Manufacturing and industrial freight
Manufacturing Freight — Inbound Components, Outbound Product, One Landed Cost
Raw materials, components, tooling and capital plant coming in; finished product going out. Manufacturing freight is judged on whether the line keeps running and whether the landed cost per unit holds, and both depend on details settled long before the container is booked.
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The short answer
What manufacturers actually need from a forwarder
Manufacturing is the one sector where freight sits on both sides of the business — an inbound supply risk and an outbound cost of sale. The consequences are asymmetric: a late component stops a line and idles labour, while an inefficient outbound shipment quietly erodes margin on every unit. Good manufacturing freight therefore looks different from good retail freight. It prioritises schedule reliability and classification accuracy on the inbound side, and cube efficiency and documentation quality on the outbound side.
- Inbound is a continuity problem — a stopped line costs more than any freight premium
- Outbound is a margin problem — freight per unit is a cost of goods sold
- Classification accuracy compounds — you import the same parts hundreds of times
- Tariff Concession Orders and duty drawback are frequently unclaimed money
- Capital plant needs project handling, not a container booking
What we move
What we move for manufacturers
Both directions, and often on the same lane in the same month.
| Cargo | Direction | Key consideration |
|---|---|---|
| Raw materials and resins | Inbound | Dangerous goods classification; bulk versus packaged; consistency of supply |
| Components and sub-assemblies | Inbound | Schedule reliability; consolidation from multiple suppliers; classification precision |
| Tooling, dies and moulds | Inbound | High value, heavy for their size; often air freight when a line is waiting |
| Capital plant and production machinery | Inbound | Out of gauge; installation window; rigging and site access |
| Spare parts for production equipment | Inbound | Air freight for breakdowns; pre-classified so nothing waits |
| Packaging and consumables | Inbound | Pure cube optimisation; freight per unit is the whole cost story |
| Chemicals, lubricants and adhesives | Inbound | Dangerous goods; segregation; permits |
| Finished product to export markets | Outbound | Cube efficiency, export documentation, destination compliance |
| Samples and prototypes | Both | Fast, low volume; often air express; temporary import options worth knowing |
| Warranty returns and repairs | Both | Temporary import and export provisions can avoid paying duty twice |
Risks
Money manufacturers routinely leave on the table
These four come up constantly, and all four are matters of process rather than negotiation.
Tariff Concession Orders
A TCO removes the general duty rate on goods where no substitutable product is made in Australia. Many manufacturers import equipment and inputs that fall under an existing TCO and pay duty anyway because nobody checked. Where no TCO exists but the criteria appear to be met, an application can be made. We check the TCO register against what you import.
Duty drawback
If you import goods on which duty was paid and subsequently export them, or export them incorporated into something else, duty drawback may allow you to recover that duty. It requires records that trace the imported goods through to the export, which is exactly the sort of record-keeping that has to be set up in advance rather than reconstructed later.
Free trade agreement concessions
Origin rules for manufactured goods are more complex than for finished consumer products because of the regional value content and change-of-tariff tests. That complexity is precisely why the concessions go unclaimed. It is worth working through properly on a component you buy every month.
Classification precision on repeat items
On a part you import 200 times a year, a one-percentage-point classification error is not a rounding difference. Getting the classification right once and applying it consistently is one of the highest-return pieces of work available to an importing manufacturer.
How we work
How we support a manufacturing operation
Map the inbound bill of materials
We look at what you import, from where, how often, and in what volumes — then classify the recurring items properly and identify TCO, FTA and drawback opportunities across the whole list rather than shipment by shipment.
Design the inbound program
Consolidation from multiple suppliers, shipment frequency set against your holding cost, and a standing air arrangement for the parts that stop a line. Regular cargo moves on a schedule, not on a phone call.
Protect the critical path
Tooling and production spares get pre-agreed escalation: fastest routing, clearance prepared in advance, and delivery booked before the aircraft lands.
Handle capital plant as a project
New production equipment gets lift studies, rigging planning, route assessment, installation-window scheduling and coordination with your installer — not a container booking and a hope.
Make the outbound competitive
On the export side we work on cube efficiency, packaging that survives handling without over-engineering, correct export documentation, and destination compliance so your buyer is easy to sell to.
