Australia coverage
Know the moment a box is ready — and the moment it starts costing you.
Terminal49 tracks your imports from origin port to Australian wharf — availability, customs and biosecurity holds, and storage start dates — straight from Patrick, DP World, VICT, Flinders and Hutchison terminals across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Fremantle and Adelaide.
Free plan, no credit card. Paste a container number, bill of lading or booking number and see it live in under a minute.
5
major container ports
Every one of them
12
terminals integrated
Direct feeds, not portals
33
ocean carriers tracked
~88% of global capacity
The two clocks
Every import container runs on two clocks. Neither waits for your truck.
In Australia, free time starts the day the terminal makes your box available — not the day you pick it up. From that moment, two separate deadlines are running.
You get about three working days of free time before wharf storage starts, and it escalates every day after that. Terminal49 shows the storage start date for every container and alerts you while there’s still time to book a timeslot.
The line gives you 7–10 calendar days to dehire the empty back to the nominated container park before detention charges begin. That clock starts at availability too, so a box collected late is usually an empty returned late.
Both clocks start at the same moment. The timeline below follows one container the whole way — Shanghai to Melbourne — so you can see where each deadline comes from, and who is counting.
One container, Shanghai → Melbourne
- Carrier
- AIS — live vessel position
- Terminal
Timeline of one import container from Shanghai to Melbourne over 30 days, showing carrier, AIS and terminal milestones above the two free-time clocks that start when the container becomes available on day 20.
Hover, tap or tab through any milestone or clock band. Every dot is coloured by the data source it came from, and the two shaded bands are the two deadlines from the copy above.
Milestones on this timeline
- Day 0: Empty out, Shanghai. Source: Carrier. The journey starts before any wharf: the line reports the empty collected from the depot for packing. A carrier's record can span the whole arc, empty out to empty return — a terminal feed only ever sees its own gate.
- Day 3: Loaded · departs. Source: Carrier. Packed, gated in and loaded on board; departure confirmed. From here Terminal49 follows both the carrier's milestones and the ship itself.
- Day 7: Tranships, Singapore. Source: Carrier. The box changes vessels mid-journey. Only the carrier knows this — no terminal or port community system will ever show a transhipment leg. This is exactly where terminal-only tracking silently loses the container.
- Day 10: ETA revised +1 day. Source: AIS. The second vessel's live position shows it running behind schedule. The ETA moves in Terminal49 before the carrier updates anything.
- Day 14: Arrived · berthed. Source: Carrier + AIS. The carrier reports arrival and berthing; AIS confirms the ship is actually alongside. Two independent sources, one verified fact.
- Day 16: Discharged. Source: Terminal + carrier. Both the terminal and the carrier report the discharge at West Swanson Dock; Terminal49 reconciles them and shows the freshest. From here the terminal adds what nobody else has: holds, fees, appointments, releases, availability.
- Day 19: Biosecurity hold. Source: Terminal. The terminal shows a hold against the container, labelled by type: this one is biosecurity, not customs. Your broker hears it from you, a day before the usual email chain.
- Day 20: Available. Source: Terminal. The moment that matters most: free time on both clocks runs from availability, not from pickup. The terminal stamps it, Terminal49 records it, and the storage clock starts there.
- Day 22: Gate out. Source: Terminal. The truck collects on day 22, inside free time. Reported by the terminal gate and echoed in the carrier's track — cross-checked, not assumed.
- Day 20: Available — both clocks start. Free time on both clocks runs from availability, not from pickup.
The two clocks
- Pickup clock · terminal — ~3 working days free. About three working days free from availability, then the stevedore's storage charges start — and they step up the longer the box stays on the wharf. Picked up — day 22: One day inside free time. Storage avoided.
- Empty-return clock · shipping line — 7–10 calendar days to dehire. Seven to ten calendar days from availability to dehire the empty at the nominated container park, then detention accrues daily. Shown here as market education: Terminal49 tracks the storage start date today, and dehire-by tracking is on the roadmap. Empty dehired — day 26: Returned to the nominated park two days before detention. The carrier's empty-return event closes the same journey it opened at empty out. Clock stopped.
