Total Shipment Visibility, Simplified
Access all your shipment details in one place - track departures and arrivals, manage documents, notifications, invoices, and more.
Access all your shipment details in one place - track departures and arrivals, manage documents, notifications, invoices, and more.
Customs brokers or agents deal with the relevant import / export authorities to ensure the necessary permits, taxes and duties are correctly in place to ensure a hassle free import or export of cargo occurs.
MTF Logistics offers Melbourne based businesses a highly reliable customs clearance and compliance service to ensure efficient and cost effective cargo and shipping operations critical to business supply chain and operations.
With a team of fully licenced customs clearance agents and brokers, MTF Logistics offers an extensive logistics service with professional advice and cost effective solutions for all forms of freight methods including sea shipping, air cargo, road and rail transport.
Attention to detail and diligence at every stage of cargo transit is something the Melbourne custom clearance team take very seriously. Our refined process ensures your cargo arrives at its location complete with all required documentation and permits to facilitate an efficient and cost effective service delivery and reduces delays that can be costly to your business.
All agents & brokers are certified to provide services that can be tailor-made to fit your unique customs clearance requirements and backed up with many years of experience in handling of all customs formalities and Australian Quarantine (DAFF) requirements including:
Our aim is to help your business extend its supply chain to a multitude of locations across the globe. Our experience in the import and export of cargo extends to many overseas ports including Europe, US, Canada, South America, the Middle East and Asia.
Contact MTF Logistics today on 1300 710 683 and speak to our professional freight forwarding consultants to discuss your needs and arrange for an obligation free quote.
Melbourne is the busiest container port in the country, and that scale changes how a clearance runs day to day. Here is what matters for cargo landing in Victoria.
Your container will land at one of three container terminals at the Port of Melbourne, and which one it is has a direct effect on cost and timing:
Each stevedore runs its own vehicle booking system, its own slot availability and its own infrastructure and storage charges. A box discharged at Webb Dock and a box discharged at Swanson Dock are not the same job for your carrier, and the difference shows up in the transport rate.
The volume is real. The Port of Melbourne handled 3.39 million TEU in FY25 (Port of Melbourne trade statistics) and moves more than a third of Australia's container trade (Port of Melbourne port infrastructure). When slots tighten, they tighten quickly, which is why we book transport off the arrival notice rather than waiting for the container to be available.
Melbourne takes a large share of Australia's inbound machinery, vehicles, parts and steel from Europe and North America, which puts a lot of Victorian cargo squarely inside the brown marmorated stink bug seasonal measures.
For the current season, the measures apply to targeted goods manufactured in or shipped from target risk countries, shipped between 1 September 2026 and 30 April 2027 inclusive (Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry advice 151-2026).
The practical point is this: treating the goods offshore before they sail is almost always cheaper and faster than having them treated on arrival. Onshore treatment means unpacking, moving the cargo to a treatment provider, waiting for a slot, then re-delivering — while empty container detention keeps running. If you are importing targeted goods in that window, tell us before the booking is made, not after the vessel has sailed.
In our experience three things account for most held-up Melbourne clearances, and none of them are the customs entry itself:
Every commercial consignment over AUD 1,000 needs a full import declaration, and that carries charges regardless of what duty rate applies. For an electronic declaration the Import Processing Charge is $50 for consignments valued over $1,000 and under $10,000, and $152 at $10,000 or more (Australian Border Force). A biosecurity cost recovery charge also applies on full import declarations over AUD 1,000.
GST is charged at 10% of the value of the taxable importation, which is the customs value plus duty plus transport and insurance to the place of consignment — not 10% of the invoice (Australian Taxation Office). You can work the whole lot out on our Australian import duty and GST calculator before you commit to an order.
When the customs broker and the freight forwarder are the same business, nobody is waiting on anybody. The entry is prepared off the same documents used for the booking, the transport is arranged against the actual discharge terminal, and if biosecurity intervenes we are already holding the file rather than chasing it.
If you are importing into Melbourne and want the landed cost checked before you order, send us the details or call 1300 710 683.
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