Freight from Europe to Russia
Since 2018 the Tranzit3 team has been moving cargo from Europe to Russia: weekly groupage via our warehouses in Vilnius and Warsaw, sea shipments via Rotterdam, dedicated trucks and containers, and air for urgent orders. We lodge the EX1 export declaration on the EU side, clear customs in Russia and deliver to your customer’s door in any city.
In brief
- ✓Three working channels from Europe: road via Poland and the Baltic states (5–16 days door to door), sea via Rotterdam to St Petersburg (20–35 days) and air (2–4 days).
- ✓Groupage departs weekly with a Friday cut-off; minimum consignment 50 kg or one pallet, and only the space used is charged.
- ✓Price guide: road groupage from €850 for 3 pallets Warsaw → Moscow; a dedicated truck from €4,500 (Warsaw → Moscow), from €6,200 (Slovenia → Moscow), from €6,500 (Italy → Moscow); groupage via Rotterdam from €200 per package or €500 per euro pallet, a full 20-foot container from €1,800; air by volumetric weight. Minimum service fee €200; there are no per-kilogram rates.
- ✓We lodge the EX1 export declaration ourselves — without it you as the European supplier would have to charge your own VAT (19–25%).
- ✓Turnkey customs clearance: the declaration is lodged before the cargo arrives and release takes 1–2 days; Russian import VAT is 22% from 2026.
Checked against current regulations on 18 September 2026
Rates, deadlines and lists change — we confirm what applies to your shipment on the date of dispatch.
Five corridors from Europe to Russia
If you need a door-to-door forwarder — from collection at your premises to your customer’s warehouse, including wholesale lots for retail and marketplaces — we cover the whole chain under one contract: export formalities, transport along the chosen corridor, customs and delivery.
Sea corridor via Rotterdam. Cargo from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France and all of Western Europe is brought to our consolidation warehouse in the port of Rotterdam: receiving until Wednesday, the groupage container closes on Friday, the vessel sails at the weekend, the sea crossing to St Petersburg takes 4–7 days, followed by release at the Baltic customs office and delivery to the door — 20–35 days door to door, from €200 per package (from €500 per euro pallet). Independent of land border queues and well suited to bulky lots and full containers.
Road corridor via Poland. Our Warsaw warehouse handles groupage: receiving daily, the truck leaves weekly after the Friday cut-off, crosses the Polish–Belarusian border and is released at a terminal in the Moscow region — 4–7 days from Warsaw, from €850 for 3 pallets to a Moscow temporary storage warehouse. Dedicated trucks bypass the warehouse and run directly from your premises with a tractor change or transhipment at the border — from €4,500 Warsaw → Moscow, from €6,200 Slovenia → Moscow, from €6,500 Italy → Moscow.
Baltic corridor via Lithuania. The Vilnius warehouse is the consolidation point closest to the border for Germany, Scandinavia, the Baltic states and Finland: goods are received daily, and trucks leave via the Lithuanian–Belarusian crossings to Minsk and Moscow or via Latvia to St Petersburg — 5–12 days. The corridor is for non-sanctioned goods only; we lodge the export declaration here remotely from €450, and Lithuanian customs is the most demanding in the EU.
Corridor via Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan. A new 2026 route: by road from Europe to Turkey, then through Georgia and Azerbaijan to the border crossing in Dagestan. Transit 2–3 weeks, from €18,000; it avoids the queues at the northern border.
Southern corridor via Turkey and Iran. For cargo that needs to avoid the congested northern border, and for consignees in southern Russia, the Caucasus and the Volga region: by road from any EU country to Turkey, then via Iran and Azerbaijan to the Russian crossings in Dagestan, or by ferry across the Caspian. From 40 days — transit through three countries plus ferries; the rate is calculated per trip for the route. As on every other corridor, the goods must be permitted for export from the EU.
FTL from any city in Europe to Russia and Belarus
A dedicated truck can be sent for loading anywhere in the EU, not just in Poland or Germany. Typical recent trips: Valencia → Yekaterinburg (≈5,500 km, 9–12 days), Milan → Moscow (6–8 days), Hamburg → St Petersburg (5–7 days), Lyon → Kazan (8–11 days), Rotterdam → Minsk (4–6 days). Up to 33 euro pallets or 24 tonnes in a curtain-sider, mega trailers of 100 m³, reefers and low-loaders for oversized cargo.
The scheme is the same for every trip: the EX1 is lodged at loading, a European tractor takes the trailer to the EU–EAEU border, where it is coupled to a tractor authorised for Russia or Belarus, followed by transit and customs release at the consignee. The rate is fixed per trip before the truck arrives and does not change en route.
