This post was reviewed for accuracy on 05/04/2024
The standard delivery offered when importing goods to the UK is kerbside. This means that the driver will park up outside your premises and it’s then your responsibility to unload your goods from the truck. Unless otherwise requested, the haulier will deliver the goods on any sized truck available to them (up to a 40ft articulated lorry), and they will deliver between 9am & 5pm.
Kerbside delivery is the most common delivery option. Ensure that you know how many boxes are in your shipment as you may need an extra pair of hands to help unload.
If you have any special delivery requirements, we’ll find a solution and you may need one of the below:
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Who Unloads The Truck?
When you import goods, once they’re collected from the port they are delivered to you via truck. The truck will pull up kerbside and from there you will typically have a window of a few hours in which it will be your responsibility to unload the truck and move your goods.
While it is possible that you get a helpful driver who may be inclined to help you unload your goods, it is not their job. Your driver is under no obligation to help you unload your goods (as they won’t be insured if they are injured or something goes wrong). This is why we recommend that you have a friend or two on hand to help you remove your goods from the truck.
As the unloading is your responsibility, it is also your responsibility to know whether or not you need a fork-lift, tail-lift or any other assisting equipment to ensure that you are able to unpack your goods.
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Standard Curtain Sided vs. Tail Lift Delivery
If you don’t have access to a forklift and your goods are heavy, you may need a tail lift truck to deliver your goods. The pump truck on board will bring your goods to the rear of the vehicle and the tail lift will lower them down to the ground. These deliveries incur a small charge from the haulier.
Our standard deliveries will be on a curtain sided vehicle. The driver will pull back the curtain and you’ll have to unload by hand or using a fork-lift.
If you don’t have access to a forklift and your goods are heavy, you may need a tail lift truck to deliver your goods. The pump truck on board will bring your goods to the rear of the vehicle and the tail lift will lower them down to the ground. These deliveries incur a small charge from the haulier (usually around £30).
Tail-lifts are generally restricted to pallets (or crates the size of pallets – 100cm x 120cm) that weigh less than about 1000kg. If your pallet or crate is wider or heavier than this then, please let us know and we’ll discuss your options with our hauliers.
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Full Container Load Delivery
As with the standard deliveries, full container load deliveries are “kerbside”✔️ This means the container will arrive on the back of the truck and you’ll have 3 hours (from the time of arrival) to unload it. The driver isn’t insured to help you unload so you’ll almost certainly need a few extra pairs of hands to help.
Unloading a Container
Tail lift deliveries are not available for full containers and you won’t be able to use a forklift unless you have a loading bay at your delivery location. Exactly how you unload will depend on how your goods are loaded and what lifting equipment (including of the manual kind!) that you have.
We’d suggest asking your supplier how they have loaded your container if you’re in doubt.
If you’re not buying crated products, your cartons will probably be loaded into the container, as shown above (on the right), in loose cartons. If you specifically ask your supplier to do so, they may be able to palletise them for you (shown above, on the left).
As suppliers can load a lot more into a container when pallets aren’t used this is the most common method of loading. As a result, this means that you’ll almost certainly have to unpack the container by hand.
Container Delivery Considerations
- THE CONTAINER WILL NOT BE LOWERED TO THE GROUND – You will have to unload your products from the container whilst it’s in the back of the truck.
- BREAK THE CONTAINER SEAL – Your supplier will close the container and add a plastic seal. This allows you to know whether anyone (customs etc.) has opened the container during the transit. If customs remove your supplier’s seal they will add one of their own to reseal the container so you’ll have to remove this. To remove the container seal you’ll probably need some kind of cutting equipment (e.g. bolt cutters, hack saw etc.).
- DON’T BE LATE – Shipping lines allocate you three hours to unload your goods from the container. They typically charge around £80 extra for every hour (or part of) that you take once you go over the three hours.
Here’s our visual guide on how your full container delivery will take place:
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Timed Deliveries
If you have a busy schedule, and only a brief slot throughout the day to take your delivery, you may want to organise a timed slot for a convenient time. Many people request either an AM (9am to 1pm) or a PM (1pm to 5pm) delivery. If you need an exact time slot, the haulier can pre-plan the route to meet your requirements.
