Port of Southampton

Container haulage from the Port of Southampton

We collect containers from DP World Southampton and deliver them inland across the UK, booked against your release and your free time. The booking is where a Southampton collection is won or lost, so that is where the work goes.

Terminal: DP World Southampton, five berths
Booking system: VBS, DP World’s Vehicle Booking System
What we move: 20ft, 40ft, high cube, reefer, overweight

Price a Southampton collection

The port

The south coast’s deep-sea container port

Southampton is a deep-sea port first. DP World’s terminal takes ships of 24,000 TEU, and its place on the south coast keeps it close to the main shipping lanes. DP World runs the terminal; ABP owns the port around it.

A missed slot at a port an hour from the delivery costs an hour. On a Southampton box bound for the Midlands or the North, a missed slot can cost the day, and the free time with it.

Felixstowe is our home port and Southampton is not. What carries across is the method we have used on more than 75,000 containers since 2019: book against the release and the free time, and say early when a box is at risk.

Southampton at a glance

Operator: DP World, on an ABP port
Berths: 5, on 1,920 m of quay
Rail: About 22 trains a day
Road: 2 miles from the gates to the M271
Collections: Hourly bookings on VBS

Terminal figures from DP World Southampton, port ownership from ABP.

What we move

Containers we collect from Southampton

The everyday work is 20ft and 40ft boxes, standard and high cube, on skeletal trailers. The rest each change the vehicle, the route or the paperwork, which is why the quote form asks about them up front.

20ft, 40ft and high cube: Standard and high cube, to ISO dimensions. The bulk of the work out of the terminal.
Overweight: Planned against axle weights and the route, so the load is legal on the road as well as on paper.
Refrigerated: Reefers with a genset where the run needs one, and the unplugged time planned rather than hoped for.
Animal feed, Category 3: Covered by our APHA registration, quay to premises. A short list of hauliers can take it.
Hazardous: Send the UN number and class with the request and we confirm whether we can take it before we quote.

Services

Merchant haulage

You book the haulage, not the shipping line. Your slot, your rate, your say.

FCL container transport

Full container loads in 20ft, 40ft, high cube and 45ft, port to door.

Overweight containers

Heavy boxes planned against axle weights and route, legal on the road.

Refrigerated containers

Reefers moved with the power and timing the temperature needs.

Out of gauge

Flat racks and open tops, with the route planned before collection.

Animal feed, Category 3

APHA registered to carry Category 3 feed in containers. Most hauliers are not.

How it runs

Getting your box through the gate at Southampton

DP World Southampton runs every collection through its Vehicle Booking System. Each booking is an hour, with ten minutes’ grace before and fifteen after, and a truck that misses its window is charged. The work is in the booking, not the drive.

Release and clearance

You tell us the container number and shipping line. We check the box is released by the line and cleared by customs before anything is booked against it.
The VBS booking

We book against the box’s availability and your free time. Weekday bookings from 04.00 to 07.00 and 12.00 to 18.00 are peak and carry a charge; other hours and weekends do not.
The gate

DP World requires every driver to hold its Driver ID card and pass its Terminal Awareness Course each year. If a booking is at risk from a late vessel or a hold, you hear it from us while there is still time to act.
Delivery and the empty

Delivered to your postcode on the agreed day. The empty goes back to wherever the shipping line nominates, so tell us the return depot if you know it: it changes the price.

Lanes

Where Southampton boxes go

The lanes we run most out of Southampton are the Midlands, London and the South East, and the South West. We deliver inland across England beyond those.

The road out is short, then long: two miles from the dock gates to the M271, then the M27 and the M3 north past Winchester. The A34 leaves the M3 at junction 9, a known pinch-point on the freight route to the Midlands, and National Highways is rebuilding it with closures into 2027. We check them before a Midlands run rather than find them on the way.

Same day collection and delivery is realistic on the shorter lanes when the booking allows it. On longer runs we tell you honestly at quote stage whether it is same day or next morning.

Free time is the real cost

Demurrage starts when the shipping line’s free time ends, and port storage runs separately. On a delayed box the days on the quay usually cost more than the haulage, so we plan against the free time you actually have.

Lanes we run most

MidlandsNorth on the A34 from junction 9 of the M3
London and the South EastUp the M3 towards London
South WestDorset, Wiltshire, Somerset and Devon
Inland across EnglandThe North West, Yorkshire and beyond

Merchant haulage

Why book the Southampton leg yourself

With carrier haulage the shipping line arranges the truck, on its own schedule and at its own rate. With merchant haulage you book the haulier: you choose the day, you see the rate, and you have one number to call when the plan changes.

On a long inland lane that control matters more, not less. When a vessel runs late or a hold lands on the box, the question is whether the delivery moves by an hour or by a day. We rebook against your free time and tell you where it stands.

How merchant haulage works

What we need to book

Container number and shipping line
Release and customs position
Delivery postcode and the day you need it
Gross weight, if the box is heavy
Set temperature, for a reefer
Return depot for the empty, if you know it

Licences and cover

What stands behind a Southampton collection

The same freight liability limit on every box, whether it moves on our vehicle or a partner’s. Partners run on their own operator licences.

Operator licence: OF2023521; 40 vehicles and 40 trailers, on the DVSA public register.
Freight liability: £6,500 per tonne; Under RHA 2024 conditions, five times the RHA standard of £1,300. Subcontracted loads carry the same limit. Up to £10,000 per tonne by arrangement for high value freight.
Waste carrier and dealer: CBDU471791; Environment Agency, upper tier.
Animal by-products, Category 3: U1433815/TRANS; APHA registration to carry animal feed in shipping containers, quay to premises.

All licences and cover

Questions

Southampton container haulage, answered

Who books the VBS slot at Southampton, you or us?

We do. Collections at DP World Southampton are booked by the hour on its Vehicle Booking System, so what we need from you is the container number, the shipping line and confirmation that the box is released and customs cleared.

If the release or the clearance slips after we have booked, tell us straight away. A truck that turns up for a box it cannot take can be charged by the terminal, and still leaves empty.

Is Southampton changing its booking system?

It is due to. In August 2025 DP World told customers that Southampton would move in 2026 to CARGOES VBS, the system London Gateway already uses, which books against the container rather than the truck, with dates to follow. Nothing changes on your side: we still need the container number, the line and the release.

How quickly can you collect from Southampton?

When the container is released and a VBS booking is available, the collection follows the booking. Same day delivery is realistic on the shorter lanes when the booking allows it.

Can you take reefers and overweight boxes out of Southampton?

Yes. For a reefer we need the set temperature, and we plan the unplugged time and a genset where the run needs one. For an overweight box we need the gross weight at quote stage, because it changes the vehicle.

Can you move hazardous containers from Southampton?

Send the UN number and class with the request for a price and we will confirm whether we can take it before we quote. Hazardous cargo changes the vehicle and the paperwork, so it is never something to mention on the day.

Should my Southampton box go by rail or by road?

It depends where it is going. DP World lists 22 trains a day from the terminal, to and from the Birmingham area, Manchester and Leeds among others. Road suits a delivery to your door, a box on short free time, or a load that cannot wait for the next train. Send the postcode and we will tell you honestly whether road is the right answer.