Your Container Has Been Selected for a Biosecurity Inspection
Being directed for inspection is not the same as being held. The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry inspects a proportion of arriving containers as a matter of routine, and most of them are released afterwards without anything further happening. What it does cost you is time, movement and money you had not budgeted for.
An inspection is a step in the process. A direction is an outcome. If you have been told your container is going for inspection, this page covers what happens next. If a direction has already been issued against your goods, see biosecurity holds on imported goods instead.
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Get Help With an Inspection
Send us the container number and the commodity. No charge, and no obligation to move your freight to us.
Why your container was selected
Selection is driven by risk profiling rather than by anything you have done wrong. The factors that commonly bring a container into scope include:
- The commodity. Goods with a history of contamination, or packed in ways that attract pests, are inspected more often.
- The origin. Some countries and regions carry higher assessed risk for particular pests.
- Packaging. Timber packing, pallets, dunnage and crating draw attention, because the packaging itself is a biosecurity risk regardless of what it contains.
- Where the container was packed and what it carried before. Containers packed in rural or agricultural settings are more likely to carry soil, seeds or plant material.
- Random selection. A proportion of containers are inspected without any specific trigger, which is why a shipment you have run twenty times can suddenly be stopped.
The kinds of inspection, and what each one costs you
Not all inspections are equal, and the difference matters because it determines how far the container has to travel and how long you wait.
- Tailgate inspection. The doors are opened and the visible portion at the rear of the container is inspected. Fastest, cheapest, and often done without a full unpack.
- Rural tailgate inspection. A more thorough version applied where the container has come from an agricultural setting, focused on soil, plant material and hitchhiker pests.
- Full unpack and inspection. The container is emptied and the goods inspected. Slowest and most expensive, because it carries labour to unpack, inspect and repack.
- Inspection at an approved external site. Some inspections happen at premises operating under an approved arrangement rather than at the terminal, which adds a transport leg each way.
The inspection fee itself is rarely the number that hurts. The transport, the handling, the unpack and repack labour, and the days the container spends out of your control usually add up to considerably more.
What to do now, in order
- Confirm which type of inspection has been directed. A tailgate inspection and a full unpack are very different in cost and duration, and you cannot plan until you know which one you have.
- Check your free time. Storage and container detention keep running while the container is being inspected. The biosecurity process does not pause the commercial clock.
- Tell whoever is waiting on the goods. If the shipment is feeding a build program, a store opening or a production line, an early warning is worth more than a precise date you cannot yet give.
- Have the packaging declaration ready. If timber packing is involved, the treatment marking and documentation is the first thing that will be looked at.
- Do not book delivery transport yet. Booking a truck against an inspection date that has not been confirmed is how importers end up paying for a failed pickup as well.
What happens after the inspection
There are three realistic outcomes:
- Released. Nothing of concern is found and the container continues. This is the most common result.
- Directed for treatment. Something is found that can be dealt with — commonly soil, seeds, plant material or live insects — and the container is directed for cleaning or treatment before release.
- A direction is issued against the goods. This is the point at which an inspection becomes a hold, and the options narrow to treatment, export or destruction. If you reach this stage, our page on biosecurity directions sets out what each option involves.
Most inspections end at the first outcome. Planning for the second is sensible. Assuming the third is not.
How we help
We track the inspection through to a result, arrange the transport and handling it requires, and keep the terminal and shipping line position under control while it happens — because storage and detention are where the real cost accumulates, and they are dealt with by different parties from the inspection itself.
Where treatment is directed, we arrange it with approved providers and make sure the paperwork is right the first time. We do not release cargo. Only DAFF can do that. What we can do is make sure nothing is waiting on us, and tell you honestly what the realistic timeframe looks like.
Questions importers ask about inspections
Can I stop the inspection or ask for it to be skipped?
No. Selection is DAFF’s decision and it is not negotiable. What can be influenced is how quickly the container gets to inspection and how quickly it moves afterwards.
How long will it take?
It depends on the inspection type, the port, and how busy the inspection capacity is at the time. A tailgate inspection is materially quicker than a full unpack. We would rather give you a realistic window for your specific container than a general number.
Who pays for it?
The importer. Inspection, transport, handling and any treatment are all costs to the goods, and they sit with you regardless of who packed the container.
My supplier used treated pallets. Does that exempt me?
Correctly treated and marked timber packaging removes one common risk, which helps. It does not exempt the container from selection, because the goods, the origin and the packing environment are all assessed as well.
Will this happen every time?
Not usually. Selection is risk-based and partly random. A pattern of repeated inspections on the same commodity and origin is worth looking at properly, because it often points at something in the packing or documentation that can be changed.
An inspection is one step inside customs clearance, and the wider requirements are set out in Australian biosecurity. Getting the container to and from an inspection site is landside transport — see door-to-door freight for how that fits with the rest of the move.
Get help with an inspection
Send us the container number and what is in it. We will tell you what the inspection involves, what it is likely to cost, and what to do about the free time while it happens.
Planning an import rather than dealing with an inspection? Request a freight quote.