Mining and resources freight
Mining Freight and Logistics — Spare Parts by Air, Capital Equipment by Sea, Both to Remote Sites
Mining freight is two businesses in one. Unplanned parts that have to arrive before the next shift, and capital equipment that has to land inside a shutdown window. We handle both, plus the road leg to sites that trucks do not casually visit.
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The short answer
What makes mining freight different
In most industries freight cost is measured against the value of the goods. In mining it is measured against the cost of downtime. A component worth a few thousand dollars can hold up a production circuit worth far more per hour, which flips the normal freight calculation completely — air freight, charter and expedited road become rational rather than extravagant. At the same time, mining runs some of the heaviest and most over-dimensional cargo in the country, on the longest and least forgiving road legs.
- Downtime, not freight cost, sets the budget for unplanned parts
- Shutdown windows are fixed — capital equipment lands before them or the plan fails
- Out-of-gauge is normal — flat racks, breakbulk and heavy lift, not containers
- Remote site access — permits, escorts, road condition and wet-season closures
- Used and returning equipment attracts the strictest biosecurity cleaning standards in Australia
What we move
Cargo we handle for mining and resources clients
The same site will generate all of these in a single month, which is why splitting them between different providers creates more problems than it solves.
| Cargo | Usual mode | Planning constraint |
|---|---|---|
| Unplanned breakdown parts | Air freight, often express or next available flight | Airport-to-site road leg is usually the bottleneck, not the flight |
| Planned maintenance parts and consumables | Sea freight LCL or FCL, consolidated | Must land before the shutdown window opens, with buffer for inspection |
| Wear parts, GET, liners and screens | FCL sea freight on a standing program | Heavy and dense — weight limits bind before cube limits |
| Conveyor belting and structural steel | Flat rack or breakbulk | Length and weight; road permits for the inland leg |
| Crushers, mills, screens and processing modules | Breakbulk or heavy lift, sometimes modularised | Lift studies, port capability, route survey to site |
| Mobile plant and vehicles | RORO, flat rack or container | Biosecurity cleaning on used units is the main risk |
| Tyres and rims | FCL sea freight, occasionally flat rack for ultra class | Cube-hungry; loading plan decides the unit cost |
| Chemicals and reagents | Sea freight as dangerous goods | Classification, packing group, segregation and permits |
| Camp, safety and site consumables | LCL or consolidated FCL | Steady program cargo — best handled on a schedule, not ad hoc |
Risks
Where mining freight actually goes wrong
Rarely on the ocean leg. Almost always in one of these five places.
The last 300 kilometres
A part can fly from Europe in two days and then sit in a capital city for four waiting for a truck heading the right way. We plan the road leg at the same time as the air leg, including whether a dedicated vehicle beats a scheduled service, and whether the site can receive after hours.
Biosecurity on used equipment
Returning or second-hand plant must arrive free of soil, seeds and plant material — and inspectors look inside buckets, tracks, cavities and cabs. A failed inspection means a directed clean at an approved facility, storage while it waits, and a schedule that no longer works. Clean and photograph before loading.
Out-of-gauge discovered late
A component is measured to the packing crate, not the machine, and turns out to be over height on a standard trailer. Then you need permits, possibly an escort, possibly a route survey — and the lead time on those is not days.
Dangerous goods misclassified
Reagents, lubricants, batteries, detonator components and gas cylinders all carry classification, packing and segregation rules. Getting this wrong at origin stops the shipment there; getting it wrong on documents stops it here.
Wet season and road closures
Northern Australian access windows are seasonal and not negotiable. Freight planned in September for a February delivery to a site in the Pilbara or the Territory needs the road condition assumption written into the plan.
Shutdown windows treated as targets
A shutdown date is a hard commercial constraint, so the freight plan needs buffer for a rolled vessel, an inspection and a customs query — not a best-case transit time.
How we work
How we run a mining freight program
Understand the operation, not just the shipment
What is the plant, what is the shutdown calendar, which parts are critical, where is the site, what can the access road take, and who at site can receive freight and when.
Split the program by urgency
Critical spares on a standing air arrangement with pre-agreed escalation. Program cargo consolidated on sea freight to a schedule. Capital equipment planned as individual projects.
Pre-classify the recurring items
We build a classification and duty position for the parts you buy repeatedly, so a breakdown shipment is not waiting on a tariff decision at two in the morning.
