Shipping From the US to the Netherlands: Douane, VAT & Transit Times Explained

Rotterdam as the EU gateway

The Port of Rotterdam is the largest seaport in Europe and our EU home desk. When you ship from the US to the Netherlands, your ocean cargo discharges in Rotterdam, and our team clears it on the same dock. That keeps the chain short: one port, one desk, one customs representative, rather than a string of handoffs that each add risk and time.

Our Rotterdam desk pre-clears your cargo with our own EORI number, so you do not need your own EORI to import through us. From Rotterdam we linehaul to any Dutch address, or onward into Germany and Belgium. The registration numbers that authorize this work are published in our footer and Impressum, never hardcoded here.

Transit times from the US to the Netherlands

Transit time from the US to the Netherlands depends on the mode. Ocean runs from the Port of Houston to the Port of Rotterdam on our weekly corridor; air runs from Elizabeth to Schiphol.

The transit time is door-to-door including pickup, the main leg, customs, and final delivery. Because we control both ends, the window we quote is the window we keep, and every shipment has GPS tracking and included cargo insurance across the whole route.

Dutch import VAT at 21 percent

For commercial imports into the Netherlands, Dutch import VAT is 21 percent, calculated on the customs value plus duty and transport. Customs duty depends on the HS code of your goods. For B2B shipments there is no low-value exemption, so the landed cost must be planned from the quote stage, not discovered at the border.

Our Rotterdam desk calculates the full duty and VAT before pickup and gives you an itemized breakdown. We also handle the import declaration and provide a clearance confirmation for your records. The douane is not a black box when we run it; it is a line item you see in advance.

Article 23 VAT deferment for businesses

For businesses importing commercially into the Netherlands, we can apply the Article 23 vergunning, the Dutch VAT deferment arrangement. Under Article 23, the import VAT is shifted from a cash payment at the border onto your periodic VAT return, which protects your cash flow on large imports. You pay no VAT at the moment of clearance; instead you report it as output VAT and reclaim it as input VAT on the same return.

Who qualifies

Article 23 is for businesses established in the EU that import goods for commercial use and have a clean customs and tax record. Our desk assesses whether your shipment qualifies, arranges the deferment where it does, and completes the clearance in Rotterdam. For one-off or non-EU importers, we settle the VAT at clearance and recover it where possible, so either path lands you with a clean import.

Incoterms and who pays the douane

The Incoterm decides who pays the douane and who carries the risk at each stage of US-to-NL freight.

• DAP (Delivered at Place) — We deliver to your Dutch address; you pay duty and VAT at clearance.
• DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) — We deliver and we pay the duty and VAT; you receive a single invoice.
• FCA / FOB — The seller delivers the export-cleared cargo to a named point or on board; you take the ocean leg and the Dutch import side.

Most shippers choose DDP for a predictable single number, and we quote both transparently. Our Rotterdam desk books the clearance and our Elizabeth desk books the pickup, and every shipment closes with a signed proof of delivery including GPS and a photo. Request a quote and we return a transparent, itemized price within two business hours.