**A representative 5 CBM Bali furniture order — a carved bed, two nightstands, a dining table and six chairs — ships door-to-door to Australia by LCL sea freight for about USD 1,750-2,250 at the USD 350-450 per CBM band, indicative as of 2026. Add crating, insurance and clearance and the all-in budget lands near USD 2,300-3,300.**
If you are pricing one specific haul rather than the service as a whole, this is the itemized companion to our full furniture shipping to Australia page. That page gives you the end-to-end door-to-door walkthrough and a scoped quote; this one costs a single representative order line by line, so you can sanity-check any estimate before you commit to a teak daybed in Seminyak.
The order below is illustrative, not a real customer: 5 CBM of solid-wood furniture — a carved king bed, two nightstands, a six-seat dining table and chairs — bought across a couple of Ubud and Seminyak showrooms, crated, consolidated near Denpasar and shipped by LCL sea freight to a home address in Sydney. Every figure is indicative as of 2026 and settles once scope is confirmed.
How is the per-CBM cost of this order calculated?
Furniture is billed by the space it occupies, not its weight. Timber is heavy, but a crated wardrobe is mostly air, so forwarders price by cubic metre (CBM). Our 5 CBM order sits squarely in the LCL door-to-door band of USD 350-450 per CBM to Australia.
The freight maths is simple: CBM count multiplied by the band.
- Low end: 5 × USD 350 = USD 1,750
- High end: 5 × USD 450 = USD 2,250
That freight line already assumes sea (not air), consolidated LCL loading rather than a private container, showroom pickup on the Bali side and delivery to the Sydney address. What it leaves out is crating, insurance and Australian-side charges — which is exactly where a bare per-CBM number and a real invoice drift apart.
What does the full itemized budget look like?
Here is the same 5 CBM order costed line by line. The freight line uses the canonical per-CBM band; the other lines are indicative and confirmed on a scoped quote.
| Cost line | Basis | Indicative amount (USD, 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| LCL sea freight, door-to-door | 5 CBM × USD 350-450 | 1,750-2,250 |
| ISPM-15 crating, solid-wood pieces | per crate + added volume | 250-450 |
| Marine insurance | small % of declared value | 60-150 |
| Australian customs clearance | broker fee | 150-300 |
| Biosecurity inspection | standard arrival check | 50-120 |
| Estimated all-in | ~2,300-3,300 |
Two honest caveats. Duty and GST may apply on top depending on declared value and status — worth confirming before you buy. And if the arrival inspection finds bark, soil or pests, a clean or fumigation order adds cost at the wharf. Building compliant crating in at origin is the cheapest way to keep that risk small.
As an independent shipping concierge, Bali Furniture Shipping is not a carrier or a licensed customs broker; freight and clearance are arranged through vetted licensed forwarders. Send a shopping list to the Bali Premium Trip trade desk on WhatsApp 6281128590000 or sales@balipremiumtrip.com and it returns a scoped quote within 24 business hours.
What changes the total on your own order?
Swap our 5 CBM set for your own and a few levers move the number:
- Volume (CBM). The biggest lever by far. Measure the boxed, crated dimensions of each piece — a headboard with packing is larger than the headboard alone.
- Crating share. Solid-wood and inlaid pieces need compliant crates; a load of small, sturdy items crates cheaper than a few fragile carved panels.
- Destination city. Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth each carry their own port and last-mile costs; a regional or remote address adds delivery distance.
- Door-to-door versus port-to-port. Port-to-port looks cheaper until you arrange origin trucking and home delivery yourself. Door-to-door folds Ubud, Seminyak, Canggu or Kerobokan pickup and Australian delivery into one line.
- Sailing flexibility. LCL waits for a container to fill. A flexible date usually prices better than a rush.
To see how these scale, here is the same per-CBM band across common Bali loads.
| Furniture load | Approx. volume | Indicative freight (USD, door-to-door) |
|---|---|---|
| Single teak coffee table | 0.5-1 CBM | 175-450 |
| Carved bed frame + nightstands | 2-3 CBM | 700-1,350 |
| Our worked-example set | 5 CBM | 1,750-2,250 |
| Bedroom + living haul | 6-8 CBM | 2,100-3,600 |
| Whole-villa furnishing | 10-15 CBM | 3,500-6,750 |
There is no minimum — LCL starts at 1 CBM — so a single chair is costed the same way, just with a smaller CBM figure.