Book the road leg with the freight leg
Site delivery is planned at booking, including truck type, permits, escorts, unloading equipment at site and induction requirements for the driver.
Clear proactively
Entries prepared from the documents before arrival, FTA concessions applied, and biosecurity requirements dealt with in advance rather than discovered at inspection.
Report by cost centre
Freight spend reported the way your business accounts for it — by site, by cost centre, by project — so it can be managed rather than just paid.
Remote delivery
Getting freight to sites, not just to cities
Delivering to a mine site is a different exercise from delivering to a metropolitan warehouse. The considerations below need to be settled at booking, because none of them can be solved on the day the truck is at the gate.
- Access road condition and rating — including whether the last section is unsealed and whether it is trafficable in the wet
- Permits and escorts — for over-dimensional or over-mass loads, arranged per jurisdiction and per route
- Unloading capability at site — crane, telehandler, forklift capacity, or whether the load must be self-unloading
- Site induction and access requirements — drivers frequently need inductions, PPE and pre-approval
- Receiving hours and shift patterns — a truck arriving outside receiving hours is a truck waiting overnight
- Backload opportunities — returning cores, warranty items and empty packaging is often free capacity you are already paying for
For genuinely heavy or over-dimensional consignments the work starts earlier still, with lift studies and route surveys. See project cargo and oversized freight.
FAQ
Mining freight questions
Can you get a breakdown part to a remote site urgently?
Yes, and the honest answer is that the flight is usually the easy part. We work the whole chain: supplier collection at origin, the fastest realistic flight routing, customs clearance prepared before the aircraft lands so nothing waits, and the road or charter leg to site booked in parallel rather than afterwards. Tell us the site, the receiving hours and who can sign for it, and we will give you a realistic delivery time rather than an optimistic one.
How do you handle biosecurity on used mining equipment?
By dealing with it before the equipment ships. Australian biosecurity requires used machinery to arrive free of soil, plant material and seeds, and inspectors examine tracks, buckets, cavities, undercarriages and cabs. We brief the origin party on the standard required, ask for photographs of the cleaned unit before loading, and where the risk is high we recommend cleaning at an approved facility on arrival be pre-arranged rather than discovered as a direction.
Do you deliver to sites in the Pilbara, Bowen Basin and the Territory?
Yes, Australia-wide including remote and unsealed access. What we need to know early is the access road rating, whether the route is affected seasonally, the unloading capability at site, driver induction requirements and receiving hours. Those five things decide the truck type and the schedule.
Can you ship reagents and other dangerous goods?
Yes. Classification comes from the safety data sheet, not the product name, and it determines packing group, labelling, segregation, permitted mode and in some cases whether air freight is available at all. We work from the SDS, arrange compliant packing and documentation, and tell you up front where a dangerous goods classification rules out the fast option.
Can you handle a full capital project rather than individual shipments?
Yes. Modularised plant, structural steel, crushers, mills and processing equipment are project cargo: lift studies, port and terminal capability, stow planning, route surveys, permits and a delivery sequence matched to the construction program. See our project cargo page for how those are run.
Do you report freight spend by site or cost centre?
Yes. We can report by site, cost centre, project, supplier or commodity, and provide the accrual view of what is on the water. For operations running many small shipments across several sites, that reporting is usually where the first real savings get found.
Can you consolidate parts from several overseas suppliers?
Yes, and for planned maintenance it is usually the single biggest saving available. We nominate an origin warehouse, give each supplier a reference, receive and check their goods, load one container and lodge one customs entry. One landed cost instead of five sets of freight and clearance charges.
Related pages
- Project cargo — heavy lift, breakbulk, modularised plant and route surveys
- Oversized freight — flat rack, out-of-gauge, permits and escorted transport
- Air freight — breakdown parts and time-critical consignments
- Sea freight — program cargo, wear parts and consumables
- Vehicle and plant shipping — mobile plant, light vehicles and RORO
- Customs clearance — classification of parts, FTA concessions and biosecurity
- Supply chain management — purchase-order visibility and freight spend reporting
- Construction freight — if your work spans civil and resources projects
Talk to us about your site and your shutdown calendar
Send us the site location, the parts you move regularly and the next shutdown window. We will map the program — air for critical, consolidated sea for planned, project handling for capital — and quote it properly.