Equipment Pressure Washing & Biosecurity Washdown for Export

Why used equipment is washed before export

Soil carries seeds, fungi, nematodes and insects, and a machine that has worked a field or a job site carries soil in places a quick rinse never reaches. Countries that protect their farming, forestry and native plants treat that soil as a biosecurity risk. They inspect used machinery and vehicles on arrival, and a unit that is not clean is held, cleaned at an approved facility, treated or sent back, at the importer's cost.

Washing in the United States, where we can open panels and take the time to do it properly, costs the buyer far less than cleaning in a quarantine yard abroad. It is also what makes a USDA phytosanitary certificate possible for farm and forestry machinery bound for the EU or Peru.

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What we clean

Inspectors look first where soil and plant material collect. Our washdown works through the machine in the same order:

• Undercarriage: tracks, rollers, idlers, sprockets, wheel rims, tyres, wheel arches, frame rails and belly pans.
• Work tools: buckets, blades, rippers, forks, booms and their pin joints and cylinders.
• Engine bay: radiator, intercooler and condenser cores blown out with air, belly guards dropped, ledges and wiring looms cleared.
• Cab: floor mats removed, floors and under seats vacuumed, pedals, steps and storage bins cleaned.
• Harvesting and farm equipment: headers, feeder houses, sieves, grain tanks, augers, baler chambers, seed boxes and hoppers, with panels opened.
• Boats and trailers: hull, keel, trim tabs, outdrives, intakes, live wells and bilges, plus the trailer's bunks, rollers and frame.
• Vehicles: wheel wells, underbody, spare wheel well, trunk or bed, and the cabin floor.

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How our washdown works

1. 1

   Check the destination rules

   At booking we confirm what the destination inspects, whether it needs a phytosanitary certificate, a cleaning certificate or seasonal BMSB treatment, and plan the washdown around the vessel cut-off.

2. 2

   Open it up

   Belly pans, guards, inspection covers and floor mats come off so the water reaches the places inspectors check. Heavily packed tracks and radiators are dry-scraped and blown out first.

3. 3

   Pressure wash and degrease

   We wash from the top down and from the inside out, so loosened soil is not washed back onto cleaned surfaces, and degrease where oil holds dirt in place.

4. 4

   Disinfect and dry

   Where the destination or buyer asks for it, a disinfectant is applied after washing. The unit then dries in a clean area away from soil, vegetation and other cargo.

5. 5

   Inspect our own work

   We walk the machine with a light and the inspection points list, re-clean anything we find, and photograph the cleaned areas for the file.

6. 6

   Certify, protect and load

   We issue the certificate of cleaning, keep the unit off soil until it loads, and close or wrap it where that helps keep it clean in transit.

Our certificate of cleaning and disinfection

Every unit we wash gets a Certificate of Cleaning & Disinfection for used machinery and equipment. It is issued electronically, carries our seal and the signatory's signature, and has a QR code and verification ID your buyer, broker or inspector can check at seawayexport.com/verify. It records:

• The exporter and the consignee.
• The equipment: description, make and model, serial number, VIN or PIN, and condition.
• The shipment: booking, container, port of loading, port of discharge, vessel and bill of lading.
• The treatment: date, location, method, cleaning agent, disinfectant, how it was applied and the areas treated.
• A signed declaration that the unit was cleaned as described.

New Zealand's cleaning certificate

New Zealand's Ministry for Primary Industries asks for its own cleaning certificate for used outdoor and targeted machinery. It must be sent to MPI before the machine arrives and signed by the person who did or supervised the cleaning, and it asks whether the machine was used in rural areas and in which countries. Because we do the cleaning, we complete and sign it alongside our own certificate.

MPI recommends leaving panels off or loosely fitted so inspectors can see inside, notes that a valet-style clean will not remove all risk, and may still inspect and dismantle a machine on arrival.

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Brown marmorated stink bug season

Washing removes soil; it does not deal with the brown marmorated stink bug, which shelters inside machines and vehicles over winter. Australia treats the United States as a target risk country, and for goods shipped between September 1 and April 30 (by the shipped-on-board date on the bill of lading) vehicles, machinery and parts in HS chapters 84, 85 and 87 must be treated by an approved provider.

• Breakbulk, flat rack and open top cargo must be treated before it leaves the United States; untreated breakbulk can be refused discharge.
• Containerised cargo can be treated before departure or on arrival in Australia.
• Approved treatments are heat, methyl bromide, sulfuryl fluoride and, from the 2026-27 season, ethyl formate.
• New Zealand runs its own BMSB season with similar rules for vehicles and machinery.

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What each destination expects

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Machines and vehicles we wash

We wash every type of cargo we ship: excavators, loaders and dozers, compact equipment, tractors and combines and cranes, telehandlers and lifts, as well as cars and trucks we send through vehicle export shipping and boats and trailers through boat export shipping.

Before you send a machine to us

• Tell us where the machine worked. Farm, forestry and rural use means more inspection points and, for some destinations, a phytosanitary certificate or the MPI rural-use questions.
• Send attachments with the machine. Buckets, forks, headers and spare tyres are inspected as well and need the same cleaning.
• Ask about asbestos for Australia. Australia prohibits imports containing asbestos, and older machines can have it in brakes, clutches and gaskets; the importer may need testing evidence.
• Leave time before the cut-off. Machines that arrive heavily caked in mud, or combines that need panels removed, take longer to clean and inspect.

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