This page describes standards, ports and documentation practice. It is not a claim of shipment history or of volume to this market — our published figures are only the ones we can evidence.
Standards
Which standard the drawing cites
Australian drawings and specifications cite the AS/NZS joint standards. For flat product the relevant reference is AS/NZS 1734 for aluminium and aluminium alloy flat sheet, coiled sheet and plate; extrusions are covered by the AS/NZS 1866 series. Where a project is engineered to AS/NZS, the mechanical properties and dimensional tolerances are read from those tables rather than from ASTM or EN — the metal is the same, the acceptance numbers are not.
Logistics
Ports and transit
Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Fremantle handle the bulk of containerised aluminium into the eastern and southern states. Perth and Fremantle serve Western Australia, where a separate discharge avoids the east coast leg entirely. Transit from Shanghai and Ningbo is comparatively short among long-haul routes.
Handling
Packing and service conditions
Distances within Australia are large, so inland legs matter as much as the sea leg — confirm whether the delivery point is port-adjacent or inland before quoting. Coastal discharge plus salt air makes packing worth attention: sealed wrapping and adequate desiccant are cheap insurance on a long voyage.
Specification
Grades usually called for
6063 extrusion dominates architectural supply — window and door systems, curtain wall and balustrade. 5052 and 5005 sheet appear in cladding and marine work along a coastline where salt exposure is a genuine design condition. 3003 and 3105 coil feed roofing and gutter. 5083 plate is specified for marine structure, and the marine tempers, H116 and H321, are the ones to name.
Documentation
Certificates and compliance
ISPM 15 applies to all timber packaging: pallets, crates and dunnage must be heat treated or fumigated and carry the mark. Australia enforces this and a non-compliant pallet can hold a container at the wharf. Mill certificates are expected to identify the heat; on marine and structural work, ask for the specific inspection certificate rather than a generic statement of compliance.
Cost of getting it wrong
Four things that go wrong here
Trade remedy measures on aluminium extrusions have applied to Chinese origin product. Rates, scope and review outcomes change; check the current Australian notice before pricing, and do not rely on a figure quoted from memory.
Assuming an Australian drawing that cites AS/NZS can be satisfied by an ASTM table. It often can, but the tolerances must be checked rather than assumed.
Timber packaging without the ISPM 15 mark — the single most common avoidable delay.
Leaving the marine temper off a 5xxx order and receiving H32 where H116 was designed.
Send us the drawing
If you tell us which standard the drawing cites, we will say whether the quoted mill works to that table and whether the tolerance can be held — before you commit, not on the inspection report.
Trade measures and marking requirements change. We do not publish rates for that reason — we confirm the current position at quotation.