Strange question maybe - we have been looking to get 3 or 4 pallets of stuff to the UK by mid August - but the firm making our goods says that carriers shut down for the summer and they cannot send anything out until 29th August - which is too late for us.
Maybe it is a case of just their carrier who is unavailable -or a loss in translation, but cant get a reply out of them at present as I asked them if we can arrange our own carrier if they have made our stuff in time.
If we have to arrange it are we better off looking in Italy or do UK operators pick up loads after going there so they dont come back empty?
As you can guess this is new for me to sort out, but I guess it should be pretty straightforward to arrange as nothing hazardous is involved, and the load is only about 1200kg in total.
Give Brian Yeardley international a call, they are experienced in Italy groupage loads .
They are based in Featherstone near Wakefield and may use an overnight pallet network to get your pallets up there.
Or EM Rogers International ,or Unitruc Ltd
and S&K international Ltd at Barry South Wales.
Yes ,all of Europe shuts down for the summer.
There are summer driving restrictions for Lgv traffic and weekend bans to contend with.
Or try Secure Cargo Ltd in Yate, Bristol another experienced Italian operator .
Italian carriers are largely irrelevant as the vast majority of transport in western Europe is undertaken by eastern Europeans. Some British companies do still go to Italy but nothing like in the numbers that they once did, again because of eastern European competition (if you can call it that). No one goes back empty that sort of distance unless its a dire emergency.
UK regulars that still do Italy to my knowledge are Eurovision in Hull, Neill and Brown in Hull, Brian Yeardley in Featherstone and EM Rogers somewhere near Northampton, I’m sure there are others. Eastern European firms working between Italy and the UK, the list would be endless and most Italian firms will have a Romanian or such like tractor unit pulling their trailer with a driver earning 75-90% less than his western European counterpart. Italian trucks with Italian drivers doing international work are very rare these days, especially to the UK.
If your only concern is getting the goods to the UK, which I’m sure it is, you’ll be spoiled for choice but it will almost certainly not be an Italian or British driver delivering it.
In a word, Yes, most Italian carriers shut up shop for August.
Most Italian factories shut up shop for August, so there’s little for carriers to carry.
When I worked for Murfitts (had an Italian specialist division), they found other work for their Italy drivers to do, or we took the time off.
Italian specialist carriers based in UK will still be doing a limited amount of work to Italy and will be looking for work coming back again.
Brian Yeardleys, Boyles, Frazer Freight are all worth a try.
Get confirmation that it’ll be possible to collect and load your goods.
It’ll be no good if the goods are ready and a maintenance man can open the door, but there’s no-one allowed to operate a fork lift (Laughable but quite easily possible).