A forwarder collapse is one of the few moments in importing where the order you do things in matters more than anything else. Your containers keep moving, the storage meters keep running, and your documents may be sitting in a system you are about to lose access to. This page sets out what to do in the first 72 hours, in order — and, below it, the current case file for ACFS Port Logistics.
This is general information, not legal advice. In any administration, the appointed administrators and receivers are the authority on the process — check their published updates before acting on anything here.
Sources: the administrators' published updates and trade press reporting (Fully Loaded, Prime Mover, Insolvency Insider AU), August 2026. If you are an ACFS customer, the playbook below applies to you now — and every step is worth taking whether or not the business is ultimately sold as a going concern.
Download or request copies of everything for every open and recent shipment: bills of lading, commercial invoices, packing lists, customs entries, arrival notices, and every charge invoice. Portal access can be restricted at any point in an administration, and forwarder trading terms commonly claim a lien — a right to hold what they have — over goods and documents, for all amounts owing, not just the shipment in front of you.
Why first: every later step — checking the final account, switching, claiming refunds — runs on documents. They are easiest to get in the first days, and hardest once positions harden.
List every box: on the water, at the terminal, at a depot, or empty and awaiting de-hire. For each one at a terminal or depot, establish when its free time started and when it ends. Storage does not pause for an administration — published terminal storage rates at major Australian terminals run from roughly $287 to over $1,100 per container per day once free time is exhausted.
Why now: a container stuck for a week of argument can cost more than the freight did. Time, not money, is the thing you are managing this week.
In an administration with receivers appointed, who you pay — and for what — changes. Before paying any invoice, old or new, ask the administrators or receivers in writing which account, for which services, and get the release terms for your cargo confirmed in the same message. Keep every reply.
Why in writing: verbal assurances from a business in administration bind nobody. A short email trail is the cheapest protection available to you this week.
Do not treat the closing balance as a fact. Match every charge line to the quote it came from, check which clock basis each storage and detention line used, and inventory every credit note you were ever issued — credit notes are routinely issued and then never applied to a later invoice unless someone tracks them. Pay what is properly owing; question the rest, in writing, line by line.
Why it pays: freight invoices rarely carry quote references, which is exactly why final accounts go unchecked. The gap between a checked and an unchecked closing balance is often the largest single number in the whole event.
Refunds of overpaid customs duty belong to the owner of the goods — you — and the window to claim runs four years from payment. A forwarder's administration does not touch that right. The records needed to prove a claim must by law be kept for five years, so the evidence exists even where the relationship has ended. Only you, or a licensed customs broker, can lodge a refund application.
Why check now: the end of a forwarding relationship is the natural moment to re-check the four years behind it — classification, valuation, origin, and every charge that flowed through. The window closes month by month whether anyone looks or not.
Choose the next forwarder with open shipments in mind: bookings in transit need a controlled handover, not a hard cut. Bring your document file (step 1) with you — an incoming forwarder can work from day one when the history arrives complete — and settle the old account (step 4) as a checked, documented close, not an estimate paid to make a problem go away.
Why it matters later: the file you carry out of this event is the file every future dispute, refund and audit runs on. Leave with it complete.
Published storage figures above are transcribed from terminal operators' own published notices. GST exclusive.
Salvor is a recovery desk for Australian importers. In a forwarder insolvency we do three things: verify the final account line by line against quotes, published rate schedules and credit notes; assemble and preserve your document file; and prepare any customs duty refund claims found in the four-year window — which you, or your licensed customs broker, then lodge. We are paid from what comes back. If nothing comes back, you pay nothing.
Email the desk — hello@salvor.com.auWe prepare and evidence; claims are lodged by the owner of the goods or their licensed customs broker. Duty only — no GST advice is given or implied. Nothing on this page is legal advice, and nothing here should delay you speaking to the administrators, the receivers, or your own adviser.