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✈️ Air Freight

China to Air Freight Cost Air Freight (Duty Unpaid)

Door-to-door transit 5-10 business days. Duty and final delivery are inside the published rate.

Air freight operations on the China to Australia lane
Air freight — China to Australia

Air Freight from China to Air Freight Cost runs 5-10 business days door to door, clearing through the destination customs authority. Rates shown are indicative freight estimates; duty, tax and customs handling depend on the commodity and are quoted separately. Send weight, dimensions and product details for a firm figure.

Transit time
5-10 business days
Destination
Air Freight Cost, Australia
Customs authority
the destination customs authority
Duty-free threshold
AUD 1,000

Indicative published channel rate for planning, not a quotation. What you actually pay depends on the product and its HS code, chargeable weight, declared value, duty and tax at destination and the exchange rate on the day — it can come in above or below this.

Current Freight Rates

Price data updating. Contact us for current rates.

Trade Terms Explained — Who Pays for What EXW, FOB, CIF, DDP and seven more — see which costs sit with us and which sit with you

The rate above is quoted on one specific trade term. Change the term and you change how much of the journey to Australia is already inside the price. The table below maps the eleven common Incoterms® against the twelve cost stages of a door-to-door shipment, so you can see exactly where our responsibility ends and yours begins.

  • Seller — Cost and arrangement sit with the seller / shipper.
  • Buyer — Cost and arrangement sit with the buyer / consignee.
  • Negotiable — Not fixed by the rule — agree it in the contract.
Responsibility for each shipment stage under each Incoterms rule
Term 1 Loading on truck 2 Export customs declaration 3 Carriage to port of export 4 Unloading at port of export 5 Loading on vessel / aircraft 6 Main carriage 7 Cargo insurance 8 Unloading at port of import 9 Loading on truck at import 10 Carriage to destination 11 Import customs clearance 12 Import duties & taxes
EXW Ex Works Buyer Buyer — Loading on truck Buyer Buyer — Export customs declaration Buyer Buyer — Carriage to port of export Buyer Buyer — Unloading at port of export Buyer Buyer — Loading on vessel / aircraft Buyer Buyer — Main carriage Buyer Buyer — Cargo insurance Buyer Buyer — Unloading at port of import Buyer Buyer — Loading on truck at import Buyer Buyer — Carriage to destination Buyer Buyer — Import customs clearance Buyer Buyer — Import duties & taxes
FCA Free Carrier Seller Seller — Loading on truck Seller Seller — Export customs declaration Buyer Buyer — Carriage to port of export Buyer Buyer — Unloading at port of export Buyer Buyer — Loading on vessel / aircraft Buyer Buyer — Main carriage Buyer Buyer — Cargo insurance Buyer Buyer — Unloading at port of import Buyer Buyer — Loading on truck at import Buyer Buyer — Carriage to destination Buyer Buyer — Import customs clearance Buyer Buyer — Import duties & taxes
FAS Free Alongside Ship Seller Seller — Loading on truck Seller Seller — Export customs declaration Seller Seller — Carriage to port of export Seller Seller — Unloading at port of export Buyer Buyer — Loading on vessel / aircraft Buyer Buyer — Main carriage Buyer Buyer — Cargo insurance Buyer Buyer — Unloading at port of import Buyer Buyer — Loading on truck at import Buyer Buyer — Carriage to destination Buyer Buyer — Import customs clearance Buyer Buyer — Import duties & taxes
FOB Free On Board Seller Seller — Loading on truck Seller Seller — Export customs declaration Seller Seller — Carriage to port of export Seller Seller — Unloading at port of export Seller Seller — Loading on vessel / aircraft Buyer Buyer — Main carriage Buyer Buyer — Cargo insurance Buyer Buyer — Unloading at port of import Buyer Buyer — Loading on truck at import Buyer Buyer — Carriage to destination Buyer Buyer — Import customs clearance Buyer Buyer — Import duties & taxes
CFR Cost and Freight Seller Seller — Loading on truck Seller Seller — Export customs declaration Seller Seller — Carriage to port of export Seller Seller — Unloading at port of export Seller Seller — Loading on vessel / aircraft Seller Seller — Main carriage Buyer Buyer — Cargo insurance Buyer Buyer — Unloading at port of import Buyer Buyer — Loading on truck at import Buyer Buyer — Carriage to destination Buyer Buyer — Import customs clearance Buyer Buyer — Import duties & taxes
CIF Cost, Insurance and Freight Seller Seller — Loading on truck Seller Seller — Export customs declaration Seller Seller — Carriage to port of export Seller Seller — Unloading at port of export Seller Seller — Loading on vessel / aircraft Seller Seller — Main carriage Seller Seller — Cargo insurance Buyer Buyer — Unloading at port of import Buyer Buyer — Loading on truck at import Buyer Buyer — Carriage to destination Buyer Buyer — Import customs clearance Buyer Buyer — Import duties & taxes
CPT Carriage Paid To Seller Seller — Loading on truck Seller Seller — Export customs declaration Seller Seller — Carriage to port of export Seller Seller — Unloading at port of export Seller Seller — Loading on vessel / aircraft Seller Seller — Main carriage Negotiable Negotiable — Cargo insurance Seller Seller — Unloading at port of import Seller Seller — Loading on truck at import Seller Seller — Carriage to destination Buyer Buyer — Import customs clearance Buyer Buyer — Import duties & taxes
CIP Carriage and Insurance Paid Seller Seller — Loading on truck Seller Seller — Export customs declaration Seller Seller — Carriage to port of export Seller Seller — Unloading at port of export Seller Seller — Loading on vessel / aircraft Seller Seller — Main carriage Seller Seller — Cargo insurance Seller Seller — Unloading at port of import Seller Seller — Loading on truck at import Seller Seller — Carriage to destination Buyer Buyer — Import customs clearance Buyer Buyer — Import duties & taxes
DAT Delivered At Terminal (DPU) Seller Seller — Loading on truck Seller Seller — Export customs declaration Seller Seller — Carriage to port of export Seller Seller — Unloading at port of export Seller Seller — Loading on vessel / aircraft Seller Seller — Main carriage Negotiable Negotiable — Cargo insurance Seller Seller — Unloading at port of import Buyer Buyer — Loading on truck at import Buyer Buyer — Carriage to destination Buyer Buyer — Import customs clearance Buyer Buyer — Import duties & taxes
DAP Delivered At Place Seller Seller — Loading on truck Seller Seller — Export customs declaration Seller Seller — Carriage to port of export Seller Seller — Unloading at port of export Seller Seller — Loading on vessel / aircraft Seller Seller — Main carriage Negotiable Negotiable — Cargo insurance Seller Seller — Unloading at port of import Seller Seller — Loading on truck at import Seller Seller — Carriage to destination Buyer Buyer — Import customs clearance Buyer Buyer — Import duties & taxes
DDP Delivered Duty Paid Seller Seller — Loading on truck Seller Seller — Export customs declaration Seller Seller — Carriage to port of export Seller Seller — Unloading at port of export Seller Seller — Loading on vessel / aircraft Seller Seller — Main carriage Negotiable Negotiable — Cargo insurance Seller Seller — Unloading at port of import Seller Seller — Loading on truck at import Seller Seller — Carriage to destination Seller Seller — Import customs clearance Seller Seller — Import duties & taxes

