About Us

About Smith Channon

Established in 1894 at Port Adelaide

‍Smith Channon & Co is based in Port Adelaide and is one of Adelaide’s longest established International Freight Forwarders and Customs Brokerage firms. We enjoy a proud and well respected reputation in our field extending from our client base of importers and exporters – locally, nationally and internationally – through to our service providers and trading partners.

Smith Channon operates under Autocare Services Pty Ltd, which forms part of the Optimus Group.

Freight Forwarding

International Freight Forwarding and specialist freight services for imports and exports.

Barrier Clearance

Customs and Quarantine clearance services to ensure compliance with import and export regulations.

Logistics Services

Land-based logistics services and consulting solutions tailored to your business needs.

Our Experience and Approach

We work closely with our clients to understand their business, offering solutions to suit their needs. With a professional team of motivated staff focused on personal service, we continue to achieve and exceed expectations to satisfy our clients and assist them to achieve the business success they desire.

Experience in excess of 100 years, in addition to qualified staff with continual training and development, ensure you can trust in the knowledge our team will focus on helping you achieve results. We strive to build strong lasting relationships with our clients based upon business ethics, standards and sound principles.

Our commitment to continual improvement and training, as well as investment in systems, ensures our history and experience is matched with up to date and timely information relevant to today’s business environment.

Our Global Network

We have developed a strong and reliable network of partners, locally and around the world, enabling us the advantage of flexibility in this ever changing scope of freight movement. Independent of the large freight providers and the various delivery networks – but we still have the capability to work with them. This allows us to tailor a specific freight program which gets your freight to where it needs to be at the best cost and in the best time.

You are not locked in to using one particular delivery partner. Our global network of agents extending to more than 90 countries provides us the ability to make strategic decisions locally, for the benefit of all of our international trading customers.

Smith Channon’s client base covers small private businesses through to national and international companies with global import/export operations. While having extensive experience in the automotive sector, we also service clients in manufacturing, industrial supply, retail and foodstuffs.

Smith Channon’s Customer Philosophy

“A customer is the most important visitor on our premises.”
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“A customer is not dependent on us, we are dependent on them. A customer is not an interruption on our work, they are the purpose of it. A customer is not an outsider to our business, they are part of it.”

The Smith Channon Approach

Personalised service. Our team of 18 staff have a commitment to our clients – we work in partnership with them to ensure their freight needs are met and help them grow their business. We get to know their business to help them achieve their import and export freight requirements and let our clients get on with business.

The right advice. We are independent of the large freight companies but work with them. This provides us the freedom to tailor a freight program for our client’s individual business needs and achieve the results they want.

A one-stop shop. Because our brokers work with a network of transport providers and freight forwarding agents around the globe, we are able to handle any freight requirement from small shipments to over-dimensional, heavy-lift, ocean and air-charter assignments. We can do door-to-door and anything in between.

A global network. Our network extends to more than 90 countries, meaning we can arrange for your freight to arrive almost anywhere in the world quickly and cost-effectively.

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The Smith Channon Team

The Smith Channon team comprises 18 people with industry experience ranging from Customs brokerage, import and export freight forwarding, cargo logistics and consultancy.

Their knowledge is high – but it has to be. Having the required knowledge and experience to understand the regulations and various procedures is paramount. We have invested in understanding the regulations and working with the government departments who implement them. We put significant effort into our staff and train them so they are fully aware of the regulations that govern your freight. They are accredited and regularly undertake on-going training and professional development to ensure they are ahead of the ever-changing regulatory environment our clients face.

They also care. Our customer service has kept us in business for 130 years and our staff know the value we place on good customer relationships and management of their freight.

Accreditation & Affiliations

Our team holds the appropriate accreditation to ensure your freight arrives on time and on budget.

Accreditation

Licensed Customs Brokers – Australian Border Force
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) approved
AQIS FCL/LCL Accreditation
Airfreight Export Security
Dangerous Goods Air Compliance

Industry Memberships

International Forwarders & Customs Brokers Association of Australia (IFCBAA)
Business SA
HKABA
AACCI

One of Adelaide’s longest established freight forwarding and customs brokerage firms, providing international logistics solutions from Port Adelaide for over 100 years.