Delivering into ports and docks is something that we enjoy doing here at Arrow Light Haulage, when  delivering or collecting from a port it is something thats easy when you know how. We are local to Tilbury docks / port and a short drive to Felixstowe and Harwich. Docks and ports are areas that our drivers are familiar with.

If you don’t do it correctly then you will hold up the collection or the delivery and in some cases you may fail to deliver or collect.

What to remember for port collections or deliveries

• no children
• no animals
• 2 forms of ID thats photographic
• high viz jacket
• safety boots
• clear manifest of what is being delivered / collected

Failing to collect or deliver from a port is a serious issue for a courier, it is something that incurs port fines (and we have heard that customers really don’t like this).  This is something that needs to be taken into account when pricing for this type of work. This isn’t the type of work that can be co loaded and needs just dedicated vehicles.

A few years back one of our bigger customers were feeling the pinch, so they went to a cheaper courier (or so they thought) the cheaper courier had no inkling about how to deliver into a port and in the space of a month racked £30k in port fines for missed slots and deadlines. Our customer came back to us and the cheaper courier was fired because the reality was they were far more expensive.

It’s not just port fines that cost, its days of missed production if your component doesn’t reach its ship in time, the down time for a factory waiting for a new piece of kit.  All this needs to be taken into account if you are shipping goods abroad, if not done in the correct manner, can cost you a whole heap of money before they have even left the country.

Kevin Arrow

Same day couriers