Logistics Company Melbourne

Most Melbourne importers run three or four logistics providers. A forwarder books the vessel. A customs broker clears it. A transport company moves it off the wharf. A warehouse stores it. The arrangement works until the day it does not, and then each of the four can point at the other three.

IFC does all four, out of one building in Altona.

An Australian company, not an Australian branch

Several of the biggest names in Melbourne logistics are local arms of global groups. The strategy is set in Tokyo, or Bonn, or Paris, and Melbourne executes it.

IFC is Australian owned and Australian operated, and has been for over thirty years. Our head office is not a floor in a tower in the CBD. It is the front of our distribution centre at Altona, which means the people who make the decisions about your account are in the same building as your stock. If you want to walk your pallets, you can.

What one provider changes

The pitch every logistics company makes is end to end. Most of them mean they have subcontracted the parts they do not do. Here is the practical version of what it means when it is real.

• The team that clears your container through customs is the team that books it into the racking. There is no handover, so there is nothing to fall through.
• Our customs brokers are in-house and licensed. Your entries are not being lodged by a third party you have never met.
• One system. CSCHub carries the shipment from the offshore supplier through to the delivery docket, so your stock does not drop out of view between providers.
• One invoice, and one number to ring when something goes wrong at 4pm on a Friday.

The company

• Over 30 years in business. Australian owned and operated.
• Head office and distribution centre at Altona, 13km from the Port of Melbourne.
• Five Australian warehouses: Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.
• Over 85 shipping locations worldwide, with facilities across Asia, Europe and North America.
• Australian Trusted Trader.
• HACCP, organic and ISO accredited operations.

What we do

• Freight forwarding: Air, sea and road, in and out of Australia.
• Customs clearance. In-house licensed brokers, electronic cargo entry, tariff advice.
• 45,000 pallet capacity warehousing at Altona.
• 3PL Melbourne Services: The whole function run for you, from container to customer.
• CSCHub, our own technology platform.

Who we do it for

Logistics is not the same job in every industry. A pallet of paint and a pallet of vaccines have almost nothing in common once they are through the door.

Food and beverage: HACCP and organic accredited, with reefer container storage and FEFO control, so stock rotates on expiry rather than on whatever happens to be nearest the dock. AQIS inspections are handled on site.

Fashion and homewares: Garment on hanger management through to ticketing and labelling, so product lands retail ready instead of needing a second pair of hands before it can go on a rack.

Electrical and technology: High value stock in a Trusted Trader facility, with licence plate recognition on the vehicle gates and camera coverage down every aisle. Serial number tracking to the unit.

Healthcare: Batch and serial number tracking, which turns a recall into a database query rather than a week of opening cartons. ISO accredited operations throughout.

Agricultural supplies: AQIS inspections on site and organic accreditation, for product that has to satisfy quarantine before it can go anywhere.

Hardware and building supplies: Direct to store programs and the seasonal peaks that break a warehouse built for a flat year. Our work with Total Tools cut supply chain costs and improved their speed to market.