Container Shipping Cost and Rates in Australia: Full Guide

The ocean freight rate on your quote is not your shipping cost. It is one line of it. The rest origin handling, terminal charges at the Australian port, customs brokerage, duty and GST, biosecurity, and delivery to your door is what turns an attractive quote into an invoice you did not expect.

Container Shipping Cost and Rates in Australia fluctuate based on your origin, route, and current market conditions. Rather than a fixed price, your total cost will depend on whether you choose a small LCL (Less than Container Load) shipment or a full 20ft or 40ft FCL (Full Container Load) container. The China–Australia route is typically the most utilized lane, while USA–Australia and Europe–Australia lanes have vastly different pricing structures and transit variables. Furthermore, Australian destination charges must be factored into every container on top of the ocean rate—these must be included in any fair cost comparison.

In this guide breaks down every charge you will pay to bring a container into Australia: what each one is, who levies it, what makes it move up or down, and which ones you can actually control. What it deliberately does not do is publish a rate card. Ocean freight is the most volatile price in logistics — it moves with vessel capacity, season, fuel and demand, sometimes week to week — so a number published here would be wrong by the time you booked, and comparing it against a live quote would mislead you rather than help you.

Your total landed cost has four blocks: origin charges, ocean freight, Australian destination charges, and duty and taxes. The Australian destination block is substantial, largely non-negotiable, and the one most quotes leave out — which is why two quotes are only comparable when both are all-in, door-to-door and in Australian dollars. Whether LCL or FCL is cheaper depends on your cubic volume against the per-CBM rate on your specific lane, and the crossover point moves as rates move. Duty depends on your tariff classification and whether a Free Trade Agreement applies. GST is 10% of the value of the taxable importation and is generally recoverable if you are registered.

Container freight is one of the few costs in a business where the price can double, and then halve again, without anything about your shipment changing. Vessel capacity, fuel, port congestion and seasonal demand all move the rate, and they do not move gently — importers who lived through the pandemic-era freight spike watched rates multiply and then fall back over a matter of months.

That volatility is exactly why a published rate is worth so little, and why understanding the structure of your costs is worth so much. The charges you can plan around, control and negotiate are mostly not the ocean freight line at all.

Want the real numbers for a shipment you are planning? Send us the cargo details and both ports and we will build the full cost sheet — every line, in AUD, with nothing left to appear later.

Two Container Shipping Options, Two Very Different Cost Structures

Before you can understand container shipping costs in Australia, you need to understand the two service types, because they price completely differently and suit completely different shipment sizes.

 Above a certain cubic volume, FCL wins on cost, speed and cargo safety at the same time. That crossover is specific to your lane and the rates in the market when you ship, and we work through how to calculate it for your own shipment further down. Our comparisons of FCL vs LCL shipping from China to Australia and LCL vs FCL shipping to Australia go into the trade-offs in more depth.

How Much Does Container Shipping Cost in Australia?

Before any number means anything, we need to know what you are actually trying to do. "Shipping a container" covers at least four different jobs with four different cost structures: moving a container between Australian cities, importing a full container from overseas, importing part of a container as shared cargo, and exporting. The charges, the paperwork and the risks differ in each case.

Rather than a baseline figure, here is the baseline logic — the four things that set the order of magnitude before any carrier quotes you:

•     Is it domestic or international? A domestic container move is a transport cost. An international one is a transport cost plus a customs and biosecurity process, which adds both charges and time.
•     Are you filling a container or sharing one? A full container is priced as a flat rate for the box. Shared cargo is priced on the space you occupy. The two cross over at a volume specific to your lane.
•     How far, and to which port? Distance matters, but so does traffic. Busy lanes into Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane are competitively priced. Fremantle, and anything moving on to regional Western Australia or the Northern Territory, costs more because there is less competing volume to share the cost of the return leg.
•     What are you shipping? Commodity drives duty, permits, biosecurity treatment and handling. Two identical containers can carry very different charges based on what is inside them.

Domestic Container Shipping in Australia

Australia is a continent, and moving a container across it is priced on more than distance. Understanding the four drivers below will tell you more about your own quote than any published city-pair rate, because these are the levers you can actually pull.

 The practical shape of the market: lanes between Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide are the most competitively priced, because the freight runs both ways. Perth and Darwin cost more per kilometre because there is less balancing volume, and regional destinations beyond those cities are priced on the final leg rather than the linehaul.

