01632 960418

Get a rate

Full container loads

20′, 40′ and high cube, import and export

Groupage (LCL)

Weekly consolidations from Asia

Container haulage

Our own trucks out of Felixstowe

Customs clearance

In-house brokers, CDS declarations

Bonded warehousing

7,400 m² at Trimley

All services

Recent work

1,212 cartons, Ho Chi Minh City to Daventry

Homewares retailer, 190 stores

Speyside spirits, under bond to New York and Busan

Speyside whisky group

Production parts on slot for an assembly line

Tier one automotive supplier

All work

Get a rate

On the Felixstowe
docks since 1974

Norholm started with one customs clerk and one secondhand truck. It still runs the same way: one desk books the space, clears the entry and puts the box on our own truck.

Fifty-two years on the docks

Trucks of our own

1974

One clerk, one truck

Erik Norholm leaves the port’s customs office and opens a clearing agency above a ship’s chandler on Walton Road, with one secondhand tractor unit.

1979

The first Far East contract

A Leicester footwear importer hands us its Hong Kong boxes: about twelve forty-footers a month, cleared at the desk and delivered on our own truck.

1986

Norholm House

We buy a former ship’s stores on Ferryboat Lane and put the brokers, the bookings and the drivers’ office under one roof.

1991

The first side-lifters

Two side-lifters for customers with a yard but no loading dock. They still run about a fifth of our deliveries.

1998

Bonded at Trimley

A 2,800 m² bonded shed at Trimley St Martin, four miles from the port, so goods can wait under bond until the duty is due.

2004

Past twenty trucks

The twenty-first tractor unit joins and haulage control starts working through the night, seven days a week.

2016

Trimley at 7,400 m²

A second shed, ten-metre racking and six dock doors, so a box can be devanned the day it lands.

2022

Every entry on CDS

After the EU border the customs desk grows from five brokers to eleven, and every import entry moves to the Customs Declaration Service.

2026

Thirty-eight

The thirty-eighth tractor unit joins the fleet. Still one desk, still on Ferryboat Lane, still one file per shipment.

1974

1980

1990

2000

2010

2020

2026

1974

Fifty-two years on the docks

Trucks of our own

1974

One clerk, one truck

Erik Norholm leaves the port’s customs office and opens a clearing agency above a ship’s chandler on Walton Road, with one secondhand tractor unit.

1979

The first Far East contract

A Leicester footwear importer hands us its Hong Kong boxes: about twelve forty-footers a month, cleared at the desk and delivered on our own truck.

1986

Norholm House

We buy a former ship’s stores on Ferryboat Lane and put the brokers, the bookings and the drivers’ office under one roof.

1991

The first side-lifters

Two side-lifters for customers with a yard but no loading dock. They still run about a fifth of our deliveries.

1998

Bonded at Trimley

A 2,800 m² bonded shed at Trimley St Martin, four miles from the port, so goods can wait under bond until the duty is due.

2004

Past twenty trucks

The twenty-first tractor unit joins and haulage control starts working through the night, seven days a week.

2016

Trimley at 7,400 m²

A second shed, ten-metre racking and six dock doors, so a box can be devanned the day it lands.

2022

Every entry on CDS

After the EU border the customs desk grows from five brokers to eleven, and every import entry moves to the Customs Declaration Service.

2026

Thirty-eight

The thirty-eighth tractor unit joins the fleet. Still one desk, still on Ferryboat Lane, still one file per shipment.

How we’re set up

We own the three things that usually go wrong between a ship and a warehouse: the trucks, the shed and the people who sign the customs entry.

A Norholm tractor unit hauling a vermilion forty-foot container along the coast road

The fleet

Every Norholm box leaves the port on one of our own trucks, planned by a control room that sits next to the customs desk.

Tractor units

38, all Euro 6

Side-lifters

6, for sites without a dock

Skeletal trailers

54, incl. tri-axle for heavy 20′

Depot

By Dock Gate 2, Felixstowe

Control

24 hours, 7 days

The bonded warehouse

Two sheds at Trimley St Martin, four miles up the A14. Goods are devanned, checked against the packing list and racked under bond until you call them off.

Floor

7,400 m², bonded

Racking

6,200 pallet spaces, 10 m

Dock doors

6, plus 2 level access

Devanning

Same day before 12:00

Stock report

Every Monday

A forklift working between rows of pallet racking in the bonded shed

A warehouse operative unloading cartons from a container at a Trimley dock door

The customs desk

Eleven brokers in Norholm House draft the entry while the ship is at sea and lodge it before it berths, so most boxes are released at discharge.

Brokers

11, in house

Entries

About 2,400 a month

Covers

Imports, exports, excise, transit

Duty

On your deferment or ours

Runs the Far East import allocation and the weekly groupage boxes.

Exports, excise movements and anything that leaves bond at Trimley.

Leads the eleven brokers and signs off classification questions.

Plans the fleet against terminal slots and delivery windows.

The people on your file

Every lane has a lead with a direct line. If they are on another call, whoever picks up sits beside them and can see the same file.

Lead

Lanes

At Norholm

Direct line

Claire Ashdown

Far East import desk

China, Korea, Vietnam

23 years

01632 960421

Claire Ashdown

Far East import desk

Lanes

China, Korea, Vietnam

At Norholm

23 years

01632 960421

Iain Murdoch

Export and excise

USA, India, bonded spirits

30 years

01632 960433

Iain Murdoch

Export and excise

Lanes

USA, India, bonded spirits

At Norholm

30 years

01632 960433

Ravi Bhandal

Customs brokerage

Import and export entries

14 years

01632 960447

Ravi Bhandal

Customs brokerage

Lanes

Import and export entries

At Norholm

14 years

01632 960447

Sofia Marchetti

Haulage control

Felixstowe, Gateway, Southampton

9 years

01632 960452

Sofia Marchetti

Haulage control

Lanes

Felixstowe, Gateway, Southampton

At Norholm

9 years

01632 960452

Out of hours, haulage control answers on 01632 960419

Checked from outside

Three standards we work to, and who comes in to test them. Copies of our current certificates are sent with every credit application.

Trusted trader status with HMRC

Our customs and security procedures have been reviewed by HMRC. Entries we lodge are treated as lower risk, and Trimley is approved to hold goods with duty suspended.

Checked by

HMRC, on a rolling review

An audited quality system

Every file follows written procedures, from how the verified gross mass is sent to who may release a box. An outside auditor tests them once a year.

Checked by

Independent auditor, every year

A recognised fleet standard

Our trucks and drivers are accredited under a national fleet operator scheme: annual driver training, cyclist safety kit on every unit and fuel use reported.

Checked by

Scheme auditor, every year

Come and see the desk

Norholm House is two minutes from Dock Gate 1. Shippers are welcome to sit in with their lane for a morning, or to walk the racking at Trimley.

Desk open 07:00 to 19:00, Monday to Friday, and 08:00 to 13:00 on Saturday.

Arrange a visit

Request a rate

Working here

We take people on most years: Class 1 drivers with container experience, trainee customs brokers and import desk coordinators.

jobs@norholm.co.uk

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