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Services and what they cost

Five services from one desk in Felixstowe, priced from our October 2026 tariff. Each shows how the work runs, a sample invoice line by line, and the lead times we plan to.

Services at a glance

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

40′ high cube 45G1

Inside
12.03 × 2.35 × 2.70 m
Capacity
76.3 m³
Max payload
26,580 kg
Pallets
25 euro, double stacked

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

Sample: 40′ high cube, Shanghai to Felixstowe£2,110
  • Ocean freightShanghai to Felixstowe, port to port£1,515
  • Bunker surcharge (BAF)Fuel, set by the line each quarter£245
  • Terminal handlingDischarge and gate at Felixstowe£265
  • Documentation and ENSBill of lading, safety and security filing£65
  • Port security (ISPS)Per container£20

Delivery from the port is quoted separately; see haulage. Customs entry from £45.

How a booking runs

  1. Booking

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

  2. Empty release

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

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. At sea

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

  6. 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

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 depotClosesSailsTo Trimley
Shanghai CNSHAMonday 12:00Thursday36 to 38 days
Ningbo CNNGBTuesday 12:00Friday35 to 37 days
Ho Chi Minh City VNSGNWednesday 16:00Saturday34 to 36 days
Nhava Sheva INNSAFriday 12:00Monday29 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 off the box.

Example: 4 pallets, 5.2 m³, 1,900 kg, Ningbo to Leeds£721
  • Ocean freight5.2 m³ at £68, Ningbo to Felixstowe£354
  • Devanning and CFS handling5.2 m³ at £21, our shed at Trimley£109
  • Documentation and ENSHouse bill of lading, per consignment£45
  • Import entryOne CDS declaration, up to five lines£45
  • Pallet deliveryTrimley to Leeds, four pallets, tail-lift£168

Charged on cubic metres or tonnes, whichever is greater. Minimum 1 m³.

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, per containerDelivered, empty returned, fuel included

  • IpswichIP112 mi£235
  • ThurrockRM2078 mi£410
  • Daventry DIRFTNN6128 mi£495
  • BirminghamB6152 mi£540
  • LeedsLS10196 mi£620
  • BristolBS11208 mi£640
  • ManchesterM17214 mi£655
  • GlasgowG33398 mi£1,040

Same price for a 20′ or a 40′. Other postcodes priced on request, usually within the hour.

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

Equipment and extras

Side-lifterLifts the box to the ground at sites without a dock
+£145
Tri-axle trailerFor a 20′ over 20 tonnes gross
+£60
Waiting timeTwo hours free at your door, then per hour
£48
Saturday or timed deliveryBooked slot outside 06:00–18:00 weekdays
+£95
Dangerous goods (ADR)Driver, placards and paperwork
+£85
  1. Release check

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

  2. Terminal slot

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

  3. Delivery

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

  4. 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

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
  1. Before sailingDocuments to us

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

  2. At seaEntry drafted

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

  3. 3 days outPre-lodged on CDS

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

  4. DischargeReleased

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

Example: 40′ of furniture, 8 commodity lines, on our deferment account£82
  • Import entryCDS declaration, up to five lines£45
  • Additional linesThree lines at £3£9
  • Use of our deferment1.5% of £1,860 duty, minimum £25£28

Import VAT is accounted for on your VAT return under postponed VAT accounting, at no charge.

Other declarations
Export declaration
£35
Transit declaration (T1)
£65
Exam attendance
£85
New commodity code
£15
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
Example: 40′ of 26 pallets, stored four weeks£687
  • DevanningPalletised 40′, checked against the packing list£120
  • Handling in26 pallets at £4.50£117
  • Storage104 pallet weeks at £3.20£333
  • Handling out26 pallets at £4.50£117

Pick and pack from £0.45 per carton. Labelling from £0.12 a label. Monday stock report included.

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 pallets in bondWk 1£0 paid
  • 22 pallets in bondWk 2£2,160 paid
  • 17 pallets in bondWk 3£2,700 paid
  • 13 pallets in bondWk 4£2,160 paid
  • 8 pallets in bondWk 5£2,700 paid
  • 3 pallets in bondWk 6£2,700 paid
  • 0 pallets in bondWk 7£1,620 paid

Pallets in bondDuty and VAT paid that week

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.

DemurrageSet by the line
Line storage at the terminal once free time ends, usually after 7 days at Felixstowe. Charged at the line’s tariff.
DetentionSet 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 examsPort and HMRC
Port rent and handling when HMRC examines a box, at cost, plus our attendance.
Duty and import VATHMRC
Paid to HMRC at cost. Import VAT can be postponed to your VAT return.
Peak season surchargesSet by the line
Passed on at cost when a line imposes one, with at least 30 days’ notice.
Waiting timeNorholm
Two hours free at your door, then £48 an hour. We phone before it starts.

Price your own lane

A Container size from From to To costs £2,110 all in.

To port, import. 33–36 days at sea, next cut-off Thu 8 Oct. Haulage and customs quoted on top, at the rates above.

rates@norholm.co.uk

Desk 07:00–19:00 Mon–Fri, 08:00–13:00 Sat, on01632 960418

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