Thirty tonnes, soil in the tracks and a customs service that doesn't forgive. This is the full process that gets a heavy machine out of China and onto your site without surprises.
Step by step
Filmed in the machine yard in China. No stock footage.
Step 01
Before any negotiation we walk the yard and compare real units of the same model. Two identical excavators can be a thousand hours and half an undercarriage apart.
That's where the purchase is won or lost — not in haggling over the price.
Compared on the groundStep 02
Boom, stick, slew and travel. It's started, operated and filmed. If a function is slow or sounds wrong, you see and hear it in the video.
Arguing about a fault with the machine still in China is a conversation. Arguing with it on your site is a lawsuit.
Step 03
It can be 20 % of a used excavator's value. Checked with the machine lifted and moving: chains, rollers, tension and final drives.
It's the part that turns a cheap purchase into an expensive one.
20 % of the machine's valueStep 04
The machine is washed completely before shipping: body, underside, tracks and bucket.
It's the biosecurity requirement that holds the most containers at port, especially in New Zealand and Australia. A gram of foreign soil can cost weeks of storage and a mandatory fumigation.
Prevents customs holdsStep 05
These are where site soil builds up, and the first place a destination inspector looks. They're washed separately, with the bucket raised.
We send you the washing video as documentary backup.
Step 06
Where size allows, the machine is driven in and centred to the millimetre. On larger models the boom comes off or the cab drops, and it travels on flat rack.
It's the manoeuvre that causes the most damage when someone rushes it. Here it's done slowly, with a spotter outside.
Directed manoeuvreStep 07
The machine is strapped to the container floor and chocked so it can't shift at sea. Thirty loose tonnes destroy whatever sits next to them.
Before the doors close, a photo of the complete load. That's your backup if anything looks different on arrival.
Strapped and photographed
Step 08
Commercial invoice, packing list, certificate of origin and, where it applies, the washing certificate for biosecurity.
From departure you get the tracking. We don't disappear when the container closes.
Because it stacks three risks at once: it's expensive, it's used and it's big. The price depends on data that can be faked, the condition depends on an in-person inspection, and the transport depends on someone having washed and lashed it properly.
Any one of the three, done badly, eats the saving of buying in China.
FAQ
Mini and mid-size machines fit a 40ft container, sometimes with the boom removed or the cab lowered. Heavy machines like a CAT 330 usually travel on flat rack or break bulk.
We confirm it once the machine is chosen, because it changes the freight cost considerably.
Because it's the number one reason used machinery gets held at port. New Zealand and Australia inspect for soil, seeds and organic residue.
Washing at origin costs a fraction of a fumigation plus the storage days while it's resolved.
Yes: a dated photo report, start-up and operation video, a photo of the hour meter switched on, and a photo of the load inside the container before sealing.
That's what you claim with if something doesn't match on arrival.
Yes. Part of the negotiation is what gets fixed before loading: bucket, hoses, filters or whatever the inspection turns up.
It's far cheaper to repair in China than at destination, and we put it in writing in the quote.