Shipping from Vietnam to Australia by sea: LCL, FCL, biosecurity and BMSB

Sea freight from Vietnam to Australia suits bulky, heavy or non-urgent cargo: furniture, fit-out equipment for cafés and restaurants, and stock for shops and importers. What sets this route apart is biosecurity. Australia controls plant material, wood and agricultural products more strictly than almost any other country, so paperwork that is wrong or missing can leave goods held for inspection or treatment, adding time and cost. This page covers the ports, transit times, biosecurity and BMSB rules, and the duty and GST you should plan for.

Furniture and fit-outs for cafés, restaurants and shops

For owners opening or refitting a venue in Australia, tables, chairs, bar counters, kitchen equipment and retail stock ship as LCL when the load is smaller than a container and FCL when it fills one. Each load is quoted on its own volume.

Goods made of or containing wood must be declared against the import conditions in BICON, the biosecurity database run by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF), and wooden pallets and crates used for packing must meet ISPM 15. We confirm what each product needs before it is packed.

Importing products from Vietnam

Buying from Vietnamese factories and workshops, such as furniture, homewares, handicrafts or packaged food, we can collect from your suppliers, consolidate them into one shipment and handle Vietnamese export customs. Fresh food, meat, seeds and untreated plant or animal products face tight import conditions or need permits; check with us early if your goods fall into this group, since they are the most likely to be held, re-exported or destroyed. For furniture orders, see importing furniture from Vietnam.

Personal belongings

Our consolidated sea service for personal shipments from 22 kg runs reliably to the United States. For Australia, consolidation of personal goods involves an extra biosecurity declaration per item type, so contact us to check whether it is running on your dates.

Household moves and furniture can go as LCL or FCL. Our guide to shipping personal belongings when you leave Vietnam helps you choose between courier and sea.

Air or sea?

Air to Australia is faster, but costs considerably more per kilogram, especially for bulky goods such as furniture and equipment:

Shipment	Suggested mode	Why
One or two boxes, about 50 kg, not urgent	Air express, or shared sea shipping if running	Under 1.5 CBM suits shared sea where available
About 300 kg	LCL	Priced per CBM on a shared container
A full or nearly full container	FCL	Lowest cost per unit once the volume is there

These are reference points only; LCL vs FCL explains the difference in detail. Check your figures with the CBM calculator before asking for a quote.

Ports and sailings

Cargo sails from Cat Lai (Ho Chi Minh City) or Cai Mep (Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Ba Ria-Vung Tau province) to one of the main Australian ports, depending on the route and carrier:

• Sydney: about 18-25 days port to port.
• Melbourne: direct services available, about 18-28 days port to port.
• Brisbane, Adelaide, Fremantle: about 25-35 days port to port.

These are times at sea only and exclude packing, waiting for the sailing, customs clearance and biosecurity inspection in Australia. Sailings run weekly, but schedules change with the carrier and the season, and demand peaks from October to November ahead of the Christmas trading period.

Biosecurity and the BMSB season

Import conditions for each commodity are listed in BICON; wood, agricultural products and food may be inspected or treated before release.

The brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) season for 2026-27 covers goods shipped from 1 September 2026 to 30 April 2027. The mandatory measures apply to goods manufactured in or shipped from target risk countries, mainly in Europe, the United States, Canada and parts of Central Asia. Vietnam is not on the list, so goods made in Vietnam and shipped directly from a Vietnamese port generally do not need BMSB treatment. Vietnamese cargo is affected in two situations:

• Shared LCL containers: if your cargo is consolidated with goods from a target risk country, the whole container can be assessed, and the consolidator must lodge a Master Consolidator declaration before the vessel arrives.
• Vessel routing: if the ship calls, loads or transships at a port in a target risk country on the way to Australia.

Separately from BMSB, every wooden pallet and crate must meet ISPM 15 all year round. DAFF publishes the full measures and the current target country list; we check both against your booking.

Duty and GST on imports into Australia

Shipments valued above AUD 1,000 need a full import declaration. The Australian Border Force (ABF) collects customs duty and 10% GST at the border, with GST calculated on the customs value plus freight, insurance and duty.

Furniture in Chapter 94 generally carries a general duty of around 5%, but Vietnamese-origin goods with a valid AANZFTA certificate of origin enter at 0%. CPTPP and RCEP certificates are alternatives; compare the rules of origin for your product before choosing one.

What a quote for the Australia route includes

A full quote usually covers ocean freight, terminal handling, trucking to the port, CFS fees (LCL only), documentation and bill of lading fees, the carrier’s fuel surcharge, cargo reporting and optional cargo insurance. Because these change weekly, we quote each shipment instead of publishing a table. The sea freight overview explains each charge.

Why Gateway Express for the Australia route

This route calls for a working knowledge of Australian biosecurity, which is a different problem from the security filings on the US lane. We work with ocean partners familiar with BICON declarations, check the documents for each product before packing, and update you at each milestone. For café, restaurant and shop owners, we plan packing and biosecurity paperwork early, so goods do not run up storage charges waiting at the port.

Get a sea freight quote today, or message us on WhatsApp. For small, urgent parcels, see air express shipping to Australia.