When does a full container beat per-CBM LCL?
Our 5 CBM order is firmly LCL territory: you only pay for the space you use. Once a load climbs past roughly 12-15 CBM, it is worth asking for both an LCL and an FCL (full-container-load) quote and comparing.
| Option | Best for | Indicative pricing (2026) |
|---|---|---|
| LCL door-to-door | 1-10 CBM, single buys to a partial home | USD 350-450 per CBM to Australia |
| 20ft container (FCL) | ~25-28 CBM, a full apartment | ~USD 2,500-4,500 (Indonesia-USA reference) |
| 40ft container (FCL) | ~55-58 CBM, a whole villa | ~USD 4,000-7,000 (Indonesia-USA reference) |
The container figures are quoted Indonesia-to-USA as of 2026 for scale — Australia rates differ — but the crossover logic holds: below a dozen-odd CBM, LCL almost always wins.
What Australian biosecurity costs should you plan for?
Australia runs one of the strictest biosecurity regimes anywhere, and wood furniture triggers it. The relevant standard is ISPM-15. According to the IPPC/FAO ISPM-15 standard, solid-wood packaging thicker than 6 mm used in international trade must be debarked and treated — either heat-treated to a core temperature of 56°C for at least 30 continuous minutes, or fumigated with methyl bromide — then marked with the recognised IPPC certification stamp, preferably on two opposing faces of the crate.
Australia’s Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) confirms ISPM-15 covers both coniferous and non-coniferous raw-wood packaging — pallets, dunnage, crating, cases, packing blocks and skids — and requires heat treatment or methyl bromide fumigation to ISPM-15 specification plus that certification mark. In practice the crate must be compliant before the container sails, and an arrival inspection may still call for cleaning or fumigation if bark, soil or pests turn up. That is why the itemized budget above puts crating at origin, not clearance, as the place to spend.
How long does it take, and what does the timing cost?
Sea transit from Bali to Australia runs about 4-8 weeks as of 2026, before you add crating and consolidation at the Bali end and customs plus delivery at the Australian end. Kerobokan and the wider Denpasar area handle much of the island’s wood-packaging and crating, with loads consolidated at a Denpasar-area warehouse before export. Pickup, consolidation and delivery terms are commercial arrangements confirmed per booking, not government rules.
Timing rarely adds a dollar line, but it shapes the decision. Sea is far slower than air, yet for bulky, low-value-per-kilo furniture it is the only economics that makes sense — air freight on our 5 CBM set would cost several times the sea figure. Unless you need the pieces within days, the weeks are the price you pay to keep the invoice near USD 2,300-3,300 rather than five figures.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does 1 CBM of furniture cost to ship from Bali to Australia?
About USD 350-450 door-to-door by LCL sea freight, indicative as of 2026. One CBM is roughly a single carved chair or a compact coffee table once crated. Your total is that band multiplied by your CBM count, so a 5 CBM order runs about USD 1,750-2,250 in freight before crating, insurance and clearance.
What extra costs sit on top of the per-CBM freight rate?
Budget for ISPM-15 crating of solid-wood pieces, marine insurance and Australian-side charges — customs clearance, a biosecurity inspection and any ordered fumigation or cleaning. Duty and GST may apply depending on declared value and status. On our 5 CBM worked example these lift an ~USD 1,750-2,250 freight line to an ~USD 2,300-3,300 all-in budget.
Is sea or air cheaper for a Bali furniture order this size?
Sea, by a wide margin. LCL sea freight prices by volume at USD 350-450 per CBM to Australia, while air freight is billed by chargeable weight and runs several times more for bulky, low-density items like beds and dining tables. Unless you need the order within days, sea is the sensible choice for furniture.
How is my order’s CBM measured?
By the boxed, crated outer dimensions of each piece, not the bare furniture. Length × width × height in metres gives cubic metres; add each piece together for the order total. Because packing adds a little volume, measure the crate, not the timber. The trade desk can convert a shopping list into an estimated CBM figure within 24 business hours.