A courier in Pudong is called because of the road, not the postcode. Shanghai Hongqiao is 20 km away and reaches 60 airports nonstop, so a consignment that has to leave Shanghai today has a real chance of leaving today. The desk works the list by drive time, and yours is 18 minutes.
Open · China desk · Pudong
On Board Courier, Pudong
A courier list for Pudong and the Shanghai area. Your departure gate is SHA, 20 km by road, and every ticket on it is bought by the desk rather than by you.
OnBoard Courier is a United Arab Emirates company, contracted by ICSL FZE and run from Dubai. A city named on this site is a place we cover and route through, not a separate company in that city. Assignments are contracted under UAE law, and the terms are published in full under legal and policies.
Based inPudong, Shanghai
Nearest gateSHA · Shanghai
Drive to the aircraft20 km · 18 minutes
Nonstop from SHA60 airports
EngagementFreelance · per assignment
Fee per assignmentAED 900 to 2,600
Apply for this position
Applying is free. Freelance · self-employed ·
posted 7 September 2026 · open until 7 March 2027
What the work pays
The fee for an assignment is agreed with you in writing before you accept it. These are the figures the site publishes, and what the desk covers on top of them.
Top published feeAED 2,000The highest fee the site shows for a single assignment: sealed medical samples in a cooled case, Dubai to Singapore.
Published band, per assignmentAED 900 to 2,600A document pouch to London is AED 1,200, an aircraft part to Frankfurt AED 1,500, an escorted watch on the Berlin lane AED 1,800.
What the flight costs youAED 0The desk books and pays the ticket, the transfers and, where the routing needs it, the hotel. A courier never fronts the fare.
The one payment you makeAED 199, returnedThe Academy, paid once. It comes back in full on top of the fee for your first completed assignment. Applying itself is free.
Fees vary with the lane, the notice, the waiting time and whether the return is immediate, so the desk quotes each assignment individually rather than pretending one number fits every trip. You are self-employed and there is no minimum: accept or decline whatever you like, and declining costs you nothing. Earnings are paid per delivery by bank transfer, they appear in your courier portal, and you can request a payout once the balance reaches AED 200. Apply and see the flight board.
You fly as a passengerOne consignment in the cabin, one handover against signature. No warehouse, no van, no round.
The desk books and pays the ticketFlight, transfers and, where the routing needs it, a hotel are booked before you leave for the airport.
Paid per assignmentA fee agreed in writing before you accept, paid to your bank account after the signature. Applying is free.
How to start, in four steps
1
Apply once
One application covers every country desk. Tell us which passports you hold and where you can travel.
2
Verification and the Academy
Identity and background check, then a short course on customs, handovers and chain of custody.
3
Your first offer
The desk sends the routing, the dates and the fee in writing. You accept or decline, nothing is automatic.
4
Fly, hand over, get paid
Collect, board, clear customs in person, hand over against signature, and the fee is paid to your account.
The assignment
The shape of a trip out of Pudong is short and defined. Collection, 18 minutes on the road, check in at Shanghai Hongqiao, and a seat you did not pay for. Where the routing runs through the Emirates it goes by way of PEK, on one ticket, with the connection booked long enough to be real. You do not open the consignment, you do not check it into the hold, and you do not leave it anywhere.
Getting to the aircraft from Pudong
18 minutes is the drive from Pudong to SHA, 20 km by road. It is the single most useful fact on this page, because it decides which departures from SHA you can realistically be offered.
Anything under half an hour changes what Pudong can be offered. From Pudong it is 18 minutes, so late confirmations are a normal case rather than a gamble. The desk will send you to PVG when the routing is better from there. It is 35 minutes from Pudong and carries 206 nonstop destinations, and the offer always names the airport before you accept.
| IATA | Airport | By road | Driving time | Nonstop |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SHA | Shanghai Hongqiao | 20 km | 18 minutes | 60 |
| PVG | Shanghai Pudong | 40 km | 35 minutes | 206 |
| HGH | Hangzhou Xiaoshan | 186 km | 2 hours 21 minutes | 117 |
Pudong is a city of 5.7 million people in Shanghai, and the clock there runs 4 hours ahead of the Emirates all year. Road distances are measured driving routes rather than straight lines, and nonstop counts come from the scheduled route data this site publishes.
What SHA reaches without a change
From SHA a consignment can be in 60 other airports without touching a second aircraft. 6 countries are covered, and the heaviest routes are these.
| IATA | City | Airport | Frequency | Operators |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SZX | Shenzhen | Shenzhen Bao'an | about 46 departures a day | 6 operators: China Eastern, Spring Airlines, China Southern |
| CAN | Guangzhou | Guangzhou Baiyun | about 45 departures a day | 6 operators: China Eastern, China Southern, Air China |
| PEK | Beijing | Beijing Capital | about 38 departures a day | 3 operators: China Eastern, Air China, Hainan Airlines |
| XMN | Xiamen | Xiamen Gaoqi | about 22 departures a day | 6 operators: China Eastern, Spring Airlines, XiamenAir |
| XIY | Xianyang | Xianyang Xi'an | about 19 departures a day | 4 operators: China Eastern, Spring Airlines |
| CTU | Chengdu | Chengdu Shuangliu | about 16 departures a day | 5 operators: China Eastern, Spring Airlines, Air China |
| URC | Ürümqi | Ürümqi Diwopu | about 16 departures a day | 6 operators: China Eastern, Spring Airlines, China Southern |
| KMG | Kunming | Kunming Changshui | about 15 departures a day | 5 operators: China Eastern, Spring Airlines |
| CKG | Chongqing | Chongqing Jiangbei | about 14 departures a day | 5 operators: China Eastern, Spring Airlines, Air China |
| TAO | Qingdao | Qingdao Jiaodong | about 12 departures a day | 3 operators: China Eastern, Shandong Airlines |
Counting every airport a courier in Pudong can drive to, the combined nonstop board is 227 airports. Frequencies are average daily flights and change with the season, so the desk checks the live schedule before it offers you anything.
