Thread: importing timber to australia

dont really know why you want imported timber when you have the best in the world allready here

Hi,
If you send a small amount in the post you will have no problems if the wood is safe. It must have no bark , insects or insect holes .If it is kiln dried ask the sender to note that in the green sticker (cn22?). If customs doesn't approve it they will ask you if you want it 'nuked' or destroyed.
I have not had any problems with small blanks etc. Postage is a killer these days.
Good luck,
Graham.

Most commercial quanities must have documentation that the wood was sourced from a sustainably managed forest and not from illegaly logged forest.
It will also need AQIS paperwork for fumigation or heat treatment or they will bill the sender for the treatment or destruction of the wood. Or they will send it back to the sender and bill them the cost.

Give the Customs service a call. It will save you headaches in the future.

If it's a large amount use a customs broker... $$$ but at least your timber will not go up in smoke... The bark, insect, pin hole, kiln dried, fumagated rules apply to the pallets and packing timber too.

I have a friend who imports furniture from the phillipines, all the furniture was fine but the $1-a-day workers at the other end used un-approved pallets and other dunage, to secure the load in the container. When it was opened for inspection at the port they found a little bark on some of the pallets, he was contacted and given two options...
Have it destroyed or
pay for ALL handling, transport to the approved fumigation location, fumigation, storage for a number of weeks, re-instection, return freight to port, for his collection.
It was cheaper to have the whole container burnt and imported other "clean" contain of the same furniture.

Small amounts in the post, like guitar backs etc etc no problem.

Originally Posted by mongrell

dont really know why you want imported timber when you have the best in the world allready here

i take it you are not originally from here by your comment.why wouldn,t i want imported timber, how much lignum vitae do we grow here?how much sicamore?, and so on. i know we have the best timber in the world here,that dont mean i will only use aussie wood,we have the best beer in the world too ,but who drinks heinikken,or those other beers from other places,or drive jap cars,eat asian seafood ,wear overseas woolen garments,when we have good wool here,overseas wheat products when we have shiploads of the stuff here, and probubly the best in the world also,we grow lota of rice but buy from asia. smoke yankee cigarettes,dutch cigars.why do we buy foriegn electronics, medicines ? could go on forever, doesnt make me un australian.. so you really dont know why i would import overseas timber, BECAUSE I CAN.
.............bob...............

On this end... I just moved back from the States and brought some S3S hardwood in my household goods container. We did not use a freight forwarder on this end to try to save some money with mixed results. We had to have our goods inspected by AQIS in a bonded warehouse facility. The government fees weren't huge but there is GST and duty charged on "commercial" goods. You have to pay for the transfer of goods from the port to the quarantine facility, unpacking, and inspection fees. This fee varies widely since most of these facilities do large commercial volume and while they were very helpful and nice, I could tell they would rather be dealing with their regular freight forwarders. AQIS were very strict about bark, borer evidence, and sawdust. I had a 40+ year old wood plaque covered in about a 3 mil thick layer of varathane. The edge, had a thin layer of bark that I hadn't even noticed. It cost $100 to destroy because of the bark. I don't know what the cost to heat treat timber is, but as I understand it, there are only 2 facilities in Melbourne and you have to pay for transfer, treatment, and re-inspection if they say so. The timber I brought was passed without treatment. My tools were another story. I had spent a full day cleaning, vacuuming, oiling every nook and cranny I could find. There was a handful of sawdust that vibrated loose from the inside of my table saw during transit. As a result, all 5 of my bigger tools had to be steam cleaned and re-inspected. They were cleaned and passed re-inspection and I should get them back Monday or Tuesday. Until then, I don't know if they will even work again depending on how aggressive the cleaner was with the steam. Never mind the fact that the sawdust was from the same lot of timber that was imported in S3S form... Sawdust looks like borer poop.. All in all, it was nice to see them err on the side of caution. The US is full of introduced pests and disease destroying native species. The shipping company's also don't like working with one-off shipments either. We played 20 questions with them regarding our arrival date, they sent our arrival notice to the wrong address on a Friday resulting in $275 wharf storage fees for the weekend. You will also have to pay a document fee at which time they will suggest that you "should use a freight forwarder next time"... The take home lesson is there is the potential for added fees at each step of the process and sometimes you think you've done all the right things and asked all the right questions and you still get blindsided and it will probably cost money.

On the US side, as was posted previously, the seller could inadvertantly cause expensive problems if your lumber has any bark, borer holes, saw dust, or is packed on non-heat treated pallets. Make sure you get a firm quote for shipping on that end and watch out for "possible additional charges". I would also check into your credit card's buyer protection coverage. Remember, if they demand a wire transfer or international money order, it will take you 5+ weeks to find out if you receive the board footage you paid for. With a credit card, you could dispute the charges. And finally, be explicit about what grade of timber you are expecting. The last thing you want to do is spend alot of money, wait 5 or 6 weeks planning a beautiful cherry sideboard and find out you were sent a bunch of 10 cm wide sticks that are 30% sapwood even though you received the correct board footage you paid for. I worked at a custom furniture shop in the States that purchased $10,000 to $25,000 worth of "select" quarter-sawn white oak every 6 weeks. You would think we were a big enough fish to satisfy but it wasn't unusual to reject 20-50% of the delivery because they would slip in a bunch of cheaper rift-sawn oak. I don't want to sound too negative, but I have been screwed more than once by peeps that were "gonna take care of me". Before you transfer any $$$, make sure everything is ironed out and in writing. Once it's on it's way, it can only cost more to fix any problems.

As for me, I'm looking forward to working with the native timber here. Jarrah is an "exotic" there and costs 20% more than cherry lol....

Couldn't agree more Bob.
Yes we have wonderful timbers. Are they the best in the world? Not necessarily, as it all all boils down to usage.
I would suggest that for those inhibited in their thinking by patriotism that you investigate other wood forum sites.
Take a look at penturners.org and troll through their site. I would love to get my hands on some of the timbers I see there, and one day I will.