Backloading deserves a specific mention, because it is the one genuine discount in domestic transport. When a truck has delivered its load, the operator still has to get it home. If you can be flexible about when your container is collected or delivered, you can be slotted onto a run that would otherwise travel empty — and that flexibility is worth real money on lanes where return freight is scarce.

If you move freight interstate regularly, a rate schedule is usually better value than quoting shipment by shipment. Our interstate container transport team can put one together against your actual lanes and volumes.

International Container Shipping — How the Major Lanes Compare

You will get a more useful picture from the relative cost of the major lanes than from a rate that was accurate on the day it was written. The ordering below is structural — it comes from distance, vessel capacity and trade balance, and it holds even as the absolute numbers move.

Importing into Australia. Asian lanes — China, Southeast Asia, India, Japan and Korea — are the most competitively priced into Australia, because the volume is high and carriers compete for it. Transpacific from the US west coast sits meaningfully above the Asian lanes. The US east coast and Europe are the most expensive major lanes, because the distance is greater, the routing is more complex and there are fewer direct services.

Exporting from Australia. Outbound rates on the Australia–Asia lane are typically lower than inbound rates on the same lane. This is not a discount — it is a trade imbalance. Far more containerised freight arrives in Australia from Asia than leaves, so carriers reposition equipment at reduced rates rather than move it empty. Australian origin charges then apply on top: export clearance, terminal handling and documentation at your load port.

A note on currency. Ocean freight is usually quoted in US dollars while your Australian charges are in Australian dollars, which means the exchange rate sits inside your landed cost. On a large booking, a few cents of movement is a real number. Ask for your quote all-in in AUD so you are comparing like with like, and so you know who is carrying the currency risk.

Planning an import or export programme rather than a single shipment? Send us your lanes and expected volumes and we will map the cost structure across them.

What Sits Inside an FCL Quote

An FCL quote is a flat rate for the container, but that flat rate is assembled from parts — and knowing the parts is how you tell a genuinely competitive quote from one that has simply left things out.

 Two structural points worth carrying into any quote conversation.

A 40ft container is not twice the price of a 20ft. It typically costs a modest premium over the 20ft rate while carrying roughly double the volume, which makes it markedly better value per cubic metre once you have the volume to fill it. Choose your container on your actual cubic volume, not on the headline rate.

Your Incoterms decide which of these lines are yours. Under FOB, origin charges and export clearance sit with your supplier. Under EXW, they land on you. Comparing an EXW quote against an FOB quote without adjusting for that is the most common mistake importers make, and it can make the cheaper-looking quote the more expensive one.

Our guide to Incoterms sets out where the handover happens on each term.

Send us the load port, destination port, container size and your Incoterms and we will quote the whole chain — not just the ocean leg.

How LCL Pricing Actually Works

LCL is priced differently from FCL, and the differences are where the surprises live.

•     You pay on volume or weight, whichever is greater. Rates are quoted per cubic metre, but carriers apply a revenue-tonne rule, so dense cargo is charged on weight instead. A pallet of tiles and a pallet of cushions occupying the same space will not cost the same.
•     There is a minimum charge. Very small shipments are charged at the minimum regardless of actual volume, which is why the effective per-CBM cost of a tiny consignment is much higher.
•     Origin and destination CFS charges are separate. Your cargo is consolidated into a shared container at origin and deconsolidated at destination. Both are charged, and destination deconsolidation is usually a flat fee rather than per-CBM — so it weighs much more heavily on a small shipment.
•     Fixed charges do not shrink with your shipment. Customs brokerage, the Import Processing Charge, biosecurity and delivery are largely the same whether you ship two cubic metres or ten. This is why all-in cost per cubic metre falls sharply as volume grows, and why small shipments feel disproportionately expensive.
•     Handling adds time and touch points. Shared cargo is loaded and unloaded alongside other shippers' goods, which lengthens the timeline and raises handling risk relative to a sealed container.

Working Out Your Own LCL-to-FCL Break-Even

There is a real crossover point where filling your own container becomes cheaper than sharing one — but it is specific to your lane, your rate and the moment you are shipping, so a published figure is misleading. The method is simple enough to run yourself:

1. Calculate your total cubic volume. CBM = length (m) × width (m) × height (m) per carton or item, added together. Our guide to CBM and volumetric weight calculations covers the detail.
2. Get an all-in LCL quote and an all-in FCL quote for the same shipment, both door-to-door in AUD.
3. Divide each by your CBM to get a cost per cubic metre, and compare.