What moves out of Pudong
This site keeps a public register of industrial sites for some airports, and SHA is not one of them. Rather than guess, the honest statement is that assignments from Pudong are driven by deadlines rather than by any one factory: contracts, components, samples and valuables.
Why a courier in Pudong is useful to the desk
The value of a Pudong address is timing. When a consignment has to leave Shanghai today, the desk needs a name that is 18 minutes from a working gate, not a name in the nearest capital who is four hours away in traffic.
SHA does not fly to the Emirates directly. From Pudong the best single change is Beijing (PEK), and PEK to DXB is flown by Emirates, about 2 departures a day. Counting a normal connection that is around 10h 41m gate to gate, so an assignment between Pudong and the Emirates is planned as a connecting itinerary and the desk books the whole thing on one ticket.
The nearest other cities on the China list
Show the 12 closest, and how far each is from Pudong
Suzhou86 km away, SHA in 1 hour 5 minutesWuxi121 km away, SHA in 1 hour 31 minutesHangzhou166 km away, HGH in 38 minutesYangzhou234 km away, NKG in 1 hour 32 minutesNanjing273 km away, NKG in 33 minutesHefei406 km away, NKG in 2 hours 12 minutesFuzhou614 km away, FOC in 34 minutesWuhan694 km away, WUH in 35 minutesXiamen823 km away, XMN in 12 minutesTianjin962 km away, TSN in 17 minutesDongguan1193 km away, SZX in 42 minutesShenzhen1215 km away, SZX in 26 minutes
All 22 China cities are listed on the China courier desk, which stays the general application for the country.
The engagement, and who we are looking for
The engagement
- Type: freelance, self-employed. You are an independent courier accepting individual assignments, not an employee, and you decide which ones you take.
- Where it runs: assignments are flown out of SHA and the other airports listed above, between China and wherever the consignment is going, with the return leg agreed per mission.
- Hours: variable. An assignment is a single trip, not a shift or a roster.
- How you are paid: a fee per completed assignment, agreed in writing before you accept it. The fees published on this site run from AED 1,200 for a document pouch to AED 2,000 for a cooled medical consignment, and the figure for your assignment reflects the lane, the notice, the waiting time and whether the return is immediate.
- What the desk pays: the flight, the transfers and, where the routing needs it, the hotel. A courier never pays for the ticket and never fronts the fare.
- Applying is free. No payment is required to apply, to be screened or to be placed on the courier list. The Academy costs AED 199, paid once, and is returned in full on top of the fee for your first completed assignment. It is the only payment a courier ever makes to us.
What we look for
- A passport with comfortable remaining validity and free pages, and the right to enter the country on the routing. The desk checks the visa position for your specific passport before any assignment is offered.
- A clean background check and a willingness to be verified. Couriers carry other people’s property.
- Availability at short notice, and a realistic view of the 18 minutes drive to SHA. Most assignments are confirmed hours, not days, before departure.
- Presentable, calm and articulate at a customs counter. The consignment is only as smooth as the person carrying it.
- A working phone, reachable on the number you gave us, for the whole assignment.
What we provide
- The ticket. Always. A courier never pays for the flight and never fronts the fare.
- The paperwork, prepared before you reach SHA, and a named contact at the desk on both ends.
- A briefing on the consignment, the consignee and what the customs position at the far end looks like.
- A fee per completed assignment, agreed with you in advance and paid by bank transfer after the handover.
Questions about the Pudong list
01How far is Pudong from SHA?
It is 20 km of driving from Pudong, roughly 18 minutes. Parking or the transfer is paid by the desk, and if the timings are tight the desk pays for a room near SHA the night before instead of hoping.
02What can I reach from Pudong without a change of aircraft?
SHA serves 60 airports nonstop across 6 countries with 24 operating carriers, and counting every gate a courier in Pudong can drive to, the combined nonstop board is 227 airports. That is the practical range of a single assignment from here before anybody has to connect.
03Getting from Pudong to the Emirates: nonstop or not?
From Pudong the best single change is Beijing (PEK), and PEK to DXB is flown by Emirates, about 2 departures a day. Counting a normal connection that is around 10h 41m gate to gate, so an assignment between Pudong and the Emirates is planned as a connecting itinerary and the desk books the whole thing on one ticket.
04Do I have to live in the UAE to be on this list?
You do not. A residence visa is not asked for and not needed to be on the Pudong list. What is asked for is a passport, the right to enter the country on the routing, and the ability to reach SHA.
05Does it cost anything to apply?
Applying costs nothing and always will. A courier on the Pudong list makes exactly one payment to us, the AED 199 Academy, and gets it back in full with the fee for the first assignment they complete.
06How is my fee agreed?
The desk sends the routing, the timing and the fee for that specific assignment in writing. You accept or decline it. Nothing is deducted or charged without your written agreement.
Apply to fly out of SHA
The application takes about five minutes and asks what the desk actually needs to know: your passports, your visas, and how quickly you can be at SHA.
Apply for this positionSee all openingsThe SHA atlas entry · The PVG atlas entry · The China courier desk · China country guide · All courier openings · Apply to the courier network