Customs and biosecurity
Cleared by customs. Held by biosecurity. Know which is which.
An Australian import can be held by two different agencies, independently: the Australian Border Force (customs) and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (biosecurity). A box can clear one and sit under the other — and finding out late means storage and detention charges you can’t get back. Biosecurity holds get no storage-fee relief at the terminal.
Terminal49 labels every hold with its type, so your first question — “is this customs or biosecurity?” — is answered before you ring your broker.
Same container, two agencies
- In progress
- Cleared
Two agency lanes for the same container between day 14 and day 20: customs clears on day 15, while biosecurity holds the container for a tailgate inspection until day 19.
Hover, tap or tab through either lane. This is the story the copy tells: cleared by customs on day 15, still held by biosecurity until day 19. One “hold” flag can’t tell you that; two labelled lanes can.
What happens in each lane
- Customs · ABF
- Day 14 to day 15 — Assessing. The import declaration was lodged before arrival; the ICS evaluates it against risk profiles. Most clean entries clear within a day or two of lodgement.
- Day 15 to day 20 — Cleared. Duty and GST paid, no examination. Customs is done — but the box still can't move, because the other lane isn't.
- ✓ Clear — day 15. One agency down. If you only track 'customs status', this container looks ready two days before it actually is.
- Biosecurity · DAFF
- Day 14 to day 17 — Referred — documents assessed. The packing declaration and documents are assessed against import conditions. Nothing moves until the department decides.
- Day 17 to day 19 — Tailgate inspection directed. A biosecurity officer directs the container for inspection — doors opened, cargo face and floor checked. Terminal49 labels this hold biosecurity, not customs, the moment it appears.
- Day 19 to day 20 — Cleared. Inspection passed. Now both lanes are green and the box can actually be picked up — two days later than 'customs cleared' suggested.
- ✓ Released — day 19. The real ready date. Storage free time has been running since availability — knowing which agency you're waiting on is how you decide who to chase.
- Day 19: Both clear — box can move.
Importing machinery, vehicles or metals from Europe, North America or Japan?
From 1 September to 30 April, the BMSB (stink bug) seasonal measures apply to target goods shipped from target-risk countries — most of Europe and North America, plus Japan, Turkey, Georgia, Russia and Kazakhstan. Goods shipped without the right offshore treatment can be ordered treated, re-exported or destroyed. In season, hearing about a biosecurity hold on the day it lands means rebooking a slot; hearing about it a week later means storage nobody will refund.
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep — seasonal measures apply
- Oct — seasonal measures apply
- Nov — seasonal measures apply
- Dec — seasonal measures apply
- Jan — seasonal measures apply
- Feb — seasonal measures apply
- Mar — seasonal measures apply
- Apr — seasonal measures apply
- May
- Jun
BMSB season — applies to target goods shipped on board 1 September to 30 April.
Australian terminal coverage
Five ports. Twelve terminals live today.
Straight from the terminal systems: availability, holds, storage start dates and gate-out events — the same facts you’d chase across each stevedore’s portal, in one place.
Patrick, DP World, VICT, Flinders and Hutchison are live across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Fremantle and Adelaide.
| Port | Terminal | Operator |
|---|---|---|
| Sydney (Port Botany)AUSYD | Patrick Sydney AutoStrad Terminal | Patrick Terminals |
| DP World Sydney | DP World Australia | |
| Hutchison SICT | Hutchison Ports | |
| MelbourneAUMEL | Patrick East Swanson Dock Terminal | Patrick Terminals |
| DP World West Swanson Dock Terminal | DP World Australia | |
| VICT Webb Dock East | Victoria International Container Terminal | |
| BrisbaneAUBNE | Patrick Brisbane AutoStrad Terminal | Patrick Terminals |
| DP World Brisbane (Fisherman Islands) | DP World Australia | |
| Hutchison BCT | Hutchison Ports | |
| FremantleAUFRE | Patrick Fremantle Container Terminal | Patrick Terminals |
| DP World Fremantle | DP World Australia | |
| AdelaideAUADL | Flinders Adelaide Container Terminal | Flinders |
Every major carrier into Australia. Yes, including ANL.
