Operator licence OF2023521 Freight liability £6,500/t Since 2019

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Ports

Felixstowe London Gateway Tilbury Purfleet Southampton Liverpool
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FCL container transport

FCL container transport: 20ft, 40ft and 45ft

Full container loads collected from six UK ports and delivered to your door, in standard, high cube and 45ft sizes. Each box is planned against its gross weight and height before we book it, not at the gate.

Sizes
20ft, 40ft, 40ft high cube, 45ft
Road limit
44 tonnes gross, six-axle articulated
Freight liability
£6,500 per tonne, RHA 2024 conditions

Price an FCL collection

Container

Container plus cargo, from the booking or the VGM.

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What it is

One shipper, one box, port to door

FCL means full container load: one shipper books the whole container, whether or not it is packed to the roof. It stays sealed from origin to destination, barring an inspection on the way, so it reaches your door as it came off the ship.

LCL is the other kind. Several shippers’ goods share one box, which is unpacked and separated at destination before each consignment travels on. This page is about FCL, the whole box delivered to one address.

For us the job is the same whatever is inside. Collect the box on a booked slot, deliver it on the agreed day, take the empty back to the line’s depot. What changes the job is the box itself: its length, its height and above all its weight. The sizes are a published standard, so here they are exactly.

ContainerLengthHeightWorth knowing
20ft standard6.06 m2.59 mThe everyday box.
40ft standard12.19 m2.59 mDouble the floor, same height.
40ft high cube12.19 m2.90 mAn extra 30 cm of height. Check bridge routes on older lanes.
45ft high cube13.72 m2.90 mThe longest ISO box on UK roads.
Refrigerated20 or 40 ft2.59 or 2.90 mGenset where the run needs one.
Out of gauge20 or 40 ftVariesFlat racks and open tops. Route and notice planned before collection.
External dimensions to ISO 668. Width is 2.44 m on every standard box. Anything heavier than a standard trailer can legally carry at 44 tonnes gross is planned separately: tell us the gross weight when you ask for a price.

FCL at a glance

Lengths
20ft, 40ft and 45ft
Heights
2.59 m standard, 2.90 m high cube
Width
2.44 m on every standard box
Road limit
44 tonnes gross, six-axle articulated
Export weight
VGM, declared by the shipper

Dimensions to ISO 668. Road limit under the Construction and Use Regulations 1986 and the Authorised Weight Regulations 1998.

How we handle it

How an FCL move runs

Four steps, the same at every port. Most of what goes wrong with a full container load goes wrong in the first two, so that is where the checking happens.

  1. You send the details

    Port, size, gross weight, delivery postcode and date. Say now if it is high cube, 45ft or heavy, because each changes the vehicle or the route.

  2. Release and the slot

    We check the line has released the box and customs have cleared it, then book the collection the way the port requires it, against your free time.

  3. Collection and delivery

    Collected in the booked window on a trailer that suits the size and weight, and delivered on the agreed day. Same day is realistic on the shorter lanes when the booking allows.

  4. The empty

    Returned to the depot the shipping line nominates. Tell us the return point if you know it, because it changes the price.

What we need from you

Weight decides the job

In Great Britain the standard maximum for a six-axle articulated lorry is 44 tonnes gross. That is everything together: tractor, trailer, container and cargo, with a limit on each axle inside it. What the vehicle weighs empty comes off the top, and that varies from vehicle to vehicle, so the legal payload is not one number.

The box’s own rating does not settle it either. The maximum operating gross mass on its CSC safety plate is the most the container itself is rated for, not what a lorry may weigh on a British road. Send the gross weight from the bill of lading or the packing list with the request, and we tell you before we quote whether it goes as a standard move or as an overweight container.

Height is the other thing to mention. A high cube stands 30 cm taller than a standard box, which changes nothing on most routes and changes the route on a few older lanes with low bridges.

On an export the weight has a legal owner too. Under SOLAS the shipper must provide the container’s verified gross mass, the VGM, and a packed box without one is not loaded onto the ship.

What we need to price and book

  • Port and shipping line
  • Container size, and whether it is high cube
  • Gross weight in kilograms
  • Delivery postcode and the day you need it
  • Container number and release, to book
  • Return depot for the empty, if you know it
Ports

FCL collections from six UK ports

20ft and 40ft boxes, standard and high cube, from all six. London Gateway, Tilbury and Purfleet are planned together as one set of Thames runs, so work split across the three still goes to one haulier.

Felixstowe

Our home port. The yard at Woolpit is about 35 miles from the gate.

20ft, 40ft, high cube, reefer, overweight

Container haulage from Felixstowe

London Gateway

Deep-water Thames terminal, planned alongside Tilbury and Purfleet.

20ft, 40ft, high cube, reefer, overweight

Container haulage from London Gateway

Tilbury

Port of London container work, on the same Thames runs.

20ft, 40ft, high cube, overweight

Container haulage from Tilbury

Purfleet

Thames terminal collections, planned with London Gateway and Tilbury.

20ft, 40ft, high cube

Container haulage from Purfleet

Southampton

South coast deep-sea boxes, delivered inland across the UK.

20ft, 40ft, high cube, reefer, overweight

Container haulage from Southampton

Liverpool

North west collections, including the Liverpool2 deep-water berths.

20ft, 40ft, high cube, overweight

Container haulage from Liverpool
Licences and cover

What stands behind an FCL move

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.
Employers’ liability
£10,000,000
Any one event.
Public and products liability
£5,000,000
Each, any one event.

All licences and cover

Questions

FCL container transport, answered

What is the difference between FCL and LCL?

FCL, full container load, is one shipper’s cargo in a container booked for it alone, full or not, and it travels sealed from origin to destination. LCL, less than container load, is several shippers’ cargo sharing one box, which is unpacked and separated at destination before each consignment travels on.

This page is about FCL: the whole container, port to door.

How much can you carry in a 40ft container?

It depends on the vehicle as much as the box. 44 tonnes is the standard maximum gross weight for a six-axle articulated lorry in Great Britain, and it includes the tractor, the trailer and the container’s own weight. What is left is the legal payload, and it varies with the vehicle.

Send the gross weight and we tell you before we quote whether it goes as a standard move or an overweight one.

Do you move 45ft containers?

Yes. A 45ft high cube is 13.72 m long, the longest ISO box on UK roads, and it needs a trailer that takes that length. Say so at quote stage rather than on the day.

Is a high cube a problem?

Rarely. It is 2.90 m high against 2.59 m for a standard box. On most routes that changes nothing; on a few older lanes with low bridges it changes the route. Tell us it is a high cube and we plan for it.

What if the container is over the weight limit?

Tell us the gross weight at quote stage. A box too heavy for a standard vehicle, on gross weight or on one axle, is planned as an overweight move, on a vehicle and axle set-up chosen so the whole combination stays within the limits. If no set-up would, we tell you before we quote, not at the gate.

How soon can you deliver once the box is available?

Same day is realistic on the shorter lanes when the booking allows. On longer runs we tell you at quote stage what is realistic, rather than promise a time we cannot hold.

Further reading

FCL, in more depth

Full Container Load Haulage in the UK

A practical UK guide to full container load haulage, covering port collections, container types, booking steps, costs and urgent delivery…

Other services

What else we move

Merchant haulage

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

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.

Moving a full container load this week?

Send the port, the size, the gross weight and the postcode. We price it the same working day and tell you straight if the weight changes the vehicle.

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