How To Ship Export Wine From Australia

Do It Right
Dec-01-2014
Importing & Exporting, News and Announcements

Wine is exported from Australia in three different ways:

Bulk – in ISO tanks.

ISO tanks come with a variety of litre capacities. The most common used for export from Australia is 21000L because of the road weight restrictions. These tanks are NOT provided by the shipping lines, but by third parties who own the tanks and then lease them on long term or single voyage terms to the exporters who then book these with their shipping line of choice. For wine, these tanks can seem to be relatively expensive, but are virtually necessary for any long haul shipments such as Australia to Sweden.

Bulk – in bladders.

A bladder is just that – similar to a big balloon. These are huge rubber bags that fit inside a 20′ container. You need to open the doors and then build a bulk head so that the wine bag does not fall out of the container as it is being filled. The wine bladder has a valve through which wine is pumped into the bladder. Then when capacity is reached, the pumping stops, the bladder and then the container is sealed for shipment. Unfortunately these bladders tend to have a slow leak or sweat, and are generally used only for short hauls, such as from Australia to New Zealand.

Wine in bottles.

By far the most common way to export wine these days. This allows the exporter to utilise their brand and control the quality and price. Just as you would purchase wine from a bottle shop, the bottles are shipped in cartons that may be hand stacked or shipped on pallets (or a combination of both) – all depending on the processes that prevail at both the exporter and their customer ends; or in many cases for smaller suppliers, 3rd parties.

A major concern is the weight of containers for export. Generally speaking for export from Australia, transport weight restrictions will be reached before that of the container capacity – which is why 40′ containers are rarely used for this commodity. Any exporter should be very mindful of any and all requirements and restrictions prior to loading any containers.