Personally, I've never brought in machines from the USA. I have brought in a machine in a single shipment from Europe (Fathom), and it was a hell of a lot cheaper than paying $5000 that dealers wanted. There were hardly any Fathoms in Australia when I bought mine. The production run for Firepower was massive, so there are plenty of them in Australia. The last place I'd be looking for a Firepower would be overseas. The risks outweigh the benefits.

I've never heard of a "joint container" that has been a success.  Questions that stump this arrangement ;

Who pays the commercial invoice ?
Who flys over to inspect the machines ?
What Port do they get shipped to ?
Who gets what machine ?
What happens with the one or two games that gets damaged ?
Will everyone pay up-front ?

As a collector and hobbyist, I've gone through this process (on my own), and having to update partners with the twists and turns of importation would be a nightmare. You would have to have some sort of contractual agreement to cover everyone's collective butt.

Finding someone's container space, such as importers and dealers is the best bet for one machine.