Terminal49 tracks containers across the lines that actually call Australia: ANL, MSC, Maersk, CMA CGM, COSCO, OOCL, ONE, Hapag-Lloyd, Evergreen, HMM, Yang Ming, TS Lines, PIL, Wan Hai, ZIM and Swire Shipping and more — 33 carriers covering around 88% of global capacity. Asia–Australia, trans-Tasman, Pacific Islands, Europe and the Americas via transhipment.
Your 7am check, without four tabs and a spreadsheet
Every morning your team answers the same four questions: which boxes became available overnight? Which are held — and is it customs or biosecurity? Which hit storage if they don’t move today? Which empties still haven’t been returned?
Today that means the stevedore portals, your broker’s emails, the shipping lines’ sites and a spreadsheet. Terminal49 answers all four on one screen — then your team books the timeslots and dehires in the systems they already use.
Terminal49 doesn’t replace your VBS or your empty park bookings — it tells you which containers need action before you open them.
The old way — four tabs and a spreadsheet
- Stevedore portal #1is it available? holds? storage date?
- Stevedore portal #2same again, other terminal
- Shipping line portalETA still right? release issued?
- Broker's overnight emailsany holds? which agency?
- The spreadsheetwhich empties are due back?
Four logins and a spreadsheet, one container at a time, every morning.
With Terminal49 — one screen
This morning
38 containers watched
7:04 am AEST · 24/08/2026
Illustrative — not a live account view
- OKBecame available overnight
- 6
- UrgentHeld — 1 biosecurity, 1 customs
- 2
- WatchStorage starts tomorrow
- 3
- WatchEmpties not yet returned
- 4
One login. Every line and terminal Terminal49 covers, storage start dates included.
Then book your slots and dehires in the systems you already use.
Every milestone, into your TMS or your inbox
Push every milestone into your TMS or spreadsheets through the Terminal49 API and webhooks — including CargoWise-based workflows — or work straight from the dashboard and the daily email digest.
An ETA is a calculation, not a promise
A terminal feed — the data behind your daily portal checks — can only see its own gate. It doesn’t know your box changed vessels in Singapore, and it goes quiet the moment the truck leaves. That’s why Terminal49 stitches three sources into one record.
- 01
Ocean carrier events
The full arc, empty out to empty return: bookings, loads, transhipment legs, vessel milestones and gate moves. 33 lines, roughly 88% of global capacity.
- 02
Live AIS vessel positions
Arrived, berthed and departed verified against where the ship actually is, not where the schedule said it would be.
- 03
Direct terminal feeds
What only the terminal knows: availability, holds, storage dates, fees, appointments, releases and gate-outs at the Australian terminals above.
One verified container record
Each source checks the others: when a carrier’s ETA disagrees with the ship’s live position, the position is what you see, labelled with where it came from.
When sources disagree, Terminal49 shows the freshest verified fact. Where the data comes from
The same container, three different jobs
For importers
See availability, holds and the storage start date for every box without waiting for your forwarder's email — and give your warehouse real dates to plan unloads against.
For freight forwarders and customs brokers
Track every client's containers across every line in one place, catch holds and storage exposure before the client calls you, and feed clean milestones into CargoWise or your own system through the API. Clients get their answer before they pick up the phone.
For exporters
Track bookings and containers through to vessel departure, so a cutoff change reaches you while there is still time to act on it.
What importers and forwarders say
“Terminal49 allows us to stay on top of ever changing vessel schedules. We reduced manual shipment tracking by 90%, which saves us ~20hrs/month per person. That time can now be spent on high value projects for customers.”
Armin Frey
Jaguar Freight
“Before, our supplier's ETAs were never reliable. With Terminal49, we get more accurate ETAs and information we can rely on.”
Yuske Abe
Yokohama Tire (Canada) Inc.
“The best thing about Terminal49 is being able to catch issues before they turn into disasters.”
Barbie Williams
Williams Clarke Company
Frequently asked questions
Start tracking your Australian imports
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