Shipping heavy equipment from the USA to Thailand involves multiple cost layers—ocean freight, inland haulage, port handling, Thai taxes, and preparation—rather than a single “all‑in” rate. For high‑value machinery, customs duty and VAT can represent a significant share of total landed cost depending on HS code, customs value, and any incentives.
This guide focuses on cost structure for heavy equipment, using vehicle examples only as lane benchmarks and highlighting where machinery pricing often diverges. For detailed vehicle numbers, see West Coast Shipping’s breakdown for shipping a personal vehicle to Thailand and use the Asia car shipping calculator for car quotes, then route heavy‑equipment inquiries through the dedicated RoRo & high‑and‑heavy page.
Ocean freight is often one of the largest cost lines, and it depends heavily on whether machinery travels in a container or via RoRo, plus its size and weight.
West Coast Shipping’s Thailand vehicle cost guide provides concrete examples for containerized car shipments to Laem Chabang, which are useful as lane benchmarks—not as heavy‑equipment prices. In that guide, example planning figures for containerized car shipments include about 2,800 USD from California (~24 days), 2,850 USD from New York (~43 days), and 3,475 USD from Florida (~37 days) for personal vehicles, clearly presented as examples rather than live market pricing for all cargo.
Heavy equipment pricing often differs substantially because:
Machines may require flat‑rack or open‑top equipment instead of standard containers.
Out‑of‑gauge dimensions can trigger extra lift, handling, and slot charges.
Special rigging, lifting gear, and stowage rules apply to large or awkward items.
For heavy equipment, those vehicle numbers are best treated as illustrative lane indicators only; actual rates must be built from method, dimensions, and weight for each machine.
Container and RoRo rates follow different commercial logic rather than a single formula:
Container pricing reflects container size (20‑foot, 40‑foot, high‑cube, or flat‑rack), port pair, and carrier conditions; large or OOG machinery often needs special equipment and handling that increases cost compared with a standard car.
High‑and‑heavy RoRo pricing is quote‑based and varies by equipment size, handling needs, routing, and sailing conditions, so any online ranges should be treated as directional only and confirmed against current route‑specific quotes.
Because of this, quotes for each machine—comparing container and RoRo—are more reliable than any generic Thailand “rate band” for heavy equipment.
Before the vessel sails, there are US costs to move, prepare, and document heavy equipment.
Moving machinery from its current location to an export facility or port can be a significant share of total spend. Heavy‑haul and oversize moves are commonly priced case‑by‑case because cost depends on distance, weight and axle configuration, permits, escorts, route surveys, and trailer type, so inland hauling for machinery is typically quoted lane‑by‑lane rather than against a single published rate.
Importers generally obtain route‑specific inland quotes for each project and then integrate them into the overall estimate for the Thailand lane.
Port and export services add distinct cost categories:
Terminal handling and lifts: Container stuffing, crane lifts, yard shunts, and RoRo gate‑in fees are billed as individual service lines and can add meaningful cost depending on the port and equipment.
Export documentation and processing: Bills of lading, export declarations, and any required origin certificates or compliance filings involve service fees from the logistics provider and, where applicable, external agencies.
Special handling for non‑standard units: Additional labor, rigging, or equipment to move non‑running or unusually shaped machines is usually itemized separately.
Freight forwarders commonly show these origin charges as separate line items from ocean freight so shippers can see how they sit alongside the Thailand lane rate.
Once equipment reaches Thailand—most commonly Laem Chabang—destination charges appear on top of freight, duties, and VAT.
Thai ports and terminals apply their own fee structures:
Unloading and yard handling: Container discharge, transfer to a stripping area, unstuffing, and RoRo drive‑off and yard moves are billed according to local tariffs and operator contracts.
Storage and demurrage: If clearance or pickup exceeds the allowed free time, daily storage and demurrage charges apply; WCS’s Thailand vehicle cost guide notes that delays from inspections or documentation issues can materially increase these costs.
Demurrage, detention, and storage are governed by carrier and terminal rules (including free‑time periods), and the amounts actually paid depend on the shipment, the location, and how long the container or equipment stays beyond free time.
Local agents and customs brokers handle customs entries and coordination with Thai authorities:
Customs entry preparation: Brokers charge for preparing import declarations, validating documentation, and submitting entries to Thai Customs.
Port coordination and release: Fees also cover appointment booking, facilitating inspections, and arranging equipment release once duties and taxes are cleared.
Destination charges can be substantial and vary by terminal, agent, and whether cranes, out‑of‑gauge handling, extended storage, or inspections are required, so they are usually treated as a case‑specific budget line for heavy equipment.
For high‑value machinery, Thai import taxes can rival or exceed freight in the total landed cost.
Thai customs duty is set by tariff schedules based on HS classification and origin, not by a single band for “machinery.”
Duty is assessed on a customs value determined by Thai Customs under valuation rules; many practical guides and calculators illustrate this using a CIF‑type customs value for imports as the starting point for budgeting, then applying the HS‑code duty rate.
Origin and trade agreements can change the duty rate for a given HS code, so two machines of the same type from different countries may not face the same rate.
Any duty percentage used for budgeting heavy equipment should be treated as preliminary; HS codes and current rates are best confirmed with a Thai customs broker or directly against official tariff schedules.
VAT is an additional layer on top of import duty and other taxes.
Thailand’s VAT is currently applied at 7%, and cabinet decisions and tax‑advisory updates confirm that this 7% rate has been extended through 30 September 2026 for sales of goods, the provision of services, and imports.
