Freight Forwarding · Sea, Air & Customs
An Australian Freight Forwarder
for Importers and Exporters
Sea freight, air freight, customs clearance and delivery, coordinated end to end for Australian importers and exporters — with landed-cost visibility from the outset.
Quotes returned within one business day · Sea, air and project cargo · Import and export logistics · Customs clearance coordination · Australia-wide delivery
Moving Solutions International is an Australian commercial freight forwarder, working with importers, wholesalers, distributors and manufacturers across Australia — including businesses importing FCL container freight from China. We coordinate sea and air freight, customs clearance, biosecurity requirements where applicable, and final delivery — with one coordinator managing the shipment from origin through to destination.
International freight involves more than the transport leg. Suppliers, carriers, terminals, border agencies and local transport all need to line up for a shipment to move smoothly. We coordinate those moving parts and keep you informed as the shipment progresses.
We also focus on landed-cost visibility, helping you understand the broader cost of importing rather than looking at the freight rate in isolation.
Send us your shipment details and we’ll prepare a freight quote.
Global Network
Vetted agents and carriers on every major trade lane.
End-to-End Control
One team manages freight, customs and delivery.
Landed-Cost Visibility
Duty, GST and local charges quoted up front.
Named Coordinator
A real person who owns your shipment.
Sea + AirEvery major trade lane
FCL & LCLFull and part containers
ABFCustoms entries lodged daily
Door-to-DoorAustralia-wide delivery
Why importers switch to us
Freight is easy to quote and hard to actually deliver
Most freight problems are not caused by the ocean leg. They are caused by a supplier who packs late, a commercial invoice that does not match the packing list, an HS code that attracts the wrong duty rate, a container that arrives on a public holiday, or a biosecurity direction nobody planned for. Any of those can turn a cheap quote into an expensive month.
Moving Solutions International is built around removing those failure points. We book the space, chase your supplier, prepare the customs entry ourselves, watch the vessel schedule, and arrange the transport leg before the ship berths — so your cargo keeps moving while other shipments sit at the wharf accruing storage.
- One coordinator who owns your shipment from booking to delivery
- Customs and biosecurity managed by the same team that moves your freight
- Landed-cost quoting so you see duty, GST and local charges up front
- Proactive updates — you hear about a delay from us, not from your customer
What to send us for a fast quote
The more of this you have, the tighter the price. If you only have two of the six, send it anyway — we will fill in the gaps.
- Origin city or supplier address
- Delivery postcode in Australia
- Total cartons, weight and dimensions
- What the goods are (and material, if relevant)
- Commercial value and Incoterm
- When it is ready and when you need it
Our services
End-to-end international logistics management, under one roof
Whether you are importing your first pallet or running a monthly container program, every service below is delivered by the same team and reported through the same point of contact.
International Logistics Management
The parent discipline behind everything below: lane and mode design, origin management, documentation control, customs and biosecurity, landed cost and performance reporting — owned by one coordinator.
Sea Freight
FCL and LCL ocean freight from Asia, Europe, the Americas and beyond into every major Australian port.
Air Freight
Airport-to-airport, express and consolidated air cargo when the delivery date is not negotiable.
Customs Clearance
Import declarations, tariff classification, duty and GST, FTA concessions and biosecurity.
FCL Shipping
20ft, 40ft, high-cube and reefer full-container loads with wharf-to-door transport included.
LCL Shipping
Shared-container consolidations for pallets and part loads that do not justify a full container.
Door-to-Door Freight
A single price and a single contact covering pickup, freight, clearance and final delivery.
Importing from China
Supplier coordination, consolidation and ChAFTA duty concessions on the busiest lane into Australia.
Exporting from Australia
Export declarations, certificates of origin and documentary requirements for Australian exporters.
Project Cargo
Breakbulk, RORO, heavy lift and multi-modal moves for capital equipment and construction programs.
Oversized Freight
Out-of-gauge, flat rack and over-dimensional cargo including permits and escorted transport.
Warehousing
Bonded and general warehousing, unpacking, pick and pack, and container devanning.
Supply Chain
Purchase-order management, multi-supplier consolidation and freight spend reporting.
Also from us
Import and export programs and specialist cargo
The services above are the building blocks. Most clients come to us for one of the programs below, which combine several of them under a single coordinator and a single landed-cost quote.