The crossover typically arrives somewhere in the mid-teens of cubic metres on the high-volume Asian lanes, and it shifts with the per-CBM LCL rate and the flat FCL rate at the time. Two things push it lower than you would expect: FCL avoids CFS handling at both ends, and it usually clears faster and with less damage risk. If you are anywhere near the crossover, get both quotes — the difference is often smaller than the difference in transit time and cargo safety, which is what should decide it.

Not sure which side of the line you are on? Send us your carton dimensions and quantities and we will price both options side by side so you can see the crossover for your own shipment.

Australian Destination Charges — The Costs Everyone Forgets to Budget For

This is the section that surprises most importers. Your ocean freight rate gets the container from the overseas port to the Australian port. From there, a chain of Australian charges applies before the goods can be released and delivered. They are not optional, most are not negotiable, and they are the single most common reason a quote and an invoice do not match.

 The one that catches people out. GST is charged on the value of the taxable importation and sits on the invoice as a real payment, but if your business is registered for GST it is generally recoverable as an input tax credit rather than a true cost. Businesses importing regularly should also ask about the deferred GST scheme, which changes the cash-flow timing rather than the amount. Treating recoverable GST as a shipping cost will make every comparison you run look worse than it is.

Never compare quotes that do not include the same charges. An ocean-freight-only quote is not comparable to an all-in quote, no matter how much lower it looks. Always ask for a full door-to-door all-in quote in AUD, covering every charge at both ends. It is the only comparison that means anything.

We can tell you before you book which of these charges are likely to apply to your specific commodity and route. Our customs and quarantine clearance team handles this daily across every major Australian port.

Build Your Own Cost Sheet — What to Ask For and How to Compare

A worked example with someone else's numbers will not match your shipment. A worked template will. Use this to make any two quotes comparable, and to spot what a quote has quietly left out.

 Two rules make this worth the effort. Get every quote in AUD, door to door, so exchange rates and excluded legs cannot hide inside the comparison. And check the fixed lines against your volume — brokerage, the Import Processing Charge and delivery barely move with shipment size, which is why cost per cubic metre falls as volume rises.

We will fill this template in for your actual shipment, line by line, so you can hold it against any other quote you have. Send us the cargo details and both ports.

Transit Times — What Actually Sets Your Timeline

Sailing time is more stable than price, but it is still not a promise, and no forwarder can guarantee it.

The relative ordering is reliable: services from Southeast Asia, Japan and Korea are the shortest into Australia, north Asian and Indian lanes sit a little longer, US west coast longer again, and US east coast and Europe are the longest major lanes. Fremantle typically adds time on Asian services where it sits later in the port rotation.

Beyond the sailing itself, four things move your actual door-to-door timeline:

•     Direct or transhipped routing. A transhipment adds a port call and a connection risk that a direct service does not have.
•     Schedule reliability and blank sailings. Carriers withdraw sailings when demand softens, and a blank sailing can push your cargo to the next vessel.
•     Terminal congestion at both ends. Discharge windows and slot availability sit outside the clearance process entirely but still determine when you receive the goods.
•     Customs and biosecurity release. Complete documentation and a clean classification clear quickly. A DAFF inspection direction, a treatment requirement or a request for further information does not.

For shared-container cargo, consolidation at origin and deconsolidation at destination add handling time that a port-to-port sailing figure does not include.

For a realistic door-to-door timeline on your lane, ask us for the current sailing schedule against your cargo-ready date. We will show you the routing and where the risk of delay actually sits.

Shipping a Container, Buying One, or Hiring One — Which Do You Need?

These are three different transactions and people often arrive looking for one when they need another.

•     Shipping a container means paying for the movement of your goods. The container belongs to the shipping line and goes back to them afterwards, which is what demurrage and detention charges are about. This is what most importers and exporters need.
•     Hiring a container means renting the box itself, usually as site storage or for a self-pack move, priced on time rather than distance. Container hire and sales companies handle this.
•     Buying a container means owning the asset — sensible for permanent storage or conversion, not for moving freight.

If your goods are coming from or going overseas, or moving between Australian states, it is the first of these you need. Omega Cargo arranges the movement, the clearance and the delivery.

What Affects Container Shipping Rates in Australia?

Container shipping rates are not fixed. They move with market and operational conditions, and understanding what drives them helps you time your bookings and negotiate from a stronger position.

 The Charges That Catch People Out

Some of these are unavoidable and simply need budgeting for. Others are entirely self-inflicted, and they are the cheapest savings available to any importer.

