Home / Process
The process
Six steps, and only two of them need you.
Most of what happens between your order and your delivery is ours. This page is the whole sequence, including the parts that occasionally go wrong.
- Steps
- Six
- Your involvement
- Two
- Air, door to door
- 3–5 days
- Road, door to door
- ~16 days
- Quote
- Within 24h
The sequence
What happens, in order, and what it leaves behind.
| Step | Days | Who | Document it produces |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 · Cargo facts | 0–1 | You | Our written quote: six lines, duty and VAT shown separately. |
| 2 · Booking | 1 | Us | Booking confirmation with the service, the cut-off and the planned arrival. |
| 3 · Pickup and consolidation | 1–2 | Us | China export declaration, warehouse receipt, loading photos. |
| 4 · Uplift or overland | 1 | Carrier | Air waybill, or the CMR for a road consignment. |
| 5 · Import clearance | 1–2 | Us | EU import entry plus the duty and VAT statement. |
| 6 · Delivery | 1–3 | Us | Signed POD. Courier, oversized or truck — the option is agreed before dispatch, not chosen on the day. |
Every document above ends up in the same shipment record, and you get them together rather than from four different suppliers. That is the practical difference between one forwarder on one lane and a chain of agents.
Your part
Two jobs, and neither takes an afternoon.
Tell us what the goods are
Specific enough to classify: material, function, and anything that affects air eligibility such as batteries or liquids. The duty rate is derived from this, so vagueness costs you money rather than time.
If you are unsure, send a product photo and a link. Working out the code is our job.
Confirm the delivery point
Postcode, receiving hours, and whether a tail-lift or a booking is needed. A residential address or a site that only takes deliveries before noon changes the cost, and it is cheaper to tell us than to discover it at the gate.
Exceptions
Four things that go wrong, and who pays.
This is the section most forwarders leave out, which is why the invoice at the end is sometimes a surprise. None of these is unusual; all of them are priced in advance.
| What happens | What we do | Who pays |
|---|---|---|
| Customs selects the shipment for examination | The consignment moves to a customs facility and the clock stops. We tell you the same day, with the fee, before authorising anything. | You — examination fees and any storage sit outside a DDP quote |
| A flight is cancelled or rolled | We rebook on the next available service and tell you the revised arrival the same day. | Us, unless the airline rate has moved and you choose to accept it |
| The delivery address changes after dispatch | We request the change with the carrier or the facility; some will refuse once the load is on board. | You — a re-delivery or rebooking is a new movement |
| The receiver refuses the delivery | We hold it, send you photographs and the refusal note, and wait for instructions. | You — return, storage or re-delivery |
Anything caused by the cargo or the receiving end is yours; anything caused by our booking is ours. That line is in the quote, not only in this table, so there is no argument to have later.
Never on your list
What you do not have to arrange.
An EORI number
Not with our standard setup — the entry is in our name. There is one exception where you want the entry in yours, and it has its own page.
A customs broker
We file the entry ourselves through our own customs broker in Europe. You do not appoint or brief anyone on the destination side.
A freight account
No airline account, no courier contract, no minimum volume commitment. One shipment is a valid first order.