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Small Trucks
Some customers don’t have a lot of room for manoeuvre at their premises or the access roads may be narrow or have low bridges. If that’s the case, it’s unlikely that a huge 40ft articulated vehicle will be the best option for delivery. In these scenarios, you can request that a smaller vehicle be used. These can generally be offered without extra cost if we are given enough notice. The smaller vehicles will all be rigid trucks that are between 8m and 12m in length. The smallest of these are 7.5 tonne vehicles.
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Amazon Deliveries
Shippo’s customers have the option to deliver goods directly from their supplier in Asia into an Amazon FBA Fulfillment Centre in the UK. Here’s how the deliveries work.
Whether you import just few boxes or a full 40ft container, the delivery to Amazon FBA works in the same way. We will unpack your cartons from the container at the UK port and palletise them to Amazon’s specifications. This is onto a standard pallet with dimensions of 120cm x 100cm with a maximum height of 180cm.
Hopefully, you will have set up the Amazon plan on your Seller Central Account as an “LTL” (less than truck-load, rather than an SPD (small parcel delivery)) shipment. This means Amazon will generate pallet labels for you. You’ll send these to us and we’ll apply them to all four sides of each pallet.
Shippo have a Carrier Central account with Amazon to request a delivery slot. Amazon will then allocate an exact slot on the back of this request. We will book the truck to deliver your goods to the appropriate Amazon warehouse at the time allocated.
Amazon will unload the pallets and your products should be showing on your Seller Central account within a few days.
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Oversized Cargo
If your shipment contains crates, double pallets or long items that won’t fit on a tail-lift, your consignment will be regarded as oversized or out of gauge. Goods with a length or width longer than 120cm may come into this category.
When booking a delivery for goods that are oversized you’ll have to plan ahead to ensure you can remove your shipment from the truck. If you have a fork-lift on site you’ll be fine. If you don’t have access to a fork-lift, as the delivery trucks don’t have lifting equipment as standard, you’ll have to consider the below options to avoid extra costs and plenty of head scratching once the driver arrives:
- BORROW A FORK- LIFT? If you can borrow, hire, beg for, or steal (joking!) the use of a fork-lift or appropriate lifting equipment to get your goods from the back of the curtain sided truck this will be by far the easiest option.
- BREAK DOWN THE CRATES? If you had a few extra pairs of hands (you’re popular, I’m sure you’ve got a few friends… or could pay for the use of some!), could you break down the crates whilst on the truck? Often, suppliers load multiple items in the crates, rather than trying to be the hulk and unloading a 500kg crate by hand, perhaps there 5 x 100kg items that three people could take out one at a time, for example.
- PAY FOR A SPECIALIST VEHICLE? With enough notice, we can arrange for a vehicle with lifting equipment. This may be a HIAB (with a crane) or a Moffatt truck (with its own fork-lift) but it can be expensive. Usually the additional cost is in the region of £200-500 depending on the size of your shipment (the smaller the shipment the bigger the additional cost as you’ll be paying for space on the truck that isn’t being used). At least this will guarantee that the crates can be dropped to the floor for you and you won’t have the frustrating situation of having to watch the truck drive away with your crates still on it!
- YOUR PLAN? You know your shipment and delivery premises better than we do so perhaps you’ve got a plan. Is there only one long item you can take off by hand and the rest can be unloaded by tail-lift? Can we deliver to your friend’s warehouse on the other side of town because they’ve got a fork lift and can get the goods to you in a better way? Do you have a loading bay/ramp that the driver can back onto? Perhaps your brother has just been crowned Britain’s Strongest Man and loves a challenge. However you plan to get your delivery from the truck, let us know and we’ll help in getting it set up anyway we can.
I hope this guide helps. We can’t stress enough, however, please plan ahead! We hate seeing extra costs so if you aren’t sure about this please let us know before you book your shipment with us so we can ensure that your shipping quote includes the correct type of delivery.
Shippo; 40ft artic lorry, trends
If you have any questions about deliveries, please feel free to call on 0203 384 0498 or email us using info@shippo.co.uk