Terminal handling and port charges

Levied by the terminal each time your container is lifted. Set by the terminal operator, revised periodically, and identical for every forwarder using that terminal — so if two quotes differ on this line, one of them has left something out.

Customs brokerage

Driven by the number of tariff lines, classification difficulty, permit involvement and the quality of your supplier documents, rather than by the value of your goods.

Duty and GST

Duty depends on tariff classification, customs value and country of origin. Many goods enter Australia duty-free, and preferential rates apply where a Free Trade Agreement claim can be substantiated. GST is 10% of the value of the taxable importation and is generally recoverable if you are registered. Our guides to how import duty is calculated and HS code and tariff classification set out the mechanics.

Biosecurity, inspection and treatment

Australia's biosecurity requirements are among the strictest anywhere, and this is where more containers are held than most first-time importers expect. Timber packaging, agricultural content, used machinery and household effects are the common triggers.

If DAFF directs cleaning, fumigation or treatment, it happens at your cost — and the cost depends on the commodity, the treatment required and provider availability, not on a standard rate. Goods arriving from Brown Marmorated Stink Bug risk countries during the risk season must be treated, and treating offshore before shipment is almost always cheaper and faster than being treated on arrival. 

Demurrage and detention — the avoidable ones

These two get confused constantly, and the distinction matters because the fixes are different.

•     Demurrage accrues when your container sits at the terminal beyond its free time. The fix is pre-clearance: get your documents to your broker while the vessel is still sailing, so the container is released when it is discharged rather than after it has been sitting.
•     Detention accrues when you have taken the container away but not returned the empty to the nominated depot within the allowed period. The fix is logistical: have somewhere to unload, and a slot booked to return the empty, before the container arrives.

Free time and the daily rate after it are set in your contract with the shipping line and vary by line, lane and equipment. Find both numbers before you book, not after — they are the two figures on your bill of lading that will cost you the most if you ignore them. Charges typically escalate the longer the container is held, so a delay that looks minor early on is not the same thing a fortnight later.

Our guides to why customs clearance gets delayed in Australia and the documentation errors that cause customs delays cover the most common causes.

Marine cargo insurance

Carrier liability under international conventions is limited by weight and is not the value of your goods — on a container of electronics it can amount to a small fraction of what you lost. Cargo insurance is priced as a percentage of declared value and varies with commodity, route, packing and level of cover. On any consignment where losing the cargo would hurt, get a quote rather than assuming carrier liability covers you.

Our guide to freight insurance explains what is and is not covered.

We can tell you before you book which of these are likely to apply to your commodity and route, and what the free time is on the service you are using.

How to Reduce Your Container Shipping Costs

Compare all-in quotes, not ocean rates

Rates vary between forwarders on identical routes, so getting more than one quote is worth the effort — but only if you compare the same thing. Ask every forwarder for a full door-to-door all-in quote in AUD, itemised line by line. An ocean-freight-only number is not a quote, it is a fragment.

Match your service to your volume

Recalculate the LCL-to-FCL crossover for your own lane rather than assuming last year's answer still holds. Importers who stay on LCL past the crossover pay for handling they do not need, and importers who move to FCL too early pay for space they do not fill.

Consolidate multiple supplier orders

If you buy from several factories in the same region, ask your forwarder about buyer's consolidation — collecting from each supplier and combining into one container under your instruction. It converts several LCL consignments into one FCL, with one set of fixed charges instead of several.

Pack to fill the cubic space

If you are paying for a whole container, every cubic metre you waste is money spent on air. Disassemble furniture, use consistent carton sizes that stack without gaps, and load heavy goods low. Tighter packing is often the difference between one container and two.

Pre-clear customs before the vessel arrives

Send your documents to your broker as soon as the vessel sails. Pre-clearance means the container is released when it is discharged, rather than accruing terminal storage while paperwork catches up. This is the single most effective cost control available to an importer, and it costs nothing.

See our guide to speeding up customs clearance in Australia.

Be flexible on domestic dates

For interstate moves, ask about backloading. If you can accept a collection or delivery window rather than a fixed date, you can be fitted onto a run that would otherwise travel empty — and on lanes where return freight is scarce, that flexibility is worth more than any negotiation.

Claim your Free Trade Agreement concession

Australia has free trade agreements with China, the United States and many other trading partners, and under them a great many goods enter at nil duty rather than the general rate. The concession is not automatic. It depends on the goods genuinely originating in the partner country under that agreement's rules of origin, and on you holding valid documentation — usually a Certificate of Origin or declaration of origin — that can be produced if the claim is reviewed.

