Air Freight

Air shipping could be the best option for your cargo if it’s:

• Urgently required in India
• Not a large consignment, and occupies just three or four pallets at most
• Coming from a supplier or going to a consignee based nearer an airport than a seaport
• Of a high value and requires the highest security levels as offered by airlines and airports
• Delicate, perishable, or both

Ocean Cargo Port Guide

Cargo Ports of Origin in Sweden

Gothenburg

Port Facts:

• Located on both sides of the Estuary of Gota Alv
• Ideal port of origin if your supply chain moves goods from Lundby, Molndal, or Eriksberg
• It’s the only port in Sweden able to accommodate the largest container ships
• Port officials set themselves a goal in 2019 to reduce CO2 emissions by 70% by 2030

Owned By: Gothenburg Municipality.

Annual Container Volume: >772,000 TEUs.

UN/LOCODE: SEGOT.

Stockholm

Port Facts:

• Located within 200 km of Sweden’s largest consumer and business hubs
• A new container terminal is scheduled to open in May 2020
• Its existing container terminal—Frihamnen—is the only deepwater facility of its kind on Sweden’s east coast

Owned By: Hutchison Port Holdings.

Annual Container Volume: >57,000 TEUs.

UN/LOCODE: SESTO.

Norrkoping

Port Facts:

• A popular logistics hub and intermodal cargo-handling center for the Nordic region
• Located on the Baltic Sea coast, 130 kilometers south of Stockholm
• Recently opened a new state-of-the-art container facility—the Pampus Terminal
• Over half of Sweden’s population lives within 200 kilometers of the port

Owned By: Norrkoping Hamn Och Stuveri AB.

Annual Container Volume: >132,000 TEUs.

UN/LOCODE: SENRK.

Helsingborg

Port Facts:

• Located on the Oresund Strait—a very popular shipping route
• Sweden’s second-largest container port
• Rated as one of Northern Europe’s leading ports
• Ideal for any supplier or manufacturer based in Gantofta, Ljungby, or Angelholm

Owned By: Helsingborg Hamn AB.

Annual Container Volume: >267,000 TEUs.

UN/LOCODE: SEHEL.

Cargo Ports of Arrival in India

Chennai

Port Facts:

• India’s second-biggest ocean cargo handling facility
• Largest port in the Bay of Bengal on India’s east coast
• Processed 15.7 million TEUs in the year to March 2019

Owned By: Chennai Port Trust, Ministry of Shipping.

Annual Container Volume: >15.7 million TEUs.

UN/LOCODE: INMAA.

Nhava Sheva

Port Facts:

• Built as a relief port for Mumbai, but is now India’s busiest
• Handles over half of India’s containerized goods traffic
• Situated on the Arabian Sea and accessible via Thane Creek
• Close to Pune, Nashik, and other locations in Maharashtra

Owned By: Government of India.

Annual Container Volume: >5 million TEUs.

UN/LOCODE: INNSA.

Mormugao

Port Facts:

• Located near Vasco da Gama in Western India
• Connected to the Maharashtra and Karnataka hinterlands by the South Central Railway
• Main imports include sugar, fertilizers, and liquid chemicals
• Excellent road links make distribution easy from the port to Margao, Dandeli, and other locations in Karnataka

Owned By: Mormugao Port Trust.

Annual Container Volume: >20,000 TEUs.

UN/LOCODE: INMRM.

Kattupalli

Port Facts:

• A good alternative port to the nearby Chennai
• A privately-owned ocean cargo facility
• Can handle the world’s largest ocean freight vessels
• Connected to four national highways for easy onward transportation to Tirupati, Chittoor, and Srikalahasti

Owned By: Adani Group.

Annual Container Volume: >493,000 TEUs.

UN/LOCODE: INKTP.

Pipavav

Port Facts:

• Situated close to Surat and Rajkot in Gujarat, Northwest India
• One of India’s newest ports, having opened in 2002
• This privately-owned facility has eight cranes and two container vessel berths

Owned By: A.P. Moller Maersk Group.

Annual Container Volume: >880,000 TEUs.

UN/LOCODE: INPAV.

Other Destination Ports in India

Shipa Freight can also coordinate shipping from Sweden to the following ports in India:

• Haldia
• Cochin
• Mundra
• Krishnapatnam
• Hazira
• Visakhapatnam
• Kolkata

-Tuticorin

Flying Your Freight: Airport Guide

Airports of Origin in Sweden

Stockholm-Arlanda

Airport Facts:

• Located 37 km north of Stockholm city center
• Sweden’s largest airport and the third-largest in the Nordic region
• Cargo facilities are located in the southern half of the airport
• Plans for a new Logistics City hub were announced in 2019

India Airports Served: Delhi.