How shipping from Europe to Russia works today
There are no direct regular lines from most EU countries to Russia, so the working model is built around consolidation points. Road cargo from Germany, Italy, France, Belgium, Czechia and Austria is brought to our warehouses in Warsaw and Vilnius, from where groupage trucks leave weekly via the Belarusian border. The sea channel runs via Rotterdam: lots from all over Europe are loaded into a container and arrive in St Petersburg after a 4–7-day crossing, from where a truck takes them to the consignee’s warehouse.
This gives predictability: the departure schedule is known in advance, documents for the whole consignment are prepared as one pack, and customs clearance takes place in Russia with our customs representative. For the customer it means one contract, one invoice and one manager, however many countries and suppliers the cargo comes from.
Dedicated trucks (FTL) and full containers (FCL) run directly from your premises, bypassing consolidation: this is faster and cheaper from 10–12 pallets or 15 m³. We use air for urgent, light and valuable consignments — samples, spare parts for a stopped production line, electronics.
Which European countries we ship from
Germany — equipment, machine tools, car parts, chemicals; consolidation in Hamburg and Warsaw, 4–7 days by road to the warehouse. The Netherlands and Belgium — flowers and plants, equipment, chemicals, food; Europe’s main sea hub, with shipments via Rotterdam and Antwerp. Italy — furniture, food-processing equipment, clothing and footwear, food; 7–10 days by road or by sea from Genoa and Trieste.
Poland and Czechia are the fastest origins: 3–6 days to the consolidation warehouse, with regular full loads. France and Spain — cosmetics, wine, equipment, textiles; a long leg, so large lots are often cheaper by sea. The Baltic states — Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia — are both a source of cargo and a consolidation hub for all of northern Europe.
Each country has its own page with routes, transit times, popular goods and example shipments. If your country is not listed, we will calculate a route individually: we ship from every European country, including Switzerland, Norway, the United Kingdom and the Balkans.
What shipping from Europe costs and how the price is built up
The turnkey price has four parts: transport (collection from your premises, consolidation, the main leg, delivery within Russia), EU export formalities, Russian customs payments (duty by HS code and 22% VAT) and services — insurance, certification, labelling. We show the total as one figure and hold the rate for 14 days.
Groupage is charged by weight or volume, whichever is greater: by road 1 m³ equals 250 kg, by sea the rate is per cubic metre. Light, bulky goods (furniture, textiles, plastics) are therefore cheaper by sea, and dense, heavy goods (metal, equipment, spare parts) by road or in a full container.
The price is also affected by the season (peaks before New Year and at quarter end), temperature requirements, the hazard class of the goods, and the need for certification and Chestny Znak labelling. Indicative rates are in the table below; we give an exact quote for your cargo within 2 hours.
EX1 export declaration, sanctions and what can be shipped
Every export of goods from the EU requires an EX1 export declaration: without a closed declaration you cannot support zero-rating the VAT on your sale and would have to charge local VAT to your Russian customer. We lodge the EX1 through our agents in the EU, monitor its closure by MRN and pass a copy to you as proof of export and to the customer for Russian customs and accounting.
Before any deal we check the goods against the EU sanctions lists and HS codes: a number of industrial items and dual-use goods are banned from export from the EU to Russia, and we do not take them on — neither directly nor via third countries. For permitted goods we arrange the supply route, documents and, where needed, a certificate of origin.
We also check the Russian import requirements: EAEU certificates and declarations of conformity, Chestny Znak labelling for clothing, footwear, perfume and other groups, veterinary and phytosanitary documents for food. All of this is prepared in parallel with transport so that the cargo does not wait at a temporary storage warehouse.
Documents and how we work
- 1Quote within 2 hours and contract
We need the sales contract, the invoice and packing list and proof of payment; everything else — the export declaration, CMR or bill of lading, advance information and the goods declaration — we prepare. On a first shipment we help the Russian buyer open a single personal account with the Federal Customs Service and set up the contract for currency control. - 2Collection and receipt
We collect from your premises and receive the goods at the consolidation warehouse: weighing, measuring, photos, packaging check. - 3EX1 and departure
The export declaration is lodged and the cargo leaves; you receive the MRN. - 4Customs clearance in Russia
Using a declaration lodged in advance, release takes 1–2 days. - 5Delivery and documents
Door-to-door delivery and handover of documents. Every stage is visible in the online account, with notifications by email and messenger.
Regular shipments
For regular suppliers we set up a schedule: fixed collection days, a constant rate for the season and a single declaration for all items of the week. Exporting to Russia then becomes a planned process rather than a series of one-off projects.
