Skip to content Move your containers from quay to door with K Charles Haulage, providing trusted UK container haulage and transport services since 2017. Our RHA, BIFA and TASCC-accredited team collects 20ft and 40ft boxes from every major UK port, with slot booking and customs clearance handled in-house.
As one of the UK container haulage companies running its own fleet rather than broking the work out, K Charles Haulage offers end-to-end container transport, including 20ft and 40ft movements, quay-to-door delivery, port collection from Felixstowe, Southampton and London Gateway, vehicle booking slot management, customs clearance and empty container returns. Collection, linehaul and delivery stay under one operator’s control.
Unlike container hauliers who subcontract the road leg, we move containers for freight forwarders, importers, exporters, manufacturers, retailers and construction suppliers with directly employed drivers, planning imports around free time and exports around the terminal gate-in cut-off. Call 01622 262 262 to confirm availability against your container size, port and delivery postcode.
K Charles Haulage offers full UK container haulage and container transport services, covering port collection and inland delivery, quay-to-door movements, vehicle booking slot management, and empty container returns. Our team holds the terminal relationships and tracks release status, so your container moves as soon as it becomes available rather than days into free time.
At K Charles Haulage, We handle 20ft container haulage, 40ft container transport and 40ft high-cube movements for import and export. Both standard sizes share an ISO maximum gross weight of 30,480kg, so a 40ft buys close to twice the volume for a similar payload ceiling rather than twice the capacity. That shared ceiling, and your delivery site’s access, decide which box suits your cargo.
We collect and deliver 20ft ISO containers from UK ports, depots and inland terminals. A standard 20ft box measures around 6.06m long and holds roughly 33 cubic metres. Most 20ft container transport we run carries dense freight such as tiles, stone, machinery parts and bagged goods, where the weight ceiling arrives long before the space runs out, and the shorter box reaches tight industrial estates, farm entrances and yards a 40ft cannot.
~33m³
Capacity
6.06 m
Length
Dense
Best For
Our 40ft container transport covers standard 40ft ISO boxes measuring around 12.19m long and holding roughly 67 cubic metres. To transport a 40ft container economically the cargo needs to fill it by space rather than weight, which suits palletised consumer goods, packaging, furniture, textiles and retail stock. Forty-foot boxes demand a longer approach and more turning room, so we screen the delivery postcode and site access at quotation stage.
~67m³
Capacity
12.19 m
Length
Bulky
Best For
We haul 40ft high-cube containers, which carry the same footprint as a standard 40ft with additional internal height for taller or stacked cargo. High cube container work changes route screening, because bridge and access clearances that accept a standard box do not always accept the extra height. Confirm the container type at enquiry so your 40ft shipping container transport is planned against the correct overall height.
~76m³
Capacity
12.19 m
Length
Tall
Best For
Import is planned backwards from free time. Export is planned backwards from the gate-in cut-off. Either way, the deadline drives the booking.
Import shipping container haulage is planned backwards from free time, which starts running the moment your container is discharged. We track the release, confirm customs status and book the vehicle slot from the point the box becomes collectable. Where clearance is also outstanding, our in-house customs team holds the declaration, so container delivery in the UK is not waiting on two separate suppliers.
Export container haulage is planned backwards from the terminal’s gate-in cut-off, because a container that misses it rolls to the next sailing. Unlike container transport companies that quote the road leg alone, we book the delivery slot against that deadline, collect from your premises and gate the box in ahead of closure. Confirm the verified gross mass your shipping line requires at booking stage.
We collect containers from eight UK container terminals and deliver nationwide. Each port runs its own vehicle booking regime, gate procedure and free-time terms, so UK container haulage is planned against that terminal’s rules rather than a shared process. Experienced container hauliers price the port into the rate, because each terminal holds a cost advantage for a different region.
