Five services,
one file

Five services from one desk in Felixstowe. Each shows how the work runs and the lead times we plan to.

Full containersGroupageHaulageCustomsBonded warehouse

Full container loads

Full container loads

Your cargo, your box, sealed at the factory and opened at your door. We hold space with six lines on contracts renegotiated every quarter, so there is room on the ship through peak.

Book

7 to 10 days before cut-off

At sea

24 to 40 days, port to port

Port to door

Same or next day after release

20′

40′

40′ high cube

5.90 m inside

12.03 m inside

12.03 m inside

40′ high cube 45G1

40′ high cube 45G1

40′ high cube 45G1

Inside

12.03 × 2.35 × 2.70 m

Capacity

76.3 m³

76.3 m³

Max payload

26,580 kg

Pallets

25 euro, double stacked

Light, bulky cargo: furniture, textiles, flat-pack, cartons.

How a booking runs

How a booking runs

How a booking runs

Booking

Book seven to ten days before cut-off. Space comes off our allocation, so the booking number usually reaches you the same day.

Empty release

The line releases an empty to your supplier’s haulier, normally five days before cut-off.

VGM

The packed box is weighed and the verified gross mass goes to the line before the VGM cut-off. Without it the box is not loaded.

Gate-in and cut-off

The full box must be through the terminal gate by cargo cut-off, usually 12:00 two days before sailing.

At sea

We draft the import entry while the ship is on the water and pre-lodge it on CDS a few days out.

Release and delivery

Released at discharge, collected on a booked terminal slot by one of our own trucks.

A forklift lifting a pallet of cartons in the Trimley warehouse

Groupage

Groupage

One to eight pallets, sharing our own box with other Norholm customers. Drop them at our agent’s depot by the closing day and they come out of the box in our shed at Trimley.

Deliver to CFS

By the closing day

Closing to Trimley

29 to 38 days

Devanned

Within 24 hours of arrival

Our weekly consolidations

Origin depot

Closes

Sails

To Trimley

Shanghai

CNSHA

Monday 12:00

Thursday

36 to 38 days

Ningbo

CNNGB

Tuesday 12:00

Friday

35 to 37 days

Ho Chi Minh City

VNSGN

Wednesday 16:00

Saturday

34 to 36 days

Nhava Sheva

INNSA

Friday 12:00

Monday

29 to 31 days

Our agent measures and weighs each consignment on arrival at the depot. You are charged on the larger of cubic metres or tonnes, never both. One import entry per consignment, lodged before the box lands, so your pallets are free to go once they are out of the box.

Container haulage

Container haulage

Thirty-eight tractor units of our own, on skeletal trailers and side-lifters, working out of Felixstowe, London Gateway and Southampton. Control runs all night.

Slot booked

On release

Midlands

Same day, collected by 13:00

Control room

24 hours, 7 days

From Felixstowe

Delivered, empty returned, fuel included

Ipswich

Ipswich

Ipswich

IP1

12 mi

Thurrock

Thurrock

Thurrock

RM20

78 mi

Daventry DIRFT

Daventry DIRFT

Daventry DIRFT

NN6

128 mi

Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham

B6

152 mi

Leeds

Leeds

Leeds

LS10

196 mi

Bristol

Bristol

Bristol

BS11

208 mi

Manchester

Manchester

Manchester

M17

214 mi

Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow

G33

398 mi

Any UK postcode priced on request, usually within the hour.

A Norholm tractor unit pulling a container on a coastal road at dawn

Equipment and extras

Side-lifter

Lifts the box to the ground at sites without a dock

Tri-axle trailer

For a 20′ over 20 tonnes gross

Waiting time

Two hours free at your door, then per hour

Saturday or timed delivery

Booked slot outside 06:00–18:00 weekdays

Dangerous goods (ADR)

Driver, placards and paperwork

Release check

Customs and the line both release the box. We hold the PIN, you do not need to chase it.

Release check

Customs and the line both release the box. We hold the PIN, you do not need to chase it.

