Importing a Scrap Metal Shear from China: The Steps

Importing a heavy machine is a logistics exercise with a machine attached, and the sequence matters more than any single step. This article is the sequence for a mid-range purchase — eleven steps from inquiry to commissioned machine, with the Q91-500 as the reference class — and the two parallel tracks (factory and site) that decide whether the timeline is set by the build or by your yard.

The Two Parallel Tracks

Every import runs on two tracks at once, and buyers who sequence them serially wait twice as long. The factory track builds the machine; the site track prepares the yard. They meet at installation, and the meeting date is set by whichever track finishes last — which is almost always the site.

Steps One to Four: Specification and Order

1. The inquiry. Material list, duty declaration, site facts. Photos or video of a normal week’s intake. This is the document the whole import is built on.

2. The quotation and specification. Written quotation within two business days with the specification sheet — the document your electrician, foundation contractor and broker all work from. If the class recommendation differs from what you asked about, the reason is in writing.

3. The site conversations, in parallel. Foundation drawings to your contractor and the electrical scope to your electrician the week the order is placed — both confirmed in writing before the build. Draft commercial documents with the quotation let your broker classify early.

4. The order. Configuration fixed before the build — power package, blade length, tank geometry — because adaptation afterwards means compromise. Payment structure and delivery terms — EXW, FOB or CIF to your port — confirmed against the configuration.

Steps Five to Eight: Build and Ship

5. The build. Standard configurations ship in 30 to 45 days after the deposit clears; non-standard combinations run longer with the exact date confirmed in writing. Use the build window for the site work — the foundation and the supply are the long items, and they are yours, not the factory’s.

6. Pre-shipment verification. The load test record and the documentation pack — schematics, foundation drawings, certificates — before the machine leaves. A factory that produces the test record before shipment is describing a process; one that promises it later is describing a hope.

7. Packing and shipping. Seaworthy crate or naked packing with frame protection, matched to FCL or LCL. Crate dimensions and weight confirmed with the route into your yard in hand rather than at the port.

8. Customs. Your broker classifies against the draft documents from step three — this is why drafts matter. The document set — invoice, packing list, bill of lading, certificates — is prepared alongside the build so classification happens early rather than at the port.

Steps Nine to Eleven: Arrival to Production

9. Arrival and installation. Foundation and electrical work should be complete or nearly so — the site track’s whole job. Installation guidance videos, wiring and hydraulic checklists, and video-call walkthroughs cover the standard remote commissioning.

10. Commissioning. Test runs on your material, operator training across shift teams, and the blade rotation schedule set against your material profile. On-site installation by our engineers is quotable where the site requires it — typically for first-time automation buyers.

11. The first month. The maintenance window placed inside the production plan, the blade log started, the spares on the shelf. The habits that hold the machine’s numbers for a decade are formed in the first month, and they are cheaper to form with an engineer on the line than to retrofit from a manual.

The Timeline, Honestly

The factory track is 30 to 45 days of build plus shipping and customs. The site track is foundation and electrical work — commonly as long as the build, and entirely on your side of the ocean. The machine that arrives into a finished yard commissions in week one; the machine that arrives into a yard still under construction waits, and the waiting is the most common avoidable cost in the whole import. Start the site track at the order, not at the ship date.

For the largest orders the commercial structure changes — letters of credit, staged payments, longer build windows — and the flagship guide covers what the contract conversation looks like at that scale. For everything else, the eleven steps above are the import.

The Site Track, Detailed

The site track is the half of the import that buyers underestimate, and it has three long items. The foundation is a civil works project — drawings to your contractor the week the order is placed, anchorage matched to the declared duty, and a pour that has to cure before the machine can sit on it. The electrical scope is your electrician’s project — voltage, frequency, spare kilowatts and the starting method, confirmed in writing before the build. And the route is a logistics question — crate dimensions and weight in hand, the path into the yard confirmed with numbers rather than at the port.

All three start at the order, not at the ship date. The machine that arrives into a finished yard commissions in week one; the machine that arrives into a yard still under construction waits, and the waiting is the most common avoidable cost in the whole import. The factory track is 30 to 45 days of build plus shipping and customs; the site track is commonly as long, and it is entirely yours.

The Customs Conversation

Customs is where the document set earns its keep. The drafts from step three let your broker classify early — the invoice, packing list, bill of lading and certificates prepared alongside the build rather than after it. Classification at the port is the expensive version, and it is avoided by a conversation that happens weeks earlier.

For large orders the commercial structure changes — letters of credit, staged payments, longer build windows — and the contract guide covers what that conversation looks like at flagship scale. For everything else, the eleven steps and the two tracks are the import.

The Two Tracks, Scheduled

The import’s timeline is two schedules run in parallel, and writing them down is what keeps them parallel. The factory schedule: order, build (30 to 45 days for standard configurations, longer for non-standard with the date confirmed in writing), load test and documentation, packing, shipping, customs. The site schedule: foundation drawings issued at order, the pour and cure, the electrical scope, the route preparation — all of it starting at the order rather than at the ship date.

The two schedules meet at installation, and the meeting date is set by whichever finishes last. The machine that arrives into a finished yard commissions in week one; the machine that arrives into a yard still under construction waits, and the waiting is the most common avoidable cost in the whole import. Write both schedules at the order and the meeting date is a plan rather than a hope.

The Import as a System

The eleven steps are a system rather than a list, and the system’s property is that the two tracks run in parallel. Every hour of site work started at the order rather than at the ship date is an hour the machine does not wait on arrival — and the waiting is the most common avoidable cost in the whole import. The factory track is fixed; the site track is yours, and it is where the timeline is won or lost.

Write both schedules at the order and the import becomes a plan rather than a sequence of surprises. The contract guide covers the commercial structure at flagship scale, and the eleven steps cover everything below it.

Buyer FAQ

How long does the whole import take?

The factory track is 30 to 45 days of build plus shipping and customs; the site track — foundation and electrical — commonly runs as long and is entirely yours. Sequence them in parallel and the machine commissions on arrival.

What documents do I need for customs?

Invoice, packing list, bill of lading and certificates. Drafts are available with the quotation so your broker can classify early — classification at the port is the expensive version.

Can the machine be shipped in a container?

Configuration and crate dimensions decide it. At the 500 class the machine typically ships as framed-container or Ro-Ro depending on the build — the transport data in the quotation confirms the arrangement against your route.

What is the most common avoidable delay?

The site track. Foundation and electrical work started after the ship date rather than at the order date. The machine waits, and the waiting is priced in production terms.

Is on-site installation available?

Yes — quotable where the site requires it, typically for first-time automation buyers. Remote commissioning guidance, checklists and video walkthroughs are standard for the rest. Write both schedules at the order and the meeting date becomes a plan rather than a hope — the most common avoidable cost in the whole import is the machine waiting on a yard that started its site work late.