Cost to Ship a Car from the UK to Japan in 2026

Vehicles ship by container from Southampton or Felixstowe to Yokohama or Nagoya, Japan's principal vehicle-handling ports, usually transhipping via Singapore or a Middle East hub. Transit time runs 30-40 days depending on the carrier's routing. RORO services for personal vehicles on this corridor are essentially non-existent given the low volume of westbound-to-Japan traffic, so container shipping is standard.

A shared 40ft container slot costs roughly £1,450-£2,000 per vehicle, while a dedicated 20ft container for a single car runs £2,400-£3,100 given the distance and lower sailing frequency on this reverse-flow route (far more vehicles move from Japan to the UK than the other way). Japanese port handling and quarantine inspection fees add a further £200-£350.

Japan's own market is saturated with efficient, well-built, right-hand-drive vehicles at competitive prices, and its shaken inspection and taxation system heavily favours smaller, newer, lower-emission vehicles, discouraging imports of larger UK-sourced cars. As a result, the overwhelming majority of UK-Japan vehicle shipping activity runs from Japan to the UK, not the reverse — see our guides on importing Japanese cars for the far more common direction of this trade lane.

Japan applies 0% import duty on passenger cars from most countries (a rare and genuinely favourable position for UK exporters), but charges a Consumption Tax of 10% on the CIF value, plus an Automobile Tax and Automobile Weight Tax calculated annually/at registration based on engine size and vehicle weight. Every imported vehicle must also pass Japan's rigorous shaken roadworthiness inspection before registration, which for a UK left-hand-drive-market car (Japan drives on the left, so UK right-hand-drive cars are compatible, simplifying this step) still requires full compliance with Japanese lighting, emissions and safety standards — a process that can cost £800-£1,500 in modification and testing fees even for a straightforward RHD vehicle.

In practice, the vehicles we help ship to Japan are almost always personal relocations (UK residents moving to Japan who want to keep a specific right-hand-drive car), or rare British-built classics and low-volume performance models sought by Japanese collectors, where the shaken and import process is treated as a cost of ownership rather than a commercial calculation. If this describes your situation, our team can talk through the shaken compliance process alongside booking freight.