What is a packing declaration, and why does your container need one?

If you import sea freight into Australia, sooner or later a broker or forwarder will ask you for a packing declaration — and if you can’t produce one, your container’s clearance slows down immediately. Here’s what the document actually is and how to get it right.

What a packing declaration declares

A packing declaration is a statement from the packer of the container (usually your supplier) describing what was used to pack and secure the goods. The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry uses it to assess biosecurity risk without opening every container. It answers three questions:

1. Was timber packaging used? Pallets, crates, dunnage, skids — and if so, whether the timber is treated and marked under ISPM 15.
2. Is the container free of prohibited packing material? Straw, rice hulls, used fruit cartons, and similar materials are prohibited.
3. Is the container clean and free of live insects, seeds, soil, and animal material?

Per-shipment vs annual packing declarations

• A per-shipment packing declaration covers one container on one voyage. The document must match the bill of lading — container number and vessel details included.
• An annual packing declaration covers a supplier’s shipments for 12 months, provided their packing practices don’t change. If you ship regularly from the same supplier, an annual declaration removes a document from every shipment.

Both must be on the supplier’s letterhead and follow the department’s approved wording. Free templates for both are in our document templates library.

The mistakes that cause quarantine holds

• Wrong or missing container number — the declaration must tie to the specific container.
• Unacceptable wording — the department expects specific phrasing; a supplier’s improvised letter often fails assessment.
• Declaring “no timber” when pallets are timber — an inspection that finds undeclared timber triggers treatment, fees, and scrutiny of your future shipments.
• No declaration at all — the container is assessed as unknown risk and is likely to be directed for inspection, at your cost and on the wharf’s timeline.

What it costs to get it wrong

A container directed for inspection can wait days for an appointment, then incur inspection fees, treatment or fumigation charges, storage at the wharf, and container detention from the shipping line. A one-page document prepared before departure avoids all of it.

If a shipment of yours is under a biosecurity direction right now, or you want your supplier set up with an annual declaration, call us on 1300 247 019 — we handle this every day.