This is the largest controllable line in most import cost structures, and the one most often left unclaimed, because the classification and the origin documentation have to line up before the entry is lodged rather than afterwards. Ask your broker two questions on every shipment: what tariff classification are you using, and is a preferential rate available.

Our guide to the cheapest shipping options from China to Australia covers the China lane in more detail.

Ship outside the peak windows where you can

Two demand peaks matter on the Asia–Australia lanes, and they are the same two every year. The first builds from around the start of the fourth quarter as retailers pull stock forward for Christmas. The second is the run-up to Chinese New Year, when factories push to ship before shutting down — followed by a lull as they restart.

During both windows, rates firm and vessel space tightens, and a peak season surcharge may appear as a separate line. Booking well ahead matters more than negotiating: in a tight market the constraint is space, not price. Domestically the pattern is different — the late-December and January holiday period is the constrained one, driven by driver availability and depot closures.

Return empty containers promptly

Have your receiving facility ready before the container arrives, and a slot booked to return the empty. Detention is a charge you can reduce to zero with planning, and it is the one importers most often pay.

Always request all-in door-to-door quotes

Worth repeating, because it is the habit that saves the most: never compare ocean freight rates alone. The only comparison that tells you the true difference between providers is the full landed cost in Australian dollars.

Container Size Guide — 20ft vs 40ft vs 40ft High Cube

Choosing the right container size is one of the first decisions you make, and it affects both cost and whether your cargo fits.

 A 40ft container holds roughly twice the volume of a 20ft but costs only a modest premium in freight, making it significantly better value per cubic metre for larger loads. Always calculate your actual CBM before choosing a size: CBM = length (m) × width (m) × height (m) per carton or item.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does container shipping to Australia actually cost?

There is no single rate, because your landed cost is built from four blocks: origin charges at the load port, ocean freight, Australian destination charges, and duty and taxes. Ocean freight is the most volatile of the four and moves with vessel capacity, season, fuel and demand. The Australian destination block — terminal handling, port charges, the Import Processing Charge, customs brokerage, biosecurity and delivery — is substantial and largely non-negotiable, and it is the block most quotes leave out. For a figure you can budget against, ask for a full all-in door-to-door quote in AUD covering every line at both ends.

How do I compare two container shipping quotes?

Make sure both are all-in, door-to-door and in Australian dollars, then compare them line by line rather than on the total. Check four things in particular: whether origin charges are included, which reflects your Incoterms; whether fuel and peak season surcharges sit inside the rate or are billed separately; which terminal the service uses, since terminal charges are set by the terminal and should be identical between forwarders using it; and what free time you get before demurrage and detention start. A quote that is materially cheaper has usually excluded something rather than found something.

Is it cheaper to ship a 20ft or 40ft container?

A 20ft container costs less in absolute terms, but a 40ft is better value per cubic metre. A 40ft holds roughly double the volume for a modest premium over the 20ft rate, so if you have the volume to fill it, the larger container is the more economical choice. Calculate your total CBM first — the right question is not which container is cheaper, but which one matches your volume without paying for empty space.

What is the cheapest way to ship a small volume to Australia?

LCL, where your goods share a container and you pay for the space you occupy rather than the whole box. Bear in mind that LCL rates are charged on volume or weight, whichever produces the higher figure, that a minimum charge applies to very small consignments, and that the fixed charges — brokerage, the Import Processing Charge, delivery — do not shrink with your shipment. That is why very small shipments feel expensive per cubic metre, and why consolidating orders is often worth more than shopping for a lower rate.

How long does it take to ship a container to Australia?

Transit time depends on the lane and cannot be guaranteed by any forwarder. Services from Southeast Asia, Japan and Korea are the shortest into Australia, north Asian and Indian lanes sit a little longer, US west coast longer again, and US east coast and Europe are the longest major lanes. Beyond the sailing itself, your actual door-to-door timeline is set by whether the routing is direct or transhipped, schedule reliability and blank sailings, terminal congestion at both ends, and how quickly customs and biosecurity release the container. Shared-container cargo adds consolidation and deconsolidation handling at each end.

What documents do I need to import a container into Australia?

At minimum, the commercial invoice, the packing list, and the Bill of Lading or Air Waybill. Depending on the goods you may also need a packing declaration covering timber and packaging materials, a certificate or declaration of origin to support a Free Trade Agreement claim, treatment or fumigation certificates, permits or import approvals, and details of the freight and insurance charges so the value of the taxable importation can be calculated. Send these to your broker while the vessel is still sailing — that is what makes pre-clearance possible.

