Defence & Aerospace Packaging
Defence and aerospace equipment doesn’t get a second chance in transit. The cargo is high-value, sensitive and often irreplaceable on the program’s timeline, and the packaging around it is either engineered for the job or it’s a risk somebody signed off on.
CMTP has been a key supplier to EOS Defence Systems since 2017, providing packaging that their president credits with cutting shipping costs by more than a third while protecting equipment and the customer’s perception of it at the far end. That’s the standard this page is offering the rest of the industry.
An Australian-owned supplier to the defence supply chain
CMTP has been making packaging since 1976, when the business started in a workshop in Colac, Victoria. It is still family owned, still Australian, and still run by the family that started it. Around 250 people work across eleven manufacturing sites in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania.
Australian ownership matters here for practical reasons as much as sentimental ones. Defence industry suppliers get asked who owns the company, where it is registered and where the product is actually made, and we’re glad to answer all three plainly: family owned, registered in Australia, and built at our own sites on our own equipment. That last one is what counts on a program, because it means the chain of custody on your defence packaging is something we can walk you through ourselves.
Engineered crates, corrosion protection packaging, VCI packaging and military packaging come from the one place. Design and engineering sits in house, so equipment is measured on site, designed around and prototyped off tool before anything is built. ISO 9001 quality management at Colac and Dandenong, ISPM 15 certification on every export lane and a 95 per cent DIFOT target are the paperwork behind it. EOS Defence Systems has been buying on that basis since 2017.
what goes wrong with defence and aerospace packaging
Metal equipment crossing an ocean or sitting in long-term storage is in a slow fight with moisture, and corrosion doesn’t announce itself until the crate is opened. On defence hardware, the write-off isn’t just the dollar value, it’s the program delay while a replacement is sourced.
Optics, electronics and precision assemblies can pass every bench test and still die of transit: shock, vibration and handling that ordinary freight packaging was never designed to absorb. The equipment either travels in packaging engineered around it, or it travels on luck.
Primes and defence programs don’t take a supplier’s word for quality. They want certified systems, documentation and traceability, and a packaging supplier without them becomes a procurement problem no matter how good the crates are.
A crate that fits perfectly once is a prototype. Defence supply runs on repetition: the five hundredth crate has to match the first, because every variation is a fit problem, a handling question or a compliance query somebody has to resolve.
How CMTP solves them
VCI bags, foil barriers and corrosion inhibitor systems matched to the transit route and the storage duration, designed in from the start rather than added at the wharf. Our corrosion protection range exists for exactly this cargo.
Custom cases and crates with engineered foam and dunnage systems that hold the equipment where it should be and absorb what the journey throws at it. Designed from a measure-up, prototyped off-tool, and approved before production.
ISO 9001 certified manufacturing at Colac and Dandenong, with the documentation to survive a procurement review. ISPM 15 certification and individual stamping on all export timber, heat treated rather than chemically fumigated.
EOS Defence Systems credits CMTP with "exceptional product consistency and quality control". Production off approved designs under an ISO 9001 system means the crate you receive next year matches the one you approved, and our teams are trained and inducted to work inside customer facilities where the packing has to happen on site
Products built for defence and aerospace
Each links to its product page:
Corrosion protection packaging
VCI bags, foil barriers and inhibitor systems for metal equipment
Wooden cases, crates and produce bins
engineered export crates built around the equipment
ISPM 15 certified export pallets
stamped and compliant for every international leg
Pallet wrap and packaging consumables
moisture control and load securing
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ISO 9001 Certified - Colac -
ISO 9001 Certified - Dandenong
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ISPM 15 Certified -
HACCP Certified
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Related Services
Machinery Packing
engineered crating and export packing for equipment and systems
Design & Engineering
packaging designed around the hardware, prototyped before production
Contract Packaging
inducted teams pack at your facility, under your site rules
Logistics & Delivery
supply against a 95 per cent DIFOT target, with what EOS calls "agile response to delivery demand"
Australia-wide Service
With teams across 11 manufacturing facilities across Australia, we’re able to reach your location quickly and provide the service you need on time.
Victoria
Colac – Head Office
Derrimut
Dandenong South
Mildura
Queensland
Clontarf
Brendale
South Australia
Adelaide
Tasmania
Branxholm
Scottsdale
Partner Alliances
Perth
Darwin
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you supply packaging to Australian defence and aerospace companies?
Yes. CMTP has supplied custom crates and timber packaging to EOS Defence Systems since July 2017. Their president credits our packaging with cutting EOS’s shipping costs by more than a third, and has pointed to product consistency and quality control as the reasons they keep coming back. The team builds defence crates to the same approved design every time, so what turns up on the dock always matches what was signed off.
How do you protect equipment from corrosion in transit and storage?
With a corrosion protection system matched to the journey: VCI bags and foil barriers around the equipment, corrosion inhibitor systems inside the packaging, and crate design that keeps moisture managed rather than trapped. The longer the storage or the saltier the route, the more the system matters.
Can you pack sensitive electronics and optics?
Yes. Sensitive equipment travels in cases and crates designed around it, with engineered foam and dunnage holding it in position and absorbing shock and vibration. The design is measured from the actual equipment and prototyped before production.
Are you ISO 9001 certified?
Yes, at our Colac and Dandenong facilities, with the quality documentation defence procurement expects from a supplier.
Can you meet export requirements for international programs?
Yes. All export timber is ISPM 15 compliant and individually stamped, heat treated rather than chemically fumigated, with corrosion protection engineered for the route. Equipment moving between allied countries travels on packaging that clears quarantine without questions.
Will every crate be identical to the one we approved?
That’s the point of the process. Production runs off the approved design under an ISO 9001 quality system, so crate five hundred matches crate one. Consistency is the exact quality EOS names in their assessment of us.
Can you build crates for oversized or heavy items?
Yes. The team builds crates for engines, airframe parts, vehicles and large ground support equipment. Each one is designed around the item’s weight, centre of gravity and lifting points, with skids and forklift entry sized so it can be handled safely at every stage of the trip.
Can you build to our drawings or packaging specifications?
Yes. If your program has its own packaging spec, send us the drawings and requirements and we’ll build to them. If you don’t have one, we’ll design the crate with you, get your sign-off, and then build to that approved design every time.
Can you mark and label crates to suit our program?
Yes. We can apply stencilling, part and serial numbers, handling symbols, centre of gravity markings, lifting points and any labels your program asks for. Tell us what has to appear on the crate and where, and it goes on before the crate leaves our yard.
Do you make reusable crates for repeat shipments?
Yes. When equipment goes out and comes back for servicing, rotation or deployment, a crate built to be reused is often cheaper than building a new one for each trip. We design them for repeated opening and closing, with hardware and fittings that will last through multiple journeys.
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Equipment this valuable doesn’t travel on hope.