Not sure where to start? This toolkit spans the NQ supply chain — most tools are container import/export, but not all.
Containers & customs docs → Risk Check · Lead Time · Cost-to-ServeAnyone billed by a shipping line → D&D CalcRoad · rail · bulk · coastal · remote ops → Conditions & Alerts · Fatigue & CoR
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Demurrage & Detention Calculator
Verified tariffs only — rates not confirmed from primary source are excluded
Tariff Coverage — What's Available
🟢 Verified tariff 🔴 No verified tariff available — check carrier portal directly
Select Tariff
Calculate Charges
Demurrage (cargo dwelling in the terminal) and detention (equipment held outside the terminal) are two separate clocks, each with its own free-day window. Enter them separately. Leave detention blank to model a single combined clock.
This carrier's tariff in the dataset is a single published tier set. The two clocks are each run against that same tier structure, so each gets its own free-day window — but if your carrier publishes different demurrage vs detention rates or free days, confirm both directly before quoting.
Rates verified against carrier published tariffs. Always confirm current rates with your carrier before issuing client quotes — tariffs change without notice.
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Shipment Risk Checker
Set direction and commodity — documents are sorted and highlighted by relevance
This tool scores the documents you select — it is decision support, not a compliance clearance. The biggest risk on any shipment is usually a required document you didn't select, so the checker now flags high-risk documents that match your direction/commodity but are missing from your selection. Always confirm requirements with your customs broker and the controlling agency.
Documents Required
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Document Lead Time Calculator
Enter vessel cutoff — see exactly when each document process must begin
Select Documents for This Shipment
Approval times are typical ranges. Add buffer for DAFF inspection queues in peak season — Townsville inspection slots fill weeks ahead during sugar harvest.
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NQ Conditions & Alerts
Seasonal conditions & standing industry alerts across North Queensland — not a live feed
Port of Townsville — Berth & Capability Reference
Standing reference for the region's primary gateway — not a live berth schedule. Confirm current allocations and vessel windows with POTL.
1,2,3,4
Operational berths
…plus 8, 9, 10, 11. There is no Berth 5, 6 or 7. Petroleum is handled exclusively at Berth 1 (pipeline).
12.4 m
Declared channel depth (SWCD)
Sets the draught envelope for vessels calling the port.
Throughput sits around 7 million tonnes and ~59,000 TEU a year, with a Master Plan target of 30 Mtpa by 2050. The Berths 3 & 4 upgrade adds ~360 m of quayline (550 m total across the two berths); Stage 2 Outer Harbour ($690M) reclaims ~90 ha and adds two new common-user berths.
The two rail spines behind NQ's bulk and intermodal freight. Track (below rail) on both is managed by Queensland Rail; above-rail haulage is run by operators including Aurizon and Pacific National. Confirm live status with the relevant operator.
🚆 Mount Isa Line
📍 Mount Isa ↔ Port of Townsville · ~977 km · ~24 h transit
The mineral spine of the North West Minerals Province — copper, zinc, lead, phosphate and containerised freight. Glencore's smelter anode is railed from Mount Isa to the Townsville copper refinery, so the corridor is a single dependency behind much of the region's mineral export.
Carries intermodal and bulk along the eastern seaboard and feeds the NQ ports. Both corridors are exposed to wet-season flooding and washout closures — see the seasonal rail alert above and hold contingency in mine-to-port and intermodal plans.
Build a landed cost estimate for NQ import or export shipments
⚠️ Planning estimates only. Freight rates are indicative ranges — actual rates depend on your carrier contract, season, and market conditions. Verify every line with your freight forwarder before quoting.
Shipment Details
Many goods are Free under an FTA (ChAFTA, AANZFTA, etc.). Default is 0% — set your actual rate from the Working Tariff / your broker. 5% is the general rate, not a safe default.
Cost Components — Adjust to Your Actuals
D&D exposure not included above — run the D&D Calculator separately if storage beyond free days is likely. For NQ imports, add $500–$2,000+ buffer for potential D&D if vessel schedules are irregular.
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Heavy-Vehicle Fatigue & Chain of Responsibility
The rules that govern every road-freight movement in NQ — for schedulers, supervisors, consignors and loaders, not just drivers
Quick reference only — the figures below are the Standard Hours limits for a solo driver of a fatigue-regulated heavy vehicle. BFM and AFM accreditation change them. Always confirm your exact start-time break times against the official NHVR planner before rostering.
Standard Hours — Solo Driver Work & Rest Caps
12 hrs
Max work · any 24 hrs
Minimum 7 continuous hours stationary/night rest in the same 24-hour window.
72 hrs
Max work · any 7 days
Plus at least one 24-continuous-hour stationary rest break in the period.
Within a shift, breaks escalate: after ~5¼ hrs work take at least 15 min; by ~8 hrs a further 15 min; by ~11 hrs a further 30 min (breaks countable in blocks of 15+ min). Your exact clock depends on your start time.
Under the Heavy Vehicle National Law, safety is not just the driver's problem. Every party who influences a transport task shares a primary duty to eliminate or minimise safety risk so far as is reasonably practicable. If you schedule loads, set delivery windows, load or unload a trailer, or send/receive freight, you are in the chain:
Practical NQ triggers: unrealistic delivery windows that push a driver over hours; loads presented late so the driver "makes up time"; overloaded or poorly restrained trailers; long queues at a site that eat into rest. These are shared-liability risks, not just driver errors.
Why this is in a supply-chain toolkit: in North Queensland most freight legs — mine site to port, farm to DC, DC to remote community barge — are road movements. Fatigue and CoR are the everyday compliance layer behind those legs. This card is decision support and general reference, not legal advice; the NHVR is the controlling authority.