Commercial Imports
The full inbound program: classification and duty position established before you order, supplier liaison, consolidation, declarations lodged with the Australian Border Force, FTA concessions claimed, and delivery to your dock.
Commercial Exports
Export declarations and EDNs, certificates of origin so your buyer gets a better duty rate, reefer and perishable handling, destination requirements, and letter of credit document checking.
Container Shipping
FCL and LCL compared honestly, container types and realistic payloads, weight planning for dense cargo, and the two charges — demurrage and detention — that quietly ruin container budgets.
Vehicle Shipping
Cars, motorcycles, campers, boats and heavy plant by RORO or container — with the Vehicle Import Approval and biosecurity cleaning sorted before the vehicle moves, not after it lands.
China Freight Forwarding
20ft, 40ft and 40HQ containers from Chinese suppliers to Australian businesses — origin handling coordinated through appointed local agents, then ocean freight, customs clearance and delivery to your site.
Trade Route Guides
Lane-by-lane guides to Australia’s major markets — Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Germany, the UK and New Zealand — with transit times, agreements and seasonal planning.
Sea or air?
Choosing the right mode for the shipment in front of you
Mode selection is the single biggest lever on both cost and delivery date. As a rule of thumb, sea freight wins on anything heavy, bulky or low-value-per-kilogram, and air freight wins when the cost of being late exceeds the freight premium. The table below is the comparison we walk clients through on a first call.
| Sea Freight (FCL/LCL) | Air Freight | |
|---|---|---|
| Typical transit, Asia to Australia | 14–35 days port to port | 2–7 days airport to airport |
| Best suited to | Furniture, tiles, machinery, packaging, bulk retail stock | Samples, spare parts, high-value goods, launch stock, urgent replenishment |
| Cost driver | Container or cubic metre | Chargeable weight (greater of actual or volumetric) |
| Rough cost comparison | Lowest cost per kilogram | Commonly 4–10× sea freight per kilogram |
| Volume that justifies it | From one pallet (LCL) up to full containers | Up to a few cubic metres before cost becomes painful |
| Schedule reliability | Vessel roll-overs and port congestion are real risks | Far more predictable, but capacity tightens seasonally |
| Customs treatment | Same declaration requirements apply | Same declaration requirements apply |
Not sure which way to go? Send us the cartons, weights and dimensions and we will quote both modes side by side, including duty, GST and delivery, so you are comparing landed cost rather than freight rates.
How it works
Seven steps from supplier to your loading dock
This is the process behind every shipment we handle. You will know which step you are on at any time.
Quote and lane design
You send the cargo details. We come back with a landed-cost quote comparing realistic options, not just the cheapest line on a rate sheet.
Booking and supplier liaison
We confirm space with the carrier and deal directly with your supplier or their forwarder to lock in cargo-ready dates and collection.
Origin handling and documents
Collection, consolidation, export clearance at origin, and a documentation check — commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading — before the goods move.
In-transit visibility
Vessel or flight tracking with proactive updates on schedule changes, roll-overs and revised ETAs.
Australian customs and biosecurity
We classify the goods, lodge the import declaration with the Australian Border Force, apply any free trade agreement concession, and manage biosecurity requirements.
Release, transport and delivery
Once released we arrange wharf or airport collection and delivery to your address, including tail-lift or forklift requirements.
Reconciliation and next shipment
A clear invoice you can match to your quote, plus a debrief on anything worth changing next time.
Why Moving Solutions International
Experience where it matters: at the border
Anyone can send a rate. The value of an international logistics manager shows up when a container is held for a biosecurity inspection, when a tariff classification is challenged, or when a supplier ships two weeks late and your promotion date has not moved.
Customs and freight in one team
Classification, valuation, duty and GST, FTA concessions and Australian Border Force lodgement are managed by our own team working with licensed customs brokers, so nothing gets lost in a handover between two companies.
Landed cost, not teaser rates
Our quotes include duty, GST, terminal and port charges, documentation and delivery. If a cost is estimated, we say so and tell you what moves it.
Built on complex coordination
Our background is complex logistics coordination. International freight is the same discipline applied to commercial cargo: plan the detail, brief every party, own the outcome.
