Difficult Container Access Issues - Can anyone help us solve this problem

[willkeelham]

Hi All,

I have imported my first 20' container from China to UK and everything went smoothly apart from unloading at our end - reason being that an arctic lorry will not get up our farm lane to our farm. We had to drop the container off at a friend factory and do runs in a 3.5 ton van which sounds ok but I know there are much better solutions. (we can get a 7.5 ton lorry up our lane no problem but not an arctic)

My questions are does anybody know of any container forwarding solutions for hard to get to areas. Whether is being on a sideloader wagon, or maybe delivered on smaller wagons or even a company that offers an unpacking solution and delivery in 7.5 ton wagons. Or possibly sideloading from container wagon to a big flatbed trailer on tractor and taking up to our farm that way and bringing the trailer and container back to the artic after a few days.

Thank you for any advice in advance

 

[WHARTY]

Most LCL shipments are taken off the container and put onto pallets and then on to a curtain side lorry.

I used these guys http://www.wtagroup.com/default.aspx?pid=2496 a few years back and they were very good.

They offloaded my container and put my delivery onto pallets and then an 18t curtain sided vehicle.

 

[Rob2012]

May I ask how much you paid for freight forwarding in total?

Thanks!

 

[vvaannmmaann]

Could you improve the access to your farm?

 

[roydmoorian]

Were the goods palletised in the container of hand stacked.

I would expect that a local to you depot of one of the overnight pallet companies would offer this service.

I know that Longs of Leeds do for the Yorkshire area.

The process is known as devanning.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

The haulier has an obligation to deliver where you ask them to deliver You have an equal obligation to provide a suitable unloading point .
It appears that the delivery point is unfit for purpose and it would be better to find a place more suitable to unload / store these items .
It looks like you have almost solved the problem store them locally and call them off as required

 

[Socio South West]

At least it sounds like you anticipated the problem and had arranged to work round it: I have worked in a similar situation, and had the same problem - 7.5t was the largest lorry we could get in, and if it was at all wet or slippery it was hells delight getting even a 7.5tonner out!

I made an arrangement with another local farmer right by a main road and offloaded the gear there, and hired a 7.5tonner for the day to get it to the workshop - although hiring 7l5tonners isn't as easy as it used to be I understand.

In answer to the post about improving access... for me this would have involved widening and reducing slopes on half a mile of road over which I only had a right of way, and for an artic load every six months it simply wasnt worth the expense. The cost of hiring the 7.5tonner and the labour involved reduced the saving on bulk buying by a fairly small amount: The hassle of organising it was the worst part.

 

[Moneyman]

You can normally specify a non artic. might add a day of a few quid but generally not a problem. we do it all the time.

 

[Wavecrest Ltd]

We unload handball containers from China at our warehouse in Kent on behalf of many clients, palletise the goods and then deliver on smaller vehicles.

Glen