EXW Ex Works

Buyer takes over at the seller's door and carries every cost from there. Lowest quoted price, highest buyer workload.

FCA Free Carrier

Seller clears the goods for export and hands them to the carrier the buyer nominated.

FAS Free Alongside Ship

Sea and inland waterway only. Seller delivers alongside the vessel; loading is on the buyer.

FOB Free On Board

Sea and inland waterway only. Risk passes once the goods are on board. The most common buying term.

CFR Cost and Freight

Seller pays the main carriage but carries no insurance obligation; risk still passes on loading.

CIF Cost, Insurance and Freight

As CFR, plus the seller must buy and pay for cargo insurance (minimum cover unless you agree more).

CPT Carriage Paid To

Any mode. Seller pays carriage through to the named destination; insurance is not obligatory.

CIP Carriage and Insurance Paid

As CPT, plus the seller must insure the cargo through to the named destination.

DAT Delivered At Terminal (DPU)

Seller delivers unloaded at the named terminal. Renamed DPU (Delivered at Place Unloaded) in Incoterms® 2020.

DAP Delivered At Place

Seller delivers to your address ready for unloading; import clearance and duty stay with the buyer.

DDP Delivered Duty Paid

Seller carries everything through to your door, duty and tax included. Highest quoted price, least buyer workload.

Two things worth flagging. Under CIF and CIP the seller is obliged to buy cargo insurance and pay the premium; under every other term insurance is optional, and we recommend buyers arrange their own cover so a loss or damage in transit is recoverable. And this table is a working summary for planning purposes — the binding definitions are the ones published by the International Chamber of Commerce in the Incoterms® rules, so confirm the exact term wording in your sales contract before you ship.

