You don’t have to do anything unless we specifically ask you to. You can find all the dates and documents for your order anytime when you log in to your profile.

Here you can read how the process works:

Booking

The process starts as soon as you confirm your booking. You do this on our website, where you select the desired transport service, fill in the shipper, recipient, and cargo details, and pay for your transport by credit card or bank transfer.

Once you have submitted your booking, two things will happen immediately:

Confirmation

You will receive an order confirmation via email as documentation of the transport you ordered and the information you entered during the order.

Supplier contact

At the same time that we receive your order, we automatically send an email to your supplier with you in copy. This email contains a link to a page where your supplier must confirm the shipping details, including terms and conditions, goods description in local language and how the shipment is packed. In addition, we inform your supplier that we need a packing list and commercial invoice, as well as the formal requirements for the commercial invoice, to ensure efficient customs clearance in the UK. We generally communicate with your supplier in the local language but will always include an English translation so that you can follow the correspondence.

If we have not received a response from your supplier within one business day, we will automatically send a follow-up email. If we have not received a response after another business day and the cargo-ready date you have stated in the booking is approaching, we will write to you and ask for help in getting in touch with your supplier.

The advantage of ensuring that all information is available and correct at this very early stage is that we uncover any doubts or misunderstandings between you and your supplier, without it having an impact on the transport itself and thus avoiding the risk of delay. For example, we often experience disagreements between the seller and the buyer about which trading term the goods should be sent under. The trading term is decisive for how much the supplier has to pay in local costs (see transporteca.co.uk/fob-or-exw), and it is therefore not surprising that the supplier will often try to send the goods under, for example, EXW terms, even though your agreement is in fact FOB. This would reduce the supplier’s costs. If we can clarify this immediately after booking the transport, we can avoid the departure date being moved due to missing payments from your supplier.

Confirmation from your supplier

Once we have received the necessary information from your supplier, we will perform an automatic validation to ensure quality. High data quality throughout the process is extremely important, especially for later customs clearance, where data from all sources must match (e.g. how the shipment is packed, weight and volume, customs codes and value of the goods). If there are discrepancies, we will initially resolve them directly with your supplier, but in certain cases, we will escalate to you to find a solution. This could be if there are discrepancies in your order and what the supplier states on how much space the goods take up or weigh.

As soon as the supplier’s information is validated, we will automatically send the transport details to our partner in China.

Handover of your shipment

Our partner in China has one day to contact your supplier to coordinate the physical handover of your shipment. As soon as our partner is in contact with your supplier, we will send you an automatic update.

The physical handover of your shipment from your supplier to our partner in China depends on the trading terms under which the shipment is to be sent (see transporteca.co.uk/fob-or-exw). We either send a truck to your supplier’s warehouse address to pick up the shipment or inform your supplier of our warehouse address, where they must arrange to deliver your shipment.

Once we have confirmed the date for receiving your shipment, we reserve space on board the first available ship, train or plane, depending on your chosen transport solution. As soon as we have confirmed the space, we will send you an automatic update with the expected delivery date based on the given departure. In most cases, this will correspond with the delivery date you were informed of when booking. However, it may also be earlier or later if, for example, your supplier has the shipment ready earlier or production is delayed.

Consolidation

Once we receive your shipment at our warehouse in China, we will consolidate it with other shipments (this does not apply if you have ordered a full container). This means that we pack a container with shipments from several customers. As soon as the container (or the pallet, in the case of air freight) is packed, we send it to the port, train terminal, or airport so that it can be loaded onto the ship, train, or plane.

Departure

We automatically follow up with our partner in China the day after your shipment is scheduled to depart to ensure that everything has gone according to plan. If, for example, the ship is delayed, we can already check whether this impacts the delivery date and send you an update. You will receive a confirmation email as soon as your shipment is on its way to Europe.

Tracking en route

As soon as your shipment has departed, an automatic tracking process starts for the container your shipment is loaded into. This means that Transporteca will receive an update if there are updates on the shipping company’s website that the ship is arriving earlier or later at the port in Europe than expected. This could be in bad weather or if the ship skips a port call on the route. You will automatically receive an email with the information and an updated delivery date when changes are registered.

Customs clearance

A few days after your shipment has departed from China, we receive the bill of lading, which, together with the documents and information we have already obtained from your supplier, allows us to begin customs clearance. We automatically ensure that we receive all necessary documents and information and validate these before we process your shipment for customs. During customs clearance, the type of goods, value, and recipient are registered with the authorities, which forms the basis for the later collection of customs duties and delivery of your shipment in the UK.

We clear most sea freight shipments within the first week after they depart from China. This has the advantage that if there are any customs questions, we can clarify them before the shipment arrives in the UK. You can already find the customs documents on your Transporteca profile at this time, so if you have any questions about them, we can clarify them long before the goods arrive in Europe.

Arrival

Around 10 days before your shipment arrives in Europe by ship, we will send you an update with the expected delivery date and the procedure upon arrival. At this time, all the formalities are ready for delivery, and your shipment can pass the customs office in the UK without delay unless it is taken out for inspection.

The port of arrival depends on several factors, but it will most often be Felixstowe for delivery in the UK.

Preparation for delivery

The day after your shipment arrives at the port, we take it to a warehouse, empty the container, and prepare it for delivery. If your shipment is not already on pallets, we usually pack it on pallets to facilitate the delivery itself.

Two days before delivery, we will call you to confirm the delivery address and date to ensure that you are ready to receive the shipment. If you cannot receive the shipment on the proposed day, we will arrange a later delivery date. In most cases, this is free of charge. If we have an agreement for delivery without prior contact, you will not receive this call. This may be relevant if, for example, you need to take delivery at a warehouse where an agreed delivery time is not required.

Delivery

On the day of your delivery, the driver will call you approximately half an hour before arriving. Delivery will be between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Unfortunately, we cannot offer a specific delivery time on that day.

Delivery is made by a truck with a lift and pallet truck. Delivery is usually to the curb or a place in the immediate vicinity where our driver can reach it with the pallet truck. The pallet truck cannot drive on soft surfaces.

Pallets

If we have packed your goods on pallets, the driver will take a corresponding number of empty pallets in return if you have them. However, the driver will not wait for you to unpack the pallets, so this is only if you have extra pallets standing. If your supplier has packed the goods on pallets, these pallets are yours.

Customs documents

We will receive the final customs documents 5-10 days after your shipment is delivered, which we will automatically send to you by email. The authorities require that you keep these documents for 5 years. You do not need to print them out, as long as you can find the file if your company is taken for customs inspection.

Your Transporteca profile always has all dates, information and documents

All dates, information and documents for your shipment are continuously saved in your profile. This way, you can always log in and follow where your shipment is or retrieve a document or information if it becomes relevant.