Moving overweight containers without port delays
A practical guide to overweight container trucking in the UK, covering limits, permits, routing, port collection and how to avoid delays.
Overweight containers
Overweight and heavy container haulage
A container can be packed to a weight the ship accepts and the road does not. We plan a heavy box against the 44 tonne limit, the axle weights and the route before it is booked, not after it is on the trailer.
- Road limit
- 44,000 kg gross, six-axle articulated vehicle
- What decides the vehicle
- The gross weight, ideally the VGM
- Freight liability
- £6,500 per tonne, RHA 2024 conditions
Price a heavy container
What counts as overweight
A heavy box is a road problem, not a sea one
There is no single weight at which a container becomes overweight. What the law limits is the whole vehicle. In Great Britain a six-axle articulated vehicle, three axles under the tractor and three under the trailer, may weigh up to 44,000 kg gross, and only when its drive axle and suspension meet the conditions set for that weight. On five axles the general limit is 40,000 kg. Every axle has a limit of its own as well.
The container works to different numbers. Hapag-Lloyd’s published specification rates its 20ft and 40ft dry boxes at 30,480 kg or 32,500 kg gross, and its 40ft flat racks at up to 60,000 kg. Those are limits for the box. The road limit takes in the tractor and the trailer too, so a box packed close to its rating can put the vehicle over 44,000 kg, and a box that is legal on gross can still overload an axle if the weight sits at one end.
So we do not ask whether a box is overweight. We ask what it weighs, and plan the vehicle from there. A load that is heavy because it cannot be split, a single machine on a flat rack, is covered on our out of gauge page.
What an overweight run costs you
When DVSA issues a fixed penalty for excess weight, the examiner also prevents the vehicle going any further. The box that was too heavy at the port becomes a box parked at the roadside, and a delivery that does not happen.
Weight limits at a glance
- Six-axle artic
- 44,000 kg gross
- Drive axle at 44 t
- Up to 10,500 kg, road friendly suspension
- Five-axle artic
- 40,000 kg gross, the general limit
- Abnormal load
- Over 44,000 kg gross, 10,000 kg on a single non-driving axle or 11,500 kg on a single driving axle
- What we plan from
- Gross weight: cargo, packing and tare
Road limits from DVSA and DfT guidance on GOV.UK, and from National Highways.
How we handle it
Planned from the weight, before the booking
A heavy box needs the same port booking as any other. What changes is the vehicle, where the box sits on it and the way it reaches you, and all three are settled at quote stage.
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The weight first
You send the gross weight with the request for a price. The VGM declared for the sea leg is the best figure, because it is the packed box: cargo, packing, securing material and the container’s own tare.
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The vehicle
We put the box on a tractor and trailer whose axles and plated weights can carry it legally, with the drive axle inside its limit. If no legal combination can take it, you hear that at quote stage, not on the day.
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Position and route
Where the box sits on the trailer decides how its weight is shared between the axles, so the position is part of the plan. The route is checked for weight restricted bridges and roads all the way to your gate, not only to the motorway.
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Collection and delivery
Collected on the port booking and delivered to your postcode on the agreed day. If the declared weight changes, the plan changes with it, and you hear about it before the collection.
What we need from you
The figure that decides the vehicle
The gross weight changes the vehicle, the trailer position and sometimes the route, so it is the one figure we need at quote stage rather than on the day. A price given without it is a price for a standard box, on a vehicle that may not be able to carry yours.
If you only have the cargo weight, send the container number too, so the tare can be added. Every box also carries a CSC safety approval plate stating the maximum operating gross mass it is rated for. That is the container’s limit, not the road’s.
If the cargo is concentrated in one part of the box, a single machine or a stack of steel at the doors, say so. It puts the weight onto fewer axles.
Send with the request
- Gross weight, or the VGM
- Container number and shipping line
- Size and type: 20ft, 40ft, high cube or flat rack
- Where the weight sits, if it is not spread evenly
- Delivery postcode and any access limits at the site
- Return depot for the empty, if you know it
Ports
The ports we collect heavy boxes from
We move overweight containers out of Felixstowe, London Gateway, Tilbury, Southampton and Liverpool. For a heavy box landing at Purfleet, ask first and we tell you what we can do.
Felixstowe
Our home port. The yard at Woolpit is about 35 miles from the gate.
20ft, 40ft, high cube, reefer, overweight
Container haulage from FelixstoweLondon Gateway
Deep-water Thames terminal, planned alongside Tilbury and Purfleet.
20ft, 40ft, high cube, reefer, overweight
Container haulage from London GatewayTilbury
Port of London container work, on the same Thames runs.
20ft, 40ft, high cube, overweight
Container haulage from TilburySouthampton
South coast deep-sea boxes, delivered inland across the UK.
20ft, 40ft, high cube, reefer, overweight
Container haulage from SouthamptonLiverpool
North west collections, including the Liverpool2 deep-water berths.
20ft, 40ft, high cube, overweight
Container haulage from Liverpool
Licences and cover
What stands behind a heavy box
The same freight liability limit as every other load we move, whether it runs 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.
Questions
Overweight container haulage, answered
What is the heaviest container you can move?
It depends on the vehicle as much as the box. The whole combination, tractor, trailer and loaded container together, may not exceed 44,000 kg on a six-axle articulated vehicle, and each axle has its own limit inside that. Send the gross weight and we tell you at quote stage whether the box can go as it is.
Is the VGM the weight you need?
Yes, if you have it. The verified gross mass required under SOLAS since 1 July 2016 is the packed container: cargo, packing and securing material, plus the container’s own tare. That is the figure that decides the vehicle. If you only have the cargo weight, send the container number so the tare can be added.
Can an overweight container move as an abnormal load?
Not as a rule. The abnormal load rules are for loads that cannot be divided without undue expense or risk of damage, which is how the law defines an abnormal indivisible load. A container packed with cargo that could have gone as two lighter loads is not usually that.
If a box is over what the road allows, we tell you at quote stage, before anything is booked against it.
What happens if the weight on the paperwork is wrong?
Tell us as soon as you know. A vehicle over its limits, on one axle or on the gross, is not one we send out, and if DVSA stops it for excess weight the examiner will not let it go any further. When a declared weight changes we replan the vehicle and tell you before the collection, not at it.
Does a heavy box change the price?
It can. A heavy box may need a different vehicle, a different position on the trailer or a longer route round a weight restriction. We say so when we quote, not afterwards.
Is the freight liability different on a heavy box?
No. Freight liability is £6,500 per tonne under RHA 2024 conditions on every load, including loads we subcontract. Up to £10,000 per tonne is available by arrangement for high value freight.
Further reading
Heavy containers, in more depth
A Guide to Container Weight Distribution
A practical guide to container weight distribution for UK importers: improve road safety, axle compliance and efficient port-to-site…
Axle weight distribution: the UK operator's compliance guide
Understand axle weight distribution to ensure legal compliance and enhance road safety. Follow key checks for optimal vehicle handling.
Other services
More of what we move
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.
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.
Got a heavy box to move?
Send the gross weight, the port and the delivery postcode. We price it the same working day and tell you straight if it cannot go as it is.