Service Details

China → Australia CN Air – General Cargo Duty Unpaid

Air freight from China to Australia, quoted per KG. This is a commercial freight service for cargo moving in volume, not a parcel channel — the rate card below starts where courier pricing stops making sense.

Cargo on this service moves through SYD (Sydney), MEL (Melbourne) and BNE. Clearance happens at the arrival airport, so an inland consignee adds a trucking leg on top of the transit time quoted here. Expect 3–7 days of dwell at destination before release.

This rate is freight only. Import charges for Australia are assessed separately on arrival — GST 10%; duty 0–5% — and whoever is named as importer of record is liable for them. If you would rather have one all-in number, ask us for the duty-paid version of this lane.

Space on this lane tightens through Sep–Nov, which is peak season for Australia. Rates published outside that window are not a reliable guide to what you will pay inside it, so if your order lands in peak, book earlier rather than budgeting from an off-peak figure.

Current Rate Card

  • 21-49 — USD 35.57 per KG
  • 50-99 — USD 34.56 per KG
  • 100-299 — USD 34.06 per KG
  • 300-499 — USD 33.55 per KG
  • 500-999 — USD 33.05 per KG
  • 1000+ — USD 32.54 per KG

Last refreshed 2026-08-06.

Rates on this lane are per kilogram of chargeable weight, which is the greater of actual gross weight and L×W×H ÷ 6000. One cubic metre of cargo is treated as about 166.7 kg, so anything lighter than that per cubic metre is billed on the space it occupies rather than on the scale reading. Knowing which side of that line your cargo falls on changes the quote more than any negotiation will.

The consignments that move regularly on this service into Australia are dominated by electric motors (HS 84), where clearance turns on cE marking to the Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC with a signed declaration of conformity, tableware (HS 94) and prefabricated building (HS 68 / 69 / 70 / 44). We publish a handling brief for each, because the difference between a clean clearance and a two-week hold is almost always documentation prepared before the cargo leaves the factory rather than anything that happens in transit.

We fly this lane into SYD (Sydney), MEL (Melbourne) and BNE. Clearance happens at the arrival airport rather than at the delivery address, which matters if your consignee is inland: the customs step and the trucking step are separate, and only the first sits inside the transit time quoted above.

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Additional Information

What This Rate Covers — and What It Does Not

Chargeable weight on this service is the greater of actual weight and volumetric weight, with volumetric calculated as length × width × height in centimeters divided by 6000. For anything light and bulky the volumetric figure is the one that bills, which is why carton dimensions are worth optimizing before you book rather than after the cargo is weighed at the airport.

  • General commercial cargo. Battery, magnetic, liquid and powder content must be declared at booking, not on arrival
  • Chargeable weight is the greater of actual and volumetric weight (divisor 6000)
  • Fuel and security surcharges, remote-area delivery and oversize handling are quoted on top where they apply
  • Routing on this lane is via SYD (Sydney), MEL (Melbourne) and BNE — inland delivery beyond that point is quoted against the delivery address
  • Clearance at destination is handled by Australian Border Force (ABF)
  • Australia de-minimis: AUD 1,000 — commercial consignments sit above it and are dutiable in full
  • Destination conformity: RCM mark; biosecurity inspection for timber/packaging

On the duty side, the applicable regime is: GST 10%; duty 0–5%. Those are planning references rather than a ruling: the rate that binds is the one assessed against your declared HS code at the moment of entry, and classification is where most landed-cost surprises actually originate. Duty and tax are settled in AUD at destination.

Every shipment needs a commercial invoice and a packing list that agree with each other, plus destination certification where the commodity requires it. The most common cause of delay we see is not the freight at all — it is a declared value or a goods description that does not match what is in the cartons, which turns a routine clearance into an inspection.

Where these numbers come from

Every duty and tax figure quoted on this page is our working estimate for planning, not a ruling. The binding rate for your consignment is whatever Australian Border Force applies against your declared HS code on the day of entry, and their published guidance is the source to check before you commit stock.

Most landed-cost surprises trace back to classification rather than freight. the WCO Harmonized System defines the heading structure every customs administration builds on, and ITC Market Access Map will show you the duty a given heading attracts in this destination.

On the air side, anything with a cell or a battery in it, plus liquids, powders, magnets and aerosols, is governed by the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations. Those articles are not refused outright, but they need to be declared at booking so the shipment is built correctly — declaring them late is the single most common cause of an air consignment being offloaded.