For imports, the Revenue Department and professional tax guides describe VAT as calculated on an import tax base that includes the import value and adds import duty, excise (if applicable), and other taxes and fees prescribed under Thai rules, rather than on the product price alone.
Import VAT is therefore calculated on this formula‑driven base. In practice:
Import VAT is charged on the import value plus any duties and prescribed taxes/fees that apply at import, not just on the invoice price.
Even when duty is reduced or exempted under an incentive, import VAT may still be payable and the VAT base can continue to include other prescribed taxes and fees, so the total VAT effect of an incentive is not always a simple mirror of the duty reduction.
Because of this, importers should confirm with a Thai customs broker or tax advisor exactly how the VAT base will be computed for their HS code, customs value method, and any BOI or other incentive, rather than assuming a predictable one‑for‑one link between duty relief and VAT savings.
Thailand is also tightening rules for low‑value e‑commerce parcels and small consignments, which is relevant mainly for small packages rather than heavy machinery. Tax and professional updates explain that the long‑standing import‑duty exemption for low‑value shipments—commonly referenced around the 1,500‑baht‑and‑below band—will end on 1 January 2026.
The better‑supported position is:
Thailand is cancelling the de‑minimis exemption that waived import duty for goods at or below THB 1,500, effective 1 January 2026. After that date, all imported goods, including shipments at or below THB 1,500, will be subject to duty assessment and VAT under Thai rules, rather than enjoying a duty‑free threshold.
Official and professional explainers emphasise that duty will be collected on low‑value imports, but they do not uniformly confirm a single flat duty rate for every product and channel; some public reporting describes a 10% duty approach for cheap imports, yet implementation can vary by carrier and platform, so it is safer not to treat “10%” as a universal rule.
To stay precise and avoid implying a universal percentage:
Treat the change as the removal of the low‑value duty exemption, not as a blanket “10% duty” rule for all low‑value goods. In practice, duty and VAT on low‑value parcels may be collected under a specific mechanism or on the usual tariff‑classification basis, depending on how Thai Customs and each channel (postal, express, freight) implements the policy.
These measures target courier and small‑parcel traffic and are about closing gaps for cheap online imports, not about changing the core treatment of high‑and‑heavy project cargo, though they can matter if a machinery project also imports parts, tools, or accessories via courier under low‑value thresholds.
Because operational practice can differ between postal operators, express carriers, and freight forwarders, shippers using small parcels should confirm with a Thai broker exactly how duty and VAT are being applied to low‑value imports at the time of shipment, without assuming a uniform 10% rate for every item.
Thailand’s investment‑promotion regime offers potential duty savings for qualifying projects:
BOI‑promoted projects may qualify for import‑duty exemptions or reductions on approved machinery, subject to project conditions, documentation, and the timeframe specified in the BOI promotion certificate or approval.
BOI and trade‑promotion explainers describe relief from or reduction of import taxes and duties for promoted machinery, with Thai Customs applying the project’s privileges when assessing import taxes on listed equipment.
In practice, BOI promotion commonly affects import duty on approved machinery and may interact with other tax mechanisms. Import VAT treatment and recoverability, however, depend on the specific BOI privilege, HS code, and the importer’s VAT status, and on how the general VAT‑base rules are applied to that entry.
A clear way to position this for readers is:
BOI and other incentives can significantly reduce or remove duty on eligible machinery, but they do not automatically remove VAT or guarantee a proportional VAT saving.
Even when duty is reduced or exempted, import VAT is often still payable and is computed using the statutory import VAT‑base formula (which includes the import value plus any duties and fees that apply to that entry), so importers should confirm the exact VAT base and recovery path for their HS code and incentive structure with a Thai customs broker or tax advisor before finalising budgets.
Preparation at origin influences both direct costs (like cleaning) and indirect costs (like delays or extra port charges) when machinery arrives in Thailand.
Used machinery and vehicles can carry soil and organic material that concern plant‑health and quarantine authorities, so cleaning is commonly recommended as a practical risk‑management step rather than a universal statutory requirement.
Professional deep cleaning of undercarriages, tracks, buckets, and cavities helps reduce the risk that inspectors will find visible soil or organic contamination and require treatment or cleaning before release, which can add time and cost at destination.
Thailand’s plant‑quarantine framework treats certain contamination pathways—such as soil and plant pests—as quarantine risks in defined contexts, and more generally, cleaning reduces inspection and quarantine‑delay risk; specific requirements and enforcement vary by authority, shipment, and port.
Cleaning is therefore commonly recommended to reduce inspection or treatment risk, but the level of cleaning expected in practice is case‑by‑case and agent/authority dependent.
Documentation quality and inspection risk also carry cost implications.
Heavy equipment may need technical documentation (spec sheets, serial lists, certificates) to support correct classification and any BOI or other incentive claims; missing documents can trigger additional questions or inspections.
WCS’s Thailand vehicle tax guides highlight that customs may order extra inspections or valuation checks, and that these can extend storage time and generate additional charges; the same inspection logic can apply to machinery, even though the tax framework differs.
Because of these variables, many importers maintain a contingency buffer—often framed as a modest percentage of the machine’s value plus shipping—to absorb potential inspection‑related costs, storage extensions, or documentation fixes without derailing the project.
To better understand how these cost components connect with the shipping method itself, see our complete guide on shipping heavy equipment to Thailand, where we compare container shipping vs. RoRo, explain when each option makes sense, and how equipment size, value, and risk profile influence the final logistics strategy.
Every heavy‑equipment shipment has its own mix of freight, taxes, and local charges, but the structure is consistent: ocean method, inland and port handling, Thai duties and VAT, and preparation/contingency.