Felixstowe handles the largest share of UK deep-sea container volume and operates strict slot control, so a vehicle booking must be held before a driver reaches the gate. Container haulage companies working Felixstowe live or die by slot discipline, and arriving outside the window risks a chargeable wasted journey. We run Felixstowe containers into East Anglia, the Midlands and the Home Counties, holding the booking ourselves.
Southampton serves the South Coast, South West and Midlands, and it is the port of entry for most importers based in southern England. Like Felixstowe it operates defined vehicle arrival windows. Southampton is also the closest major container terminal to our Aylesford base, which shortens the positioning leg on container transport from Southampton into the South East and reduces what that leg adds to your rate.
London Gateway on the Thames gives the shortest inland leg for containers bound for London and the surrounding distribution belt. The terminal is heavily automated and works to slot-based vehicle booking with tightly defined arrival windows, which is what London Gateway container hauliers need a standing relationship to hold. Our Kent base places us inside that catchment for delivery into London, the South East and beyond.
Tilbury serves Essex and the Thames corridor, while Liverpool has become the preferred entry point for many northern importers because it removes a long inland leg from the North West. We collect 20ft and 40ft containers from both terminals, booking each against its own slot regime. Liverpool in particular suits customers whose delivery sites sit above the Midlands.
Alongside our main terminals, we collect from Dover for short-sea and European traffic, Bristol (Avonmouth) for the South West and South Wales, and Grimsby and Immingham for the Humber and Yorkshire. Boxes landing at Immingham typically serve Yorkshire and the East Midlands. If your container arrives at a port not listed here, ask, because our UK network reaches wider than these eight terminals.
Call 01622 262 262 and our team will advise on container size, port selection and whether your delivery site can take the box.
Choose K Charles Haulage over other container haulage companies and receive port collection, inland delivery, slot booking and customs clearance from one operator rather than three. Since 2017 we have held RHA, BIFA and TASCC accreditation, running our own fleet with directly employed drivers across more than 400 routes a month. We hold the terminal relationships, track release status, and price the empty return into the original quotation so the figure you approve is the figure you pay.
Get a tailored quote for your container haulage built around the actual movement. Share the container size, whether it is an import or an export, the port or depot, the gross weight and the delivery postcode, and our team returns a clear price with the empty return and any waiting terms stated up front.
After details are confirmed, we track your container’s release and customs status and book the vehicle slot in the terminal’s booking system as soon as the box becomes collectable. Every container transport quote we issue assumes that early booking, because booking early rather than late is what protects your free time and secures a workable arrival window.
Our driver arrives inside the booked window, completes the terminal gate procedure and takes the container onto the vehicle. The box then travels directly to your nominated address with transport updates in transit, and we allow the agreed unloading window on site rather than applying waiting charges you were not told about.
After unloading we return the empty container to the nominated depot within the shipping line’s deadline, which is what avoids detention charges. We then confirm the movement as complete, closing it out with full traceability across collection, inland transport, delivery and empty return.
We provide container haulage for freight forwarders, shipping agents and importers, covering port drayage between UK ports, rail terminals and inland distribution points, alongside ship spares and time-critical port deliveries. Our BIFA accreditation and in-house customs team matter most to this sector, because the release and the road leg stay with one operator. Each movement is booked against the terminal’s own slot regime and tracked from discharge through to empty return.
For manufacturers and distributors, we move containerised raw materials, components and finished goods from port to production site and distribution centre. Deliveries are planned around the production schedule rather than around terminal convenience, with the vehicle booking slot held by us so a fixed delivery window becomes achievable. We also handle inland container transfers between plants, warehouses and rail heads across the UK and Europe.
Retail and e-commerce businesses move high-volume containerised stock from port to distribution centre, often against seasonal peaks when terminal slots are tightest. We book from the moment a container becomes releasable rather than waiting for a delivery date to be confirmed, which protects both the arrival window and the free time. Forty-foot containers carry most of this traffic, and we screen delivery sites for access before allocating a vehicle.
