Lead time to import, median case (days) - Country Ranking

Definition: Lead time to import is the median time (the value for 50 percent of shipments) from port of discharge to arrival at the consignee. Data are from the Logistics Performance Index survey. Respondents provided separate values for the best case (10 percent of shipments) and the median case (50 percent of shipments). The data are exponentiated averages of the logarithm of single value responses and of midpoint values of range responses for the median case.

Source: World Bank and Turku School of Economics, Logistic Performance Index Surveys. Data are available online at : http://www.worldbank.org/lpi. Summary results are published in Arvis and others' Connecting to Compete: Trade Logistics in the Global Economy, The

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Rank Country Value Year
1 Moldova 32.00 2016
1 Mauritania 32.00 2016
3 Gabon 25.00 2018
4 Chad 24.00 2016
5 Burundi 15.00 2016
6 Angola 14.00 2016
6 Albania 14.00 2018
6 Malawi 14.00 2018
6 Tajikistan 14.00 2014
6 Uganda 14.00 2018
11 Niger 12.00 2016
11 Montenegro 12.00 2014
11 Sudan 12.00 2016
11 Central African Republic 12.00 2012
11 Congo 12.00 2016
11 Venezuela 12.00 2018
17 Solomon Islands 11.00 2007
18 Ethiopia 10.00 2018
18 Benin 10.00 2018
18 Zimbabwe 10.00 2016
21 Nicaragua 8.00 2014
21 Pakistan 8.00 2018
23 Iraq 7.00 2016
23 Mali 7.00 2012
23 Dem. Rep. Congo 7.00 2016
23 Trinidad and Tobago 7.00 2016
23 Senegal 7.00 2018
23 Qatar 7.00 2018
23 Cuba 7.00 2016
23 Honduras 7.00 2016
23 Liberia 7.00 2016
23 Jordan 7.00 2016
23 Yemen 7.00 2016
34 Zambia 6.00 2016
34 Cameroon 6.00 2018
34 Bolivia 6.00 2018
34 China 6.00 2018
38 Algeria 5.00 2016
38 Egypt 5.00 2018
38 Guatemala 5.00 2018
38 Colombia 5.00 2018
38 Brazil 5.00 2018
38 Canada 5.00 2018
38 Bangladesh 5.00 2016
38 Argentina 5.00 2018
38 Mexico 5.00 2018
38 Czech Republic 5.00 2018
38 Iran 5.00 2018
38 Russia 5.00 2018
38 Mozambique 5.00 2018
38 Tunisia 5.00 2018
38 Saudi Arabia 5.00 2018
38 Syrian Arab Republic 5.00 2016
38 El Salvador 5.00 2012
38 Thailand 5.00 2018
56 Tanzania 4.00 2018
56 Myanmar 4.00 2018
56 Peru 4.00 2018
56 Cambodia 4.00 2016
56 Italy 4.00 2018
56 Côte d'Ivoire 4.00 2018
56 Indonesia 4.00 2018
56 Dominican Republic 4.00 2016
56 Namibia 4.00 2018
56 Mongolia 4.00 2016
56 Libya 4.00 2016
56 Sri Lanka 4.00 2018
56 Kenya 4.00 2018
56 Afghanistan 4.00 2010
56 Costa Rica 4.00 2016
71 Guinea 3.90 2007
72 Finland 3.00 2018
72 United Kingdom 3.00 2018
72 Eritrea 3.00 2010
72 Ecuador 3.00 2016
72 Belgium 3.00 2018
72 Denmark 3.00 2018
72 Bosnia and Herzegovina 3.00 2016
72 Jamaica 3.00 2016
72 Croatia 3.00 2014
72 Greece 3.00 2018
72 India 3.00 2018
72 Korea 3.00 2016
72 Kuwait 3.00 2018
72 Portugal 3.00 2018
72 Austria 3.00 2018
72 Spain 3.00 2018
72 France 3.00 2018
72 Hungary 3.00 2014
72 Chile 3.00 2018
72 Djibouti 3.00 2016
72 Morocco 3.00 2018
72 Japan 3.00 2018
72 Kazakhstan 3.00 2016
72 New Zealand 3.00 2012
72 Rwanda 3.00 2016
72 Slovak Republic 3.00 2014
72 Slovenia 3.00 2018
72 Togo 3.00 2016
72 Uruguay 3.00 2016
72 Uzbekistan 3.00 2018
72 Turkey 3.00 2018
72 Vietnam 3.00 2018
72 Sweden 3.00 2018
72 South Africa 3.00 2016
106 Serbia 2.00 2018
106 United States 2.00 2018
106 Ukraine 2.00 2016
106 Sierra Leone 2.00 2012
106 Paraguay 2.00 2012
106 Romania 2.00 2018
106 Singapore 2.00 2018
106 Panama 2.00 2018
106 Papua New Guinea 2.00 2018
106 North Macedonia 2.00 2018
106 Nigeria 2.00 2018
106 Malaysia 2.00 2018
106 Lao PDR 2.00 2018
106 Israel 2.00 2016
106 Lithuania 2.00 2018
106 Luxembourg 2.00 2018
106 Ireland 2.00 2016
106 Georgia 2.00 2018
106 The Bahamas 2.00 2014
106 Burkina Faso 2.00 2018
106 Philippines 2.00 2018
106 Norway 2.00 2018
106 Nepal 2.00 2018
106 Oman 2.00 2018
106 Mauritius 2.00 2018
106 Haiti 2.00 2016
106 Kyrgyz Republic 2.00 2014
106 Belarus 2.00 2018
106 Bulgaria 2.00 2018
106 United Arab Emirates 2.00 2018
106 Azerbaijan 2.00 2018
106 Switzerland 2.00 2018
106 Germany 2.00 2018
106 Estonia 2.00 2018
106 Hong Kong SAR, China 2.00 2018
141 The Gambia 1.00 2016
141 Brunei 1.00 2018
141 Cyprus 1.00 2016
141 Malta 1.00 2018
141 Netherlands 1.00 2018
141 Bahrain 1.00 2014
141 Australia 1.00 2018
141 Ghana 1.00 2018
141 Latvia 1.00 2018
141 Madagascar 1.00 2018
141 Iceland 1.00 2014
141 Lebanon 1.00 2016
141 Poland 1.00 2018