Terminal slot

We book a collection slot on the port’s vehicle booking system the moment it is released.

Terminal slot

We book a collection slot on the port’s vehicle booking system the moment it is released.

Delivery

Into your booked delivery slot. Control tracks every truck and phones you if a slot is at risk.

Delivery

Into your booked delivery slot. Control tracks every truck and phones you if a slot is at risk.

Empty return

The empty goes back to the line’s nominated depot, so detention stops the same day.

Empty return

The empty goes back to the line’s nominated depot, so detention stops the same day.

Shipping documents, a customs stamp and a laptop on a broker’s desk overlooking the port

What we need from you

Your EORI number

Commercial invoice

Packing list

Proof of origin, for preferential duty

Duty deferment account, or use of ours

Customs clearance

Customs clearance

Our brokers sit two desks from the import team. They lodge your declarations on CDS while the ship is still at sea, so most boxes are released the moment they come off.

Documents

5 days before arrival

Lodged

Before berthing

Released

At discharge, for most entries

Before sailing

Documents to us

Documents to us

Commercial invoice and packing list. We classify new products and check origin for preference.

At sea

Entry drafted

Entry drafted

Checked line by line against the bill of lading and last shipment.

3 days out

Pre-lodged on CDS

Pre-lodged on CDS

Lodged before the ship berths, so HMRC routes it while the box is still on board.

Discharge

Released

Released

Most entries clear with no checks. If HMRC calls an exam, we attend it.

Other declarations

Export declaration

Transit declaration (T1)

Exam attendance

New commodity code

A container being devanned at a dock door, cartons on pallets inside

Bonded warehousing

A container being devanned at a dock door, cartons on pallets inside

Bonded warehousing

A customs warehouse four miles from the port. Goods enter bond with duty and import VAT suspended, and you pay them only on what leaves, pallet by pallet.

Devanned

Within 24 hours of arrival

Picked

Orders by 12:00 out the same day

Reports

Every Monday by 09:00

Floor

7,400 m², racked to 9 m

From the port

4 miles, A14 junction 59

Dock doors

8, with two level-access

One 40′ in bond, week by week

26 pallets of furniture enter bond in week one. Duty and VAT of £540 a pallet is paid as each one leaves, so £14,040 goes out over seven weeks instead of on the day the ship docks.

26

26

Wk 1

£0

£0

22

22

Wk 2

£2,160

£2,160

17

17

Wk 3

£2,700

£2,700

13

13

Wk 4

£2,160

£2,160

8

8

Wk 5

£2,700

£2,700

3

3

Wk 6

£2,700

£2,700

0

0

Wk 7

£1,620

£1,620

Pallets in bond

Duty and VAT paid that week

What sits outside the rate

What sits outside the rate

These depend on the line, HMRC or the day, so no forwarder can fix them in advance. We tell you before any of them starts, not when the invoice arrives.

Demurrage

Demurrage

Demurrage

Set by the line

Line storage at the terminal once free time ends, usually after 7 days at Felixstowe. Charged at the line’s tariff.

Detention

Detention

Detention

Set by the line

The line’s charge for keeping its box beyond free time, typically 14 days combined. We return empties the day they are tipped.

Customs exams

Customs exams

Customs exams

Port and HMRC

Port rent and handling when HMRC examines a box, at cost, plus our attendance.

Duty and import VAT

Duty and import VAT

Duty and import VAT

HMRC

Paid to HMRC at cost. Import VAT can be postponed to your VAT return.

Peak season surcharges

Peak season surcharges

Peak season surcharges

Set by the line

Passed on at cost when a line imposes one, with at least 30 days’ notice.

Waiting time

Waiting time

Waiting time

Norholm

Two hours free at your door, then charged by the hour. We phone before it starts.

Send us the lane,
we’ll send the rate.

Tell us the box, the load port and the door. The desk replies with an all-in rate, usually within the hour.

Desk 07:00–19:00 Mon–Fri, 08:00–13:00 Sat, on 01632 960418

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