Are there extra fees when my container arrives in Australia?

Yes, and they are significant. Expect terminal handling and port service charges from the terminal operator, the Import Processing Charge from the Australian Border Force, customs brokerage, customs duty where it applies, GST, biosecurity charges from DAFF including any directed inspection or treatment, and wharf cartage to your door. Storage, demurrage and detention apply if the container is not cleared and returned within the allowed periods. These charges apply to every container and should be in any quote you are asked to compare.

Why is my invoice higher than the quote I accepted?

Almost always one of four reasons. The quote covered ocean freight only, and the Australian destination charges were always going to be additional. Your Incoterms put origin charges on you rather than your supplier. Something triggered a charge that was conditional in the quote — a biosecurity inspection, a treatment direction, a classification query. Or free time expired and demurrage or detention accrued. The first two are avoidable by insisting on all-in door-to-door quotes in AUD. The last is avoidable by pre-clearing and returning empties promptly.

Do I need insurance for container shipping?

It is strongly recommended. Carrier liability under international conventions is calculated by weight rather than the value of your goods, which on most cargo amounts to a small fraction of what you would lose. Marine cargo insurance is priced as a percentage of declared value and varies with commodity, route, packing and cover level. On any shipment where losing the cargo would materially hurt your business, get a quote for cover rather than assuming the carrier's liability is enough.

What is demurrage and how do I avoid it?

Demurrage accrues when your container sits at the terminal beyond the free time allowed. It is avoided by pre-clearance: get your documents to your broker while the vessel is still sailing so the container is released when it is discharged. Detention is the related charge that accrues when you have collected the container but not returned the empty within the allowed period, and it is avoided by having somewhere to unload and a return slot booked before arrival. Both free time periods and both daily rates are set in your contract with the shipping line — find them before you book.

When should I contact a freight forwarder?

Before you pay your supplier, ideally. Incoterms, classification, permit requirements, biosecurity treatment and FTA eligibility are all cheaper to resolve at the quoting stage than after the goods have shipped, and some approvals cannot be obtained retrospectively. If your container has already arrived, contact us straight away — at that point the priority is limiting storage and detention exposure.

What is backloading and does it save money?

Backloading is using the space on a truck that is returning from a delivery. Because the operator would otherwise run the leg empty, they will price it below a dedicated run for a customer who can be flexible about timing. It applies to domestic container movements rather than international shipping, and the saving is real on lanes where return freight is scarce. The trade-off is that you accept a collection or delivery window instead of a fixed date.

Managing Your Container Shipping Costs

Container shipping into Australia is a mature, well-serviced market, and the importers who consistently pay less are not the ones who found a cheaper forwarder. They are the ones who understand their own cost structure well enough to compare quotes properly and to stop paying for avoidable charges.

Three habits do most of the work. Compare only all-in, door-to-door quotes in Australian dollars — an ocean-freight-only number tells you nothing, because the Australian destination block is coming either way. Match your service to your volume, and recalculate the LCL-to-FCL crossover for your own lane rather than assuming last year's answer still holds. Pre-clear before the vessel arrives and return empties inside free time — demurrage and detention are the only significant charges in the chain you can reduce to zero, and they are the ones importers most often pay.

Container Shipping Cost Checklist

•     Calculate your total CBM before requesting any quote — CBM = length × width × height in metres
•     Get all-in door-to-door quotes in AUD from more than one forwarder, itemised line by line
•     Ask which terminal your service uses, and what its handling and access charges are
•     Confirm your Incoterms, and whether origin charges are yours or your supplier's
•     Ask for the tariff classification, and whether an FTA concession applies
•     Track GST separately — it is generally recoverable if you are registered
•     Get your documents to your broker while the vessel is still sailing
•     Find your free time and post-free-time daily rate before you book, not after
•     Have somewhere to unload and a slot to return the empty, arranged before arrival
•     Book ahead of the Christmas and Chinese New Year peaks — space, not price, is the constraint

Omega Cargo is a West Australian family company founded in 2000, holding a customs brokers licence and quarantine accreditations. We arrange sea freight, customs clearance and delivery as one coordinated service, and we quote container shipping all-in and door-to-door for every Australian port.

Send us your cargo details, both ports and your Incoterms, and we will build the full cost sheet for your shipment — every line, in AUD, with nothing left to appear later. Request a quote, or  contact our team to talk through an upcoming shipment.