Port of Tilbury

Container haulage from the Port of Tilbury

We collect containers from London Container Terminal at Tilbury and deliver them across the UK, on a VBS booking made once the release PIN and the customs position are in hand. The same vehicles cover London Gateway and Purfleet, and the three are planned together.

Terminal: London Container Terminal, Forth Ports
Booking system: LCT’s Vehicle Booking System
What we move: 20ft, 40ft, high cube, overweight

Price a Tilbury collection

The port

London Container Terminal, inside the Port of Tilbury

The Port of Tilbury belongs to Forth Ports, and its container terminal, London Container Terminal, is part of the same group. LCT works deep-sea and short-sea ships. It is a hub for container trade within Europe, with deep-sea routes to West Africa, the Mediterranean and South America alongside.

From the M25 the A13 and then the A1089 bring you to the Port of Tilbury main gate, and the LCT gate is inside the port. London Gateway is reached along the same A13, further east.

The same vehicles cover Tilbury, London Gateway and Purfleet, and the runs are planned together. That is the practical reason to give all your Thames work to one haulier: one booking conversation for three terminals, and one number when a box at any of them is running late.

Tilbury at a glance

Owner: Forth Ports
Container terminal: London Container Terminal
Trades: Deep-sea and short-sea
Quay: 1.72 km, up to 13.7 m alongside
Inspections: Border Control Post on the terminal
Collections: Timed bookings on LCT’s VBS

Terminal figures from London Container Terminal.

What we move

Containers we collect from Tilbury

The everyday work is 20ft and 40ft boxes on our own 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 45ft: Standard and high cube, to ISO dimensions. The bulk of what leaves LCT on our vehicles.
Overweight: Planned against axle weights and the route, so the load is legal on the road as well as on paper.
Out of gauge: Flat racks and open tops, with dimensions checked. A box VBS cannot book is arranged with the terminal for a set time, and we confirm at quote stage what the load needs and whether we can move it.
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 out of London Container Terminal

Collections at LCT run on the terminal’s Vehicle Booking System, which Forth Ports runs on the web and as an app. It exists to stop trucks waiting at the gate over a manifest, a customs hold or a wrong release PIN, and it only works if those are right before the booking is made.

Release and PIN

You send the container number, the shipping line and the release PIN the line issued. VBS checks the PIN against the port community system and will not take an import booking without a match.
The VBS booking

We book a slot at LCT for your container, against its availability and your free time. If the plan changes, VBS lets a booking move up to six hours from its original time; beyond that it is cancelled and rebooked. Either way that is our job.
The gate

Our driver enters through the Port of Tilbury main gate, where port security may search the vehicle, then keys the booking reference into the kiosk at the LCT gate inside the booked window.
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 Tilbury boxes go

The lanes we run most out of Tilbury are London and the South East, the Midlands, and East Anglia, where our yard is, at Woolpit in Suffolk. We deliver across Great Britain beyond those.

Same day collection and delivery is realistic on the shorter lanes when the booking allows it. On longer runs we tell you at quote stage what is realistic, rather than promise a day and miss it.

Free time is the real cost

Demurrage starts when the shipping line’s free time ends and is charged per container per day, with port storage on top. A box that has landed but is not yet released is the expensive kind of wait. We ask for the PIN and the customs position when you book, not when the truck is at the gate, so a missing one costs a phone call rather than a wasted run.

Lanes we run most

London and the South EastVia the A13 and the M25
MidlandsDistribution centres along the M1, M6 and M42
East AngliaEssex, Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire

Merchant haulage

Why book the Tilbury 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.

At Tilbury the difference shows at the gate. A haulier you instruct directly has the PIN and the customs position from you before it books, moves the slot when a vessel slips, and tells you where the box stands instead of leaving it in a queue you cannot see.

How merchant haulage works

What we need to book

Container number and shipping line
The line’s release PIN
Customs position
Delivery postcode and the day you need it
Gross weight, if the box is heavy
Dimensions, for a flat rack or open top

Licences and cover

What stands behind a Tilbury 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

Tilbury container haulage, answered

Who books the VBS slot at Tilbury?

We do, on London Container Terminal’s Vehicle Booking System. For an import we need the container number, the shipping line, the release PIN and confirmation that the box is customs cleared. VBS will not accept an import booking unless the PIN matches the port community system’s record.

Where does the release PIN come from?

From the shipping line, when it releases the container. Pass it to us with the container number. If the PIN is missing or does not match, the booking cannot be made, which is why we ask for it before we promise you a day.

Can you move out of gauge containers from Tilbury?

An out of gauge box or flat rack that cannot be booked through VBS is arranged directly with the terminal’s shift manager for a set date and time. Send the dimensions and the gross weight with the request, and we confirm at quote stage what the load needs and whether we can move it.

Do you carry Category 3 animal feed out of Tilbury?

Yes. Our APHA registration covers Category 3 animal feed in shipping containers, quay to premises, and the reference is listed under licences and cover on this page. Tell us the cargo is Category 3 when you ask for a price.

Can you move hazardous containers from Tilbury?

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 work changes the vehicle and the paperwork, so it is never something to mention on the day.

Do you also collect from London Gateway and Purfleet?

Yes. The same vehicles cover Tilbury, London Gateway and Purfleet, and the runs are planned together, so a forwarder who splits work across the Thames terminals is still dealing with one haulier. Felixstowe, Southampton and Liverpool are covered too.