Report what it costs per unit
Freight spend reported against product lines and cost centres, so freight becomes a managed cost of goods rather than an unexplained overhead.
Capital equipment
Installing a new production line: the freight is the easy part
When a manufacturer imports a new line, the freight is rarely what determines success. What determines success is whether the equipment arrives in the right sequence, in a condition that allows immediate installation, at a time when the installers and the crane are booked, through a door it actually fits through.
- Sequence — components delivered in installation order, not in whatever order they were manufactured
- Dimensions against the building — measured against doorways, roller doors, aisle widths and ceiling height, not just against the container
- Rigging and lift planning — who lifts it off the truck, with what, standing where
- Foundations and services ready — arriving before the site is ready means paying storage on a machine you cannot use
- Commissioning engineers — travel and availability coordinated with the arrival, since a specialist waiting on a delayed vessel is expensive
- Spares and consumables — shipped with the plant so commissioning is not held up by a missing item
This is project cargo discipline applied to a factory. See project cargo for how those moves are planned, and oversized freight for equipment beyond container dimensions.
FAQ
Manufacturing freight questions
How do I reduce freight cost on imported components?
In roughly this order of impact: get the classification right and claim every concession you are entitled to, consolidate suppliers into single containers rather than shipping separately, improve carton and pallet configuration so you buy less air, set shipment frequency deliberately against holding cost rather than by habit, and only then negotiate the rate. Most manufacturers we speak to have more available in the first three than in the last one.
What is a Tariff Concession Order and how do I know if one applies?
A TCO removes the general rate of duty on goods where no substitutable goods are produced in Australia. There is a public register of existing TCOs, and goods that fall within one attract a free rate. Many manufacturers import machinery and inputs covered by an existing TCO and pay duty regardless because the entry was lodged against the general classification. We check the register against your import list, and where no TCO exists but the criteria appear satisfied, an application can be lodged.
Can I recover duty on components I import and then export?
Potentially, through duty drawback. If duty was paid on imported goods that are subsequently exported — including as part of a manufactured product in some circumstances — drawback may allow recovery. The practical constraint is record-keeping: you need to be able to trace the imported goods through to the export. That system needs designing before you start, which is why it is worth raising early.
Can you keep a production line supplied without holding excess stock?
That is the balance we work on. Shipping more frequently reduces holding cost but increases freight cost per unit and increases exposure to transit variability. The sensible answer is usually a two-tier program: regular consolidated sea freight sized to your consumption rate, plus a pre-agreed air arrangement for the small number of items whose absence stops the line. The second tier is insurance, not a freight strategy.
How do you handle importing a new production machine?
As a project. We assess dimensions and weight against the ship, the port, the road route and — critically — your building. We plan the lift and the rigging, sequence the components for installation, coordinate with your installer and commissioning engineers, and manage customs and any biosecurity requirement for used equipment. The container booking is the last thing we worry about.
Do you handle dangerous goods like resins, solvents and adhesives?
Yes. Classification comes from the safety data sheet and determines the UN number, packing group, labelling, segregation and whether air freight is available at all. We arrange compliant packing and documentation and tell you up front where a classification limits your options, rather than discovering it at the origin terminal.
Can you manage exports of our finished product as well?
Yes, and it is worth having both sides with one provider. On the export side we handle export declarations and EDNs, certificates of origin so your buyer can claim a preferential rate, destination compliance requirements, and letter of credit document checking. See our commercial exports page.
Related pages
- Commercial imports — the full inbound import program
- Commercial exports — exporting finished product from Australia
- Supply chain management — purchase-order visibility and freight spend reporting
- Air freight — tooling, production spares and line-down situations
- Project cargo — production plant, rigging and installation sequencing
- Customs clearance — classification, TCOs, drawback and FTA concessions
- Warehousing — buffer stock, devanning and staged release to the line
- Mining and resources freight — if you supply the resources sector
Send us your import list and we will find the duty you should not be paying
Give us the components and equipment you import regularly, with origins and volumes. We will review classification, check the TCO register, assess FTA eligibility and quote a consolidated program — landed, per unit.