Construction customers import tiles, stone, fixings, cladding and site equipment, and these arrive as dense 20ft loads more often than bulky 40ft ones. Container transportation for this sector makes axle-weight planning and site access the two decisions that govern the movement, both of which we settle at quotation stage using the verified gross mass and the delivery postcode. We also deliver containerised materials directly to live sites where access allows.
We move ambient containerised food, drink and agricultural goods from port to warehouse and store, backed by TASCC accreditation, which the standard buyers in these sectors audit against. Container haulage into Lincolnshire and the eastern counties carries much of this traffic. Refrigerated containers requiring a genset or terminal power are a separate capability from the refrigerated trailers on our fleet, so confirm at enquiry which your consignment needs.
For manufacturing operations, K Charles Haulage transports industrial machinery and production-line equipment, including CNC machines, presses, and heavy fabrication units. Our logistics team plans and secures each load for transit, using dedicated transport vehicles to ensure safe and stable movement. With coordinated collection schedules, careful handling, and certified drivers, we help manufacturers move machinery efficiently while keeping operations running smoothly across regional and national logistics routes, ensuring equipment arrives ready for immediate installation.
Routes a month
Miles driven a month
Proud members of staff
K Charles Haulage is a professional UK and European haulage provider that operates its own fleet and drivers to manage collection, linehaul and delivery with direct operational control. Established in 2017 and based at Hermitage Lane, Aylesford in Kent, we support manufacturing, distribution, retail, food, construction and pharmaceutical customers across more than 400 routes and 200,000 miles a month, holding RHA, BIFA and TASCC accreditation with a team of over 60 staff.
K Charles Haulage provides nationwide container transport across the UK, combining local knowledge of each port catchment with delivery coverage into every region. Buyers searching for container transport near them are usually within a day’s run of one of the eight terminals we collect from.
Businesses moving containers need certainty on collection dates, free time and final cost. K Charles Haulage provides container haulage across the UK, managing release monitoring, vehicle booking slots, quay-to-door delivery, customs clearance and empty container returns with our own fleet and directly employed drivers.
Call 01622 262 262 to speak with our transport team, request a tailored quote and confirm vehicle availability against your container size, port and delivery postcode. Our team will advise on whether a 20ft or 40ft suits your cargo and whether your delivery site can take it.
Container haulage runs between £250 and £1,500 and upward per container, or £1.50 to £4.00 and upward per mile. A 20ft move typically costs £220 to £750 and upward; a 40ft costs £250 to £800 and upward. We quote against your actual container size, port, distance and waiting requirements.
Both share an ISO maximum gross weight of 30,480kg, so a 40ft gives roughly twice the volume for a similar weight allowance. Dense cargo suits a 20ft; bulky, lighter cargo suits a 40ft. Site access often decides it regardless, because a 40ft needs a longer approach and more turning room.
We collect from Felixstowe, Southampton, Dover, London Gateway, Tilbury, Liverpool, Bristol (Avonmouth), and Grimsby and Immingham, and deliver nationwide. Each terminal runs its own vehicle booking regime and free-time terms, so every collection is planned against that port’s rules.
No. We hold the terminal relationships and book the Vehicle Booking System slot on your behalf. You supply the container number, vessel, discharge date, customs status and delivery postcode, and our team secures the arrival window.
Demurrage is charged when your container stays inside the terminal beyond its free time. Detention is charged when it stays with you, outside the terminal, before the empty is returned. Both are levied by your shipping line, not by us, and early booking is what avoids them.
Free time is set by your shipping line and terminal and varies by contract, trade lane and container type, so check your bill of lading for the allowance that applies. Send it to us and we plan your collection against the free time you actually hold.
Yes, and we price it into the original quotation rather than adding it afterwards. Tell us at the inquiry stage that the empty needs returning and it is scheduled as part of the same movement, returned to the nominated depot within the shipping line’s deadline.
Yes. We provide customs clearance in-house, so the declaration and the road leg sit with the same team and your release is not waiting on a third party. Share the commercial documents at booking and we will handle both.
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