Stockholm to India Cargo-Only Operators: None.

IATA CODE: ARN.

Gothenburg

Airport Facts:

• Its full name is Gothenburg Landvetter Airport
• Situated 20 km outside of Gothenburg
• Sweden’s second-biggest airport
• Infrastructure includes a single 3,299 meter-long runway

India Airports Served: None.

Gothenburg to India Cargo-Only Operators: None.

IATA CODE: GOT

Jonkoping

Airport Facts:

• Located just eight kilometers outside of Jonkoping
• Situated seven minutes from the E4 motorway, linking it with Stockholm, Malmo, & Copenhagen
• Can handle air freighters up to and including Boeing 757s
• Easy access for suppliers and manufacturers based in Gothenburg via the R40 road

India Airports Served: None.

Jonkoping to India Cargo-Only Operators: None.

IATA Code: JKG.

Malmo-Sturup

Airport Facts:

• Situated 28 km east of Malmo
• Only 55 km from the Oresund Bridge which links Sweden with Denmark
• Infrastructure includes two cargo terminals
• A good alternative airport to Copenhagen

India Airports Served: None.

Malmo to India Cargo-Only Operators: None.

IATA Code: MMX.

Norrkoping

Airport Facts:

• Just three kilometers from Norrkoping city center
• Only offers cargo flights plus seasonal and charter passenger services
• Shipments to India will use indirect flights

India Airports Served: None.

Norrkoping to India Cargo-Only Operators: None.

IATA Code: NRK.

Airports of Arrival in India

Chennai

Airport Facts:

• Located on the East Coast of India
• Chennai has both a major seaport and international airport
• Third biggest air cargo hub in India
• Ongoing work is extending the airport’s taxiways
• Has the capacity to handle 1.1 million tonnes of air cargo annually

Connected Airports in Sweden: None.

Sweden to Chennai Cargo-Only Operators: None.

IATA Code: MAA.

Mumbai

Airport Facts:

• Full name is Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport
• Handles close to one million tonnes of air cargo annually
• Five dedicated parking bays for air freighters
• Facilities include dangerous goods and radioactive cargo storage

Connected Airports in Sweden: None.

Sweden to Mumbai Cargo-Only Operators: None.

IATA Code: BOM.

Cochin

Airport Facts:

• Located near the city of Kochi in the state of Kerala
• The world’s first fully solar-powered airport
• Large dedicated storage area for perishables
• Easy onward distribution of goods to Thodupuzha, Munnar, and Anamudi

Connected Airports in Sweden: None.

Sweden to Cochin Cargo-Only Operators: None.

IATA Code: COK.

Delhi

Airport Facts:

• India’s busiest air cargo hub
• Also known as Indira Gandhi International Airport
• Situated in Palam, 16 kilometers from the center of New Delhi
• Direct flights from Stockholm
• Easy onward connections to Jaipur, Agra, and other locations in Northern and Central India

Connected Airports in Sweden: Stockholm-Arlanda.

Sweden to Delhi Cargo-Only Operators: None.

IATA Code: DEL.

Bangalore

Airport Facts:

• Full name is Kempegowda International Airport
• Located in Southern India, west of Chennai and north of Coimbatore
• The airport has two runways and three cargo terminals
• Top imports include electronics and automobile components

Connected Airports in Sweden: None.

Sweden to Bangalore Cargo-Only Operators: None.

IATA Code: BLR.

Other Arrival Airports in India

Shipa Freight can also arrange for goods from Sweden to be shipped to another four airports in India, namely; Coimbatore, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, and Hyderabad.

Why Ship From Sweden to India With Shipa Freight?

For an easy way to manage ocean and air shipping from Sweden to India, choose Shipa Freight. We’re a modern freight forwarder with a refreshing, online-only approach to simplify international shipping.

Our website lets you manage all your commercial shipping in one place. You get full visibility of every step of every shipment with real-time tracking. Other reasons to trust Shipa Freight to coordinate your freight movements from Sweden to India include:

• Book shipments on the world’s top ocean and air freight carriers
• Payments can be easily made online by card or wire transfer
• Shipa Freight is powered by Agility Logistics, a world-leading freight forwarder
• Our friendly customer service team is on-hand 24/7 to answer any questions or queries
• The tricky issues of customs and compliance can be left to us, giving you more time to generate your next big international order

Know Your Shipping Terminology

To help build your understanding of the language of shipping, we’re ending our country-to-country pages with definitions of potentially confusing terms and jargon. It’s a great chance to familiarize yourself with the ‘lingo’ so you can communicate your needs more effectively.

• Advice of shipment
• Free on Board (FOB)