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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Merchant haulage

Merchant haulage for UK importers and forwarders

With merchant haulage you book the haulier, not the shipping line: your collection day, your rate, and one contact when the plan moves. We run it from six UK ports, with 40 vehicles of our own.

Who books it
You or your forwarder, direct with us
Ports
Felixstowe, London Gateway, Tilbury, Purfleet, Southampton, Liverpool
Freight liability
£6,500 per tonne, RHA 2024 conditions

Price a merchant haulage collection

Container

Container plus cargo, from the booking or the VGM.

Or call 01473 851924
What it is

Merchant haulage and carrier haulage

Every import container has an inland leg, and someone has to arrange it. With carrier haulage the shipping line does: its haulier, its schedule, its rate. With merchant haulage the cargo interest does, meaning the importer or the forwarder acting for them, and the line’s job of moving the box ends at the port.

That changes who you deal with. Under carrier haulage the line stays responsible for the inland move and runs it through a haulier it chooses, so questions about your box go through the line. Under merchant haulage the haulier works for you. The booking, the rate and the conversation are yours.

When carrier haulage is the better choice

It has its place. For a handful of boxes a year, with nobody on your side to watch a booking, or where the inland rate is already part of a contract you negotiated with the line, letting the line arrange it is simpler. We would rather say that than pretend otherwise.

When merchant haulage earns its keep

When volume is regular, delivery days matter, or a box is close to the end of its free time. Those are the moments when choosing the collection day, and knowing who to call, is worth more than the convenience of one invoice from the line.

Merchant haulage at a glance

Carrier haulage
The line books the inland leg and sets the rate
Merchant haulage
You book the haulier and agree the rate
Release
From the shipping line, to you
Customs
Your entry, or your agent’s
Empty return
To the depot the line nominates
Free time
Set by the line, per container

Terms as the shipping lines use them.

How we handle it

From release to the empty back at the depot

The same four steps at every port. The work is in the second one, because a collection is only as good as the booking behind it.

  1. Release and clearance

    You send the container number, the shipping line and the delivery address. We check the line has released the box and customs have cleared it before anything is booked against it.

  2. The port booking

    We book the collection the way each port requires it, on CBS at Felixstowe, and choose the slot against your free time rather than taking the first one going.

  3. Collection and delivery

    Collected in the booked window and delivered on the agreed day. If a vessel rolls or a hold lands on the box, you hear it from us while there is still time to act.

  4. The empty

    Returned to the depot the line nominates. It is not always the terminal the box came from, and a change of return point can carry a charge from the line, so we check it before we collect the empty from you.

What we need from you

What stays with you under merchant haulage

Booking the haulier yourself moves some of the paperwork to you as well. None of it is unusual, but it has to be done before the truck reaches the gate, not while it waits there.

Release. The line has to release the container to you, and each line runs its own release process. Ask for it early: we cannot book a box the line has not released.

Customs. You or your agent make the import declaration, on the Customs Declaration Service. A box under a customs or port health hold stays on the quay whatever has been booked.

Free time. Demurrage runs while the full box sits in the terminal. Detention runs from when it leaves full until the empty is back. Each is charged by the line, per container per day, once the free time is used up, and neither waits for a collection slot to come free.

The empty. The line nominates the return depot, and some lines give it on the release note. Lines expect empties back clean, free of packing, dunnage and traces of cargo, and can charge you for cleaning when they are not. Sweep it out before we collect.

What we need to book

  • Container number and shipping line
  • Confirmation the line has released it
  • Customs position, and any hold
  • Delivery address and the day you need it
  • Gross weight, if the box is heavy
  • Return depot the line has nominated
  • The last free day, if you know it
Ports

Merchant haulage from six UK ports

The same booking, the same rate conversation and the same cover whichever port the box lands at. London Gateway, Tilbury and Purfleet are planned together as one set of Thames runs.

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

Check the haulier’s cover, because it is now yours to check

When the line arranges the inland leg, the line answers for it. When you book the haulier, it is the haulier’s liability, and the haulier’s own cover, that you rely on if something goes wrong. Ours is below, and it is the same whether the box moves on our vehicle or a partner’s.

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

Merchant haulage, answered

What is the difference between merchant haulage and carrier haulage?

Who arranges the inland leg. With carrier haulage the shipping line books the truck, on its schedule and at its rate, and stays responsible for the move. With merchant haulage the importer, or the forwarder acting for them, books the haulier direct and agrees the rate.

The sea freight is the same either way. What changes is who controls the collection and who you call when it moves.

Is merchant haulage cheaper than carrier haulage?

Sometimes. What it always gives you is a rate you can see and compare, rather than one set by the line. On a delayed import the larger cost is usually demurrage and storage, not the haulage, so control of the collection date is often worth as much as the rate.

Who returns the empty container, and where to?

We do, to the depot the shipping line nominates. Tell us the return point when you book, because it changes the price. Lines can amend it after release, so if yours does, pass it on straight away: a change of return point can carry a charge from the line.

Do we still arrange customs clearance ourselves?

Yes, you or your customs agent. Merchant haulage moves the inland booking to you; it does not move the customs entry to the haulier. We check the box is cleared before we book the collection, and if a hold appears we tell you rather than send a truck to wait for it.

Can a forwarder book merchant haulage for a client?

Yes. The forwarder books with us and stays our contact, and we deal with the port booking and the empty return. Send the release details with the booking, so the collection is booked against the right box and the right line.

What happens if the vessel is late or the box is held?

We rebook against the free time you have left and tell you where it stands. If the next workable slot would take the box past its free time, you hear that from us before it happens, not from the line’s invoice after it.

Further reading

Merchant haulage, in more depth

Other services

What else we move

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.

Booking the haulage on your next import?

Send the port, the container and the delivery postcode. We price it the same working day and tell you straight if the free time is tight.

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