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Development Relevance: The LPI measures on-the-ground trade logistics performance, helping national leaders, key policymakers, and private sector traders understand the challenges they and their trading partners face in reducing logistical barriers to international commerce. A useful outcome measure of logistics performance is the time taken to complete trade transactions. The median import lead time for port and airport supply chains, as measured for the LPI, is more than 3.5 times longer in low performing countries than in high-performing countries. The difference is around three times for land supply chains. The association suggests that geographical hurdles, and perhaps internal transport markets, still pose substantial difficulties in many countries. Besides geography and speed en route, another factor in import lead times is the border process. Time can be reduced at all stages of this process, but especially in the clearance of goods on arrival. Countries with low logistics performance need to reform their border management so that they can reduce red tape, excessive and opaque procedural requirements, and physical inspections. Although the time to clear goods through customs is a fairly small fraction of total import time for all LPI quintiles, it rises sharply if goods are physically inspected. Core customs procedures are similar across quintiles. But low-performing countries have a far higher prevalence of physical inspection, even subjecting the same shipment to repeated inspections by multiple agencies. Many low-income countries have long export lead times, reducing their export competitiveness and ability to participate in international trade.

Limitations and Exceptions: The Logistics Performance Index is an interactive benchmarking tool created to help countries identify the challenges and opportunities they face in their performance on trade logistics and what they can do to improve their performance. Feedback from operators is supplemented with quantitative data on the performance of key components of the logistics chain in the country of work. Thus, the LPI consists of both qualitative and quantitative measures. In addition, despite being the most comprehensive data source for country logistics and trade facilitation, the LPI has two important limitations. First, the experience of international freight forwarders might not represent the broader logistics environment in poor countries, which often rely on traditional operators. And the international and traditional operators might differ in their interactions with government agencies - and in their service levels. Second, for landlocked countries and small-island states, the LPI might reflect access problems outside the country assessed, such as transit difficulties. The low rating of a landlocked country might not adequately reflect its trade facilitation efforts, which depend on the workings of complex international transit systems. Landlocked countries cannot eliminate transit inefficiencies with domestic reforms.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: Data on lead time to import are from the Logistics Performance Index (LPI) survey. Respondents provided separate values for the best case (10 percent of shipments) and the median case (50 percent of shipments) of shipments from the port of discharge or equivalent to the buyer's warehouse. The Logistics Performance Index (LPI) uses a structured online survey of logistics professionals at multinational freight forwarders and at the main express carriers. The 2012 LPI data are based on the 2011 survey, which was administered to nearly 1,000 respondents at international logistics companies in 143 countries (domestic performance indicators). The international LPI covers 155 countries. The LPI assesses both large companies and small and medium enterprises. Most of the responses are from small and medium enterprises, with large companies (those with 250 employees or more) accounting for roughly 18 percent of responses. The respondents include groups of professionals who are directly involved in day-today operations, from company headquarters and from country offices such as senior executives, area or country managers, and department managers. Many of the respondents are at corporate or regional headquarters or at country branch offices. The rest are at local branch offices or independent firms. The majority of respondents are involved in providing most logistics services as their main line of work such as warehousing and distribution, customer-tailored logistics solutions, courier services, bulk or break bulk cargo transport, and less-than-full container, full-container, or full-trailer load transport. For the lead time to import, respondents were asked for quantitative information on their countries' international supply chains by picking choices from a dropdown menu. When a response indicates a single value, the answer is coded as the logarithm of that value. When a response indicates a range, the answer is coded as the logarithm of the midpoint of that range. Country scores are produced by exponentiating the average of responses in logarithms across all respondents for a given country. This method is equivalent to taking a geometric average in levels. Scores for regions, income groups, and LPI quintiles are simple averages of the relevant country scores.

Aggregation method: Unweighted average

Periodicity: Annual