Indicative rates and transit times from Europe to Russia
| Service | Indicative rate and time |
|---|---|
| Road groupage (LTL) via Warsaw/Vilnius | from €850 for 3 pallets, Warsaw → Moscow 4–7 days; via Vilnius from €300 per pallet |
| Dedicated truck (FTL) from your premises | fixed rate per trip, 4–10 days |
| Groupage container (LCL) via Rotterdam → St Petersburg | from €200 per package (from €500 per euro pallet), 20–35 days |
| Full container FCL 20′ / 40′ | from €1,800 / from €2,600, 22–32 days |
| Air (urgent and valuable consignments) | by volumetric weight, minimum order €200, 2–4 days |
| Southern corridor Europe → Turkey → Iran → Russia (road) | rate per trip, from 40 days |
| FTL from any EU city (e.g. Valencia → Yekaterinburg) | fixed rate per trip, 9–12 days |
| EX1 export declaration | €150 with our cargo via Rotterdam, from €450 remotely |
| Customs clearance (DT) in Russia | from one declaration, release 1–2 days |
| All-risks cargo insurance | 0.1–0.3% of the value |
Prices are indicative; an exact quote is available on request.
Transit times from every European country
| Country | Road to Moscow | Sea | Collection hub | EX1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finland | 1–2 days | 2–4 days | Helsinki | required |
| Poland | 3–5 days | 4–6 days | Warsaw/Gdańsk | required |
| Germany | 4–7 days | 10–14 days | Hamburg/Bremen | required |
| Czechia | 4–6 days | 5–7 days | Prague/Brno | required |
| Turkey | 4–7 days | 3–5 days | Istanbul/Mersin | own export declaration |
| Hungary | 4–6 days | — | Budapest | required |
| Romania | 4–7 days | 6–10 days | Constanța | required |
| Slovakia | 4–6 days | — | Bratislava | required |
| Netherlands | 5–8 days | 14–18 days | Rotterdam | required |
| Belgium | 5–7 days | 12–16 days | Antwerp | required |
| Austria | 5–7 days | 12–16 days | Vienna/Linz | required |
| Sweden | 5–8 days | — | Gothenburg | required |
| France | 6–9 days | 16–20 days | Le Havre/Marseille | required |
| Switzerland | 6–8 days | 14–18 days | Basel/Zurich | own export declaration |
| Norway | 6–9 days | 12–16 days | Bergen/Oslo | own export declaration |
| Italy | 7–10 days | 18–24 days | Genoa/Trieste | required |
| Greece | 7–10 days | 10–14 days | Piraeus | required |
| Spain | 8–12 days | 18–24 days | Barcelona/Valencia | required |
| United Kingdom | 8–12 days | 16–22 days | Southampton/Harwich | own export declaration |
| Portugal | 10–14 days | 20–26 days | Lisbon/Porto | required |
Door-to-door times for groupage and dedicated trucks; the exact time is given in the quote for your cargo.
Frequently asked questions
Which corridor should I choose — Rotterdam, Warsaw, Lithuania or the south via Turkey?
Bulky and heavy lots from Western Europe — sea via Rotterdam (cheaper per cubic metre, independent of the border). Urgent and Central European cargo — road via Warsaw. Northern Europe, Scandinavia and the Baltics — Vilnius. Southern Russia, the Caucasus, the Volga region or when the northern border is unavailable — the southern corridor via Turkey and Iran (from 40 days). We compare the options by price and time in the quote.
How long does shipping from Europe to Russia take?
Road groupage: 4–7 days from the Warsaw warehouse to Moscow, plus collection depending on the country; a dedicated truck 4–10 days; sea groupage via Rotterdam 20–35 days; air 2–4 days. Add 1–2 days for customs clearance, which we start before the cargo arrives.
What is the minimum consignment?
From 50 kg or one pallet as groupage. Only the space used is charged, by weight or volume. From 10–12 pallets a dedicated truck is cheaper, and from 15 m³ a container.
Can goods be shipped from Europe directly, without intermediary countries?
Yes, for goods permitted for export: the cargo is declared under EX1 in the supplier’s country and travels via Poland or the Baltic states, or by sea via Rotterdam. We do not ship sanctioned goods, either directly or via third countries.
Who handles the EX1 export declaration and Russian customs?
We do both: the EX1 through our agents in the EU, with closure monitored by MRN, and the goods declaration through our own customs representative in Russia. We only need the contract, invoice, packing list and payment documents.
How can my Russian customer pay me?
Through our supplier payment service via a payment agent where a direct transfer from a Russian bank is not possible, with the contract set up so that payments pass currency control. Terms and commission are agreed before the deal.
What should be checked before an order is placed?
EU export restrictions for the goods’ HS code, Russian import requirements (certification, Chestny Znak labelling, permits), the Incoterms rule in the contract (FCA is preferable) and the packaging — wooden packaging must carry the IPPC stamp.
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