Home / Quality & compliance
Goods can be perfect and the shipment can still fail. This page is the document set, the inspection regime, the terms we trade on and what happens when something goes wrong.
Not every document applies to every line. The ones that do are listed on the proforma before you open a credit, so there is no discovery at presentation.
The goods description has to correspond with the credit. UCP 600 does not demand a mirror image of the wording — ISBP 745 says so — but anything that conflicts with the credit is a discrepancy, not a technicality, and the bank has five banking days to find it.
Carton count, net and gross weight per line, dimensions, marks and the numbered bolt seal. The seal number carries onto every subsequent document.
Original set of three where title must be negotiable; sea waybill or telex release where it need not. For containerised cargo under FCA, Incoterms® 2020 allows the parties to agree that the buyer instructs the carrier to issue an on-board bill to the seller.
Form AANZ, RCEP or the relevant bilateral form, issued through the ACCI chamber network or Ai Group — or a declaration of origin where approved-exporter status applies. This is the document your customs broker presents to claim the preference.
Generated through DAFF's EXDOC system. The wording must match the importing country's agreed certificate text exactly; a mismatch means the container sits at quarantine.
From a body recognised by JAKIM for Malaysia, or under the BPJPH regime for Indonesia. Importers verify these against the certifier's register, so we name the certifying body before you order.
Certificate of quality, weight or analysis from SGS, Intertek, Bureau Veritas or Cotecna where the contract or the credit calls for one. Draft survey for bulk; tally and sampling for containers.
Methyl bromide or phosphine treatment certificates for grain, plant products and timber packaging; ISPM 15 marked pallets and dunnage are effectively universal on this corridor.
Issued where we sell CIF or CIP. Standard practice is cover at 110% of CIF value, with Institute War and Strikes Clauses added separately.
Mandatory under SOLAS and, in Australia, AMSA Marine Order 42. Method 1 — weighing the packed sealed container — is required for cargo whose components cannot be individually weighed, such as unbagged grain.
We quote against a named place, always: "FCA Melbourne, Incoterms® 2020", never a bare "FOB". A price without a rule and a place is not a price.
| Rule | Risk passes | Where it fits on this corridor |
|---|---|---|
| FOB | On board at the named port of loading | The workhorse for bulk — grain, coal, ores. Also widely used for containers because buyers' credits are written around it, though FCA is technically the correct rule. |
| FCA | At handover to the buyer's carrier, cleared for export | The correct rule for containerised cargo and the one the ICC recommends. Incoterms® 2020 fixed its old weakness by allowing an on-board bill to be issued to the seller. |
| CFR | On board at load port; seller pays freight | Grain and bulk sold on a delivered-freight basis. |
| CIF | On board at load port; seller pays freight and insurance | Common where a buyer's bank or import licence requires seller-arranged cover. Note the default cover is Institute Cargo Clauses (C) — minimum, not all risks. |
| CIP | At first carrier; seller pays carriage and insurance | Preferable to CIF for containerised high-value goods, because Incoterms® 2020 upgraded its default cover to Institute Cargo Clauses (A), all risks. |
| DAP | At the named destination, ready for unloading | Growing on this corridor for finished goods to distributors who want a delivered price but will clear import themselves. |
New counterparties start at sight or against a credit. Terms extend as a record builds — that sequence is not a judgement, it is how the corridor works.
UCP 600. The default for a first shipment or a large single parcel. We check the credit against the contract on day one — expiry, latest shipment date, presentation period, and the exact wording required on the origin and inspection certificates. An amendment costs a few hundred dollars now; a discrepancy costs the payment later.
UCP 600. The buyer takes credit, the seller can discount the accepted draft. The standard structure for repeat food and commodity buyers in the region.
Where the issuing bank's country risk warrants it. Singapore and Hong Kong banks are the usual confirming banks on this corridor.
URC 522. Cheaper than a credit. Under D/P the buyer gets the documents only on payment; under D/A, against acceptance of a draft — which is unsecured credit, and only for an established relationship.
Deposit on order, balance against copy documents. Dominant for small and mid-size container trades here.
The mature-relationship structure, backed by a trade credit policy or a standby credit.
Institute Cargo Clauses (A) is all risks subject to named exclusions and is what we recommend for anything high-value or perishable — wine, meat, dairy, electronics. Clauses (B) and (C) are named-perils covers; (C) is the narrowest, and it is the Incoterms® 2020 default under CIF. A CIF buyer who assumes they are fully insured is usually wrong. War and Strikes Clauses are added separately in every case.
If cargo arrives damaged, the order of operations matters more than the paperwork:
Yes, and for a first order of any size we prefer it — an irrevocable credit at sight protects both sides. Send the draft credit before it is issued and we will check it against the contract, which costs nothing and prevents the discrepancy that would otherwise surface at presentation.
We supply a representative sample at our cost and you cover the courier. For lines where a sample is not meaningful — bulk grain, ores — we supply the certificate of analysis from the shipment's own survey instead.
Generally no. DDP requires the seller to act as importer of record, and in those two markets that is not something we will represent we can do reliably. We quote DAP and you clear, or CIF and your broker clears — which is also almost always cheaper for you.
Yes. Name them in the contract along with the point of inspection and whose certificate is final. We will supply loading supervision access and the packing schedule ahead of the cut-off.
Plus or minus five or ten per cent at seller's option depending on the line, written into the contract. For bulk parcels it is the norm; for containerised cargo we usually contract to an exact carton or bag count.
Retrospective and replacement certificates are possible under most of these agreements, generally within twelve months, but the importer pays MFN duty first and then claims a refund. It is far cheaper to get the form right before the vessel sails — which is why we confirm the exact certificate wording at proforma stage.
Send the product, the quantity, the destination port and the shipment month. You get an indicative offer — or an honest no — in the first reply.