For a wider view of how importing into Australia actually works — documentation norms, inspection behavior, the paperwork that tends to hold shipments — the U.S. ITA guide to Australia customs regulations is a useful independent read alongside our own lane notes.

China to Australia — Shipping Reference Data

Main air gatewaysSYD (Sydney), MEL (Melbourne), BNE
Destination customs authorityAustralian Border Force (ABF)
De-minimis / duty-free thresholdAUD 1,000
Import tax & duty regimeGST 10%; duty 0–5%
Local currencyAUD
Typical clearance / dwell time3–7 days
Peak / busy seasonSep–Nov
Conformity & certificationRCM mark; biosecurity inspection for timber/packaging

Thresholds and duty bands are buyer-planning references, not formal customs rulings — confirm the exact HS-code rate for your goods before shipping.

Free 3D Loading Tools for This Air Route

This page covers a Air freight service from China to Australia. Use the matching tool below to plan your cargo before requesting a quote.

3D Carton Packing Calculator

Before tendering this CN Air – General Cargo Duty Unpaid shipment, check how many units really fit per carton — the 3D packing tool computes layers, rotation, and protective gaps for your exact product dimensions.

Open Packing Tool →

Australia Air Freight Checklist

  • Label every carton with destination, carton number, and total count (e.g. 3/12).
  • Book 2-3 days before your target ETD; same-day air bookings usually carry premium rates.
  • Keep single cartons under 30 KG for air handling to Australia to avoid overweight surcharges.
  • Lithium batteries and liquids need pre-approval on most air routes — declare them upfront.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does CN Air – General Cargo Duty Unpaid from China to Australia take?

Air freight on this route runs about 5–10 business days door-to-door, plus roughly 3–7 days of clearance/dwell once it reaches the gateway. All times include customs clearance under DDP terms.

What duties and taxes apply when importing into Australia?

Clearance is handled by Australian Border Force (ABF). The regime is: GST 10%; duty 0–5%, with a de-minimis position of AUD 1,000. Under DDP these are pre-paid, so nothing is collected on arrival.

Can you ship special cargo (batteries, branded goods) to Australia?

Yes — battery cargo by air follows IATA PI966/PI967; we run certified battery channels via SYD (Sydney), MEL (Melbourne), BNE. Brand-goods and DG paperwork are handled within the DDP service. Surcharges apply.

When does capacity tighten on the China–Australia lane?

Space and rates tighten around Sep–Nov, plus the China-side windows of Chinese New Year (Jan/Feb) and Golden Week (early Oct). Book 1–2 weeks earlier in these periods.

What does DDP shipping to Australia include on this route?

DDP means we quote the freight, the customs entry with Australian Border Force (ABF) and last-mile delivery in Australia together, so you settle once. The duty and tax portion depends on your product's HS code, declared value and the exchange rate at entry, so it is confirmed against your actual goods — the figures on this page are indicative and can move either way.

What certification is needed to import into Australia?

For regulated goods, plan for: RCM mark; biosecurity inspection for timber/packaging. Missing conformity paperwork is the most common clearance hold with Australian Border Force (ABF), so confirm requirements for your HS code before shipping.

Shipping Australia cargo by industry

This rate is for the lane. What decides whether the cargo arrives intact is the commodity — how it prices, how it must be packed and loaded, and which compliance step holds it at the border. These guides cover that per industry.

All 60 industry guides →

Get a quote — Australia

Send the cargo details below and we price your actual shipment. Weight, dimensions and what the goods are is everything we need to come back with a firm number.

Answer these and you get a real price, not a range. These are the exact figures a carrier needs before it will quote. Fill them in once and we can price your cargo the same day — leave them out and we have to come back and ask, which is what turns an hour into a week.

kg
ctn
Carton sizeoptional
× × cm
m³
ctr
Built-in battery?* Lithium cells are dangerous goods.
Someone else's brand?* Logos you are not authorised to ship.
Magnetic product?* Speakers, motors, magnets.
Why these three decide everything

They determine whether your cargo can fly, and on which service. A declared battery changes the price; an undeclared one grounds the shipment at the airport and you pay storage while it sits. Unauthorised brands are seized at customs and the freight is lost with them. Magnetic goods need a field test — routine, but it has to be booked ahead. Telling us now costs a click; telling us later costs the shipment.

Sea or air?*
Tick both and we quote both.
When should it move?optional
Photographs of the goodsoptional
    Your details are used to prepare this quotation and nothing else.

    Customs clearance in Australia

    Duty and tax position, certification, typical port dwell and what actually holds shipments at this border — plus who files the entry.

    Australia clearance requirements →