CKD or Complete Unit: Which Should You Import?
A CKD reefer arrives as panels and a refrigeration kit; a complete unit arrives ready to plate. The deciding factor is usually the duty rate, not the freight saving.
CKD or complete unit: the answer depends on your tariff line, not on the price list
A CKD (completely knocked-down) refrigerated unit arrives as insulated panels, a refrigeration kit and a chassis-mounting package; a complete unit arrives as a finished, CCC-certified vehicle. CKD usually reduces the container volume per unit and can move the shipment into a different customs classification, which changes duty and inspection requirements. Complete units cost more per container slot but arrive ready to register and plate. For most importers moving under 20 units a year, the deciding factors are three: the duty rate applied to a vehicle versus to parts, whether the destination accepts locally assembled bodies, and whether the buyer has a workshop able to assemble accurately.
This page sets out the mechanical, commercial and regulatory differences, so the choice can be made on numbers rather than on a supplier’s preference.
What exactly arrives in each case
Complete unit
A finished refrigerated truck leaves the plant carrying a CCC certificate for its announced model, a chassis certificate of conformity from the upstream chassis supplier, and the export documents issued against the vehicle. Nothing needs to be built at destination: the unit is driven off the vessel or out of the container and registered as a vehicle.
CKD package
A CKD shipment typically contains: insulated sandwich panels cut to the body drawing, corner profiles and bonding materials, the refrigeration unit with its mounting frame, wiring harness and controller, door hardware, and the fastening set. The chassis is normally sourced locally or shipped separately, because shipping a bare chassis and assembling locally is what produces the saving.
Container economics: the real comparison
The common assumption is that CKD halves freight. That is only true for certain body sizes. A 40HQ has roughly 12.03 m of internal length, 2.35 m of width and 2.69 m of height. A complete light-duty refrigerated truck consumes most of that floor once positioned. Panels for the same body, nested and stacked, occupy far less volume — but the refrigeration unit, frame and hardware still take a share, and packing quality decides how much of the theoretical gain is actually realised.
The container-volume side of the same decision, including the RoRo alternative, is worked through in shipping a refrigerated truck from China to Africa.
| Item | Complete unit | CKD package |
|---|---|---|
| Units per 40HQ (3.5–5 t class) | 1 | Panels for 3–5 bodies, plus 1–2 refrigeration kits, depending on body size |
| Assembly at destination | None | Workshop, jigs, trained labour, bonding and sealing consumables |
| Registration | Register the vehicle against its certificate | Register the locally built body; rules differ by country |
| Warranty path | Single supplier, single claim route | Split between panel supplier and local assembler |
| Time to first unit in service | Days after arrival | Weeks, plus the learning curve on the first bodies |
| Quality risk | Controlled in the factory | Controlled at destination — bonding and sealing are the two failure points |
Which customs treatment applies to your shipment
This is the question that decides the project, and it cannot be answered from China. Duty on a complete motor vehicle and duty on insulated body parts are normally different rates, and several markets apply an additional levy to vehicles that does not apply to parts. Some markets also require a type approval or an inspection certificate for a complete vehicle but accept a locally built body under a different regime. The only reliable method is to give your clearing agent the exact descriptions — “insulated sandwich panels, cut to size, unassembled” versus “refrigerated motor vehicle, complete, diesel” — and ask for the classification and the total landed cost of each option before you order.
Two practical warnings. First, a shipment declared as parts but containing a substantially assembled body can be reclassified at the port, and the penalty is charged to the importer. Second, some markets restrict the import of used or assembled vehicles specifically to protect local body builders; if that applies to you, CKD is not a cost optimisation, it is the only legal route.
When CKD is the wrong choice
CKD is a poor fit in four situations: you have no workshop with a clean, dry, dust-free assembly area; your annual volume is under about 10 bodies, so the fixed setup cost never amortises; your market requires the body to carry the same type approval as the vehicle; or your buyers judge quality by walking around a finished unit before paying. In each of those cases the apparent saving on freight is consumed by rework, delay or rejected registration.
If the real question is how much of the vehicle you assemble locally, the three build formats are compared in refrigerated body or complete truck.
How to check a supplier’s CKD package before paying
Ask for four things and check them in this order. A packing list with panel dimensions and quantities that reconciles against the body drawing. A photograph of a previously shipped CKD package, laid out and labelled. The assembly sequence document, in the buyer’s working language. And the name of a customer in a comparable market who assembled the same body type — not a reference letter, a phone number you can call. A supplier who cannot produce the packing list and the assembly sequence is selling panels, not a CKD programme.
We ship both formats from Deqing: 20 CCC certificates cover 36 announced models for complete units, and the same bodies are supplied as panel kits for assembly at destination. If you send the destination country and the annual volume, the reply will state which route fits and which documents each route requires.