Where does the container go?

[Rally]

Quick question. Once the container arrives in the UK and then haulaged to your home, is it left there for you to empty it or do you empty it right away and it is taken away there and then? do you guys need a forklift truck and driver to take carry some of the heavier pallets?

also, for shipments that are LCL, are the shipments of each different buyers split at the cargo and then carried individually? hence there wouldnt even be a container anymore?

im just thinking if a container arrived at my house, i have no where to put it except on the road! i know that isnt right! unless i take an hour emptying it into my garage and tell the driver to take it back.

 

[roydmoorian]

It will arrive on a skeletal frame ( About 1.5 metres off the ground ) at a pre arranged time and you will be allowed time to unload it, probably about an hour.
If you take longer to unload then you WILL be charged at the rate indicated in the T's & C's of the company delivering it to you.

 

[GraemeL]

The container lorry must be offloaded quickly ot it will cost you. The driver of this vehicle will do nothing to assist with this. Fork trucks cannot be used on public highways unless specifically registered to do so. But in my experience, containers are most often stuffed rather than palletised. So a small team is needed to offload, usually onto lappets.

LCL deliveries are most likely to be made on a curtainside lorry. Again, the driver will not assist. Neither will the driver wait for you to break down a pallet and offload item by item.

Suggest that for both instances you make arrangements with a local warehouse who can offload for you.

 

[Ben Mitchell Ltd]

Good Evening

I used to work for Maritime Transport, one of the biggest container haulage companies in the UK(1000 trucks ish)

As a rule, unless other wise stated, you will get 3 hours to unload the container, or "box" as its usually referred. After 3 hours you will get charged "Demurrage" which is usually between £25 and £75 and hour(you will have been advised of the cost by the shipping line prior to delivery).
As a rule, unless pre-arranged the driver of the truck will not under any circumstance helo you unload, and will tell you to take your time as he's paid by the hour. Dont take this as you wont get charged demurrage, as drivers are just lazy, i know as i was one!

The general rule of thumb is anything imported into the UK from the Far East WILL NOT be on pallets unless you stipulated it at the time of ordering your goods, but most things exported from the UK WILL BE on Pallets. The reasoning is simple, the British manual labour worker is lazy, and the Far East workers are'nt! (Its damned hard work hanballing 3500 boxes into a 40" container!)

Hope this info helps.

 

[roydmoorian]

British manual labour worker is lazy ( Expensive), and the Far East workers are'nt (Much less expensive)! (Its damned hard work handballing 3500 boxes into a 40" container!)

Hope this info helps.

There are plenty of Eastern European workers in the UK who are willing to load containers but even they expect NMW when in this country which is considerably more expensive than using pallets.

 

[GraemeL]

considerably more expensive than using pallets.

Probably going off topic now, but doesn't the cost calculation depend on the size of the pallet versus container width/height? Does a Euro pallet fit neatly into a container floor? I am curious what size is needed to fit the floor neatly.

I have seen AEKI furniture products in Chinese factories where the cardboard packaging was extended and strengthened in a clever way to form a one use cardboard pallet.