Every port, every mode
Brisbane, Port Botany, Melbourne, Fremantle, Adelaide and Darwin, plus air gateways — with FCL, LCL, air, breakbulk and RORO options on the table.
Genuinely reachable people
A direct phone number and a named coordinator. No ticket queue, no offshore call centre, no chasing an update for three days.
Compliance-first
Correct classification, honest valuation and complete documentation protect you from penalties, audits and demurrage. We would rather ask you one more question than guess.
Industries we serve
Freight built around how your industry actually buys
A bathroomware importer, a mining contractor and a solar wholesaler have almost nothing in common except a container. We tailor packing advice, classification, insurance and delivery to the goods you move.
Mining & Resources
Breakdown parts by air against downtime cost, capital equipment against shutdown windows, and delivery to remote sites with permits and seasonal access.
Construction
Timber biosecurity, anti-dumping exposure on steel, container weight limits on dense products, and materials planned to the build program rather than the purchase order.
Manufacturing
Inbound component consolidation, classification on repeat lines, Tariff Concession Orders, duty drawback and capital plant installation sequencing.
Government & Defence
Procurement-ready itemised quoting, invoices that reconcile line by line, documented compliance decisions, permits and temporary imports.
Retail & E-commerce
Season and launch-driven planning, container utilisation modelling, supplier consolidation, retailer labelling compliance and pick and pack.
Medical & Life Sciences
Cold chain specification and monitoring, dry ice, research samples and permits, shock-sensitive instruments and clearance prepared before arrival.
Frequently asked questions
International logistics questions we answer every week
What does a freight forwarder actually do?
A freight forwarder arranges the movement of your cargo on your behalf. We buy space from shipping lines and airlines, coordinate collection from your supplier, prepare and lodge the customs documentation, manage biosecurity requirements, and arrange final delivery in Australia. You deal with one company instead of five, and one invoice instead of a stack of them.
How much does it cost to import a container into Australia?
Landed cost is made up of the freight itself, origin charges, terminal handling and port charges at the Australian end, customs entry and biosecurity fees, duty (commonly 0% or 5% depending on tariff classification and any free trade agreement), GST at 10% of the customs value plus duty plus freight and insurance, and local transport. Because the mix changes with commodity, lane and season, we quote landed cost per shipment rather than publishing a single figure.
Do I have to pay GST and duty on imported goods?
Almost always. GST applies to most imports at 10% of the taxable importation value, and if you are registered for GST you can generally claim it back in your next BAS. Duty depends on the tariff classification of the goods and their country of origin — a free trade agreement such as ChAFTA, AANZFTA or AUSFTA can reduce it to zero if you hold valid origin documentation.
How long does shipping from China to Australia take?
Port to port is typically around 14 to 25 days on the main east coast services, with LCL adding roughly a week for consolidation and deconsolidation. Add cargo-ready time at the supplier, customs clearance and local delivery, and a realistic door-to-door window is four to six weeks. Air freight compresses that to under a week.
Should I ship LCL or wait until I have a full container?
The crossover usually sits somewhere between 12 and 15 cubic metres, but it depends on the lane and the season. Below that, LCL is normally cheaper; above it, a 20ft container often costs less per cubic metre and moves faster because it avoids consolidation handling. We will run both numbers for you before you commit.
Can you handle the shipment if my supplier arranges the freight?
Yes. If your supplier is selling on CIF or CFR terms, we can act as your Australian agent to receive the cargo, handle clearance and deliver it. We will also tell you honestly whether taking control of the freight yourself on FOB terms would save you money — it usually does.
Do you arrange cargo insurance?
We can arrange marine cargo insurance for your shipment. Carrier liability is limited by international convention and is typically a fraction of the real value of your goods, so for anything of meaningful value we recommend insuring it properly.
Which Australian ports and airports do you cover?
All of them, including the Port of Brisbane, Port Botany in Sydney, the Port of Melbourne, Fremantle, Adelaide, Darwin and Townsville, plus the major air gateways. Delivery is arranged Australia-wide, including regional and remote sites.
More detail is in our resource centre, including import guides, Incoterms explained and container size charts.
Get a landed-cost freight quote
Send us your cargo details and we will come back within one business day with a clear, itemised quote — sea and air compared, duty and GST included, delivery to your door.