Is there a minimum load?

There's no strict minimum - small consignments move as LTL groupage, and from roughly half a trailer upward, a dedicated FTL is usually cheaper per unit. Send the weight and pallet count and we'll tell you which works out lower.

Who is responsible for loading and securing the goods?

You present the goods packed and palletised; our driver secures the load to EU load-restraint standards. For fragile, high-value, or oversized items, we arrange crating and assisted loading, and we offer loaders for city deliveries - flag it at quoting so it's priced in.

Who pays the tolls, and are they in the price?

Tolls are included in the A→B rate - you don't handle Maut, e-TOLL, or péage yourself. Duty and import VAT follow the Incoterm you agree with your supplier; tell us the Incoterm and we confirm who covers what.

How far ahead should I book?

A curtainsider load can often be booked the same week. Reefers, low-loaders, and ADR units are a smaller pool - book 3–5 working days ahead, and more during peaks such as harvest or pre-holiday retail. Urgent slots are possible at a higher rate.

What happens if the truck is held at the border?

Your logistician works any declaration query or SPS check directly with the customs authority and keeps you posted. Because we lodge T1/EX and the safety-and-security declaration before arrival, most delays are avoided; where a check is unavoidable, we build the time into the quoted window.

Road Freight - International Haulage

If you move goods across Europe by truck, you want a carrier that owns the vehicle and answers for the load - not one that brokers your freight blind and bills the empty run back to you. Cargo Logistic Solutions operates its contracted fleet for international road freight, dispatched from offices in Poland, Spain, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Every shipment comes with three guarantees: CMR insurance, fixed financial liability set out in the contract, and payment for the A→B leg only - no empty return mileage hidden in the rate.

We carry cargo from a single part-load consolidated into groupage up to a full dedicated trailer. Tell us the goods, weight, and deadline, and a personal logistician matches the right vehicle and confirms a transit window before you book.

Get a quote in 15 minutes. Send loading and delivery points plus the pallet count - we reply with a rate and a transit window the same day.

Why Our Road Freight Is Different

Most quotes hide two costs: the empty run back to base, and a chain of sub-brokers between you and the driver. We remove both, because we own certified vehicles and dispatch them ourselves. Cabotage rules - a foreign truck may run only three domestic jobs within seven days of an international delivery, then pause four days - are planned into the schedule rather than discovered at a roadside check.

A→B pricing. The return leg is ours to fill, not a line on your invoice.
One accountable contact. A personal logistician stays on your shipment 24/7 and reports its position on request.
Contractual liability. Cover applies under the CMR Convention on every cross-border movement, with our financial responsibility set out in the contract and additional insurance to declared value on request.

How Long Does Road Freight Take Across Europe?

Transit is set by three levers we name up front: EU driver-hour rules (a 9-hour daily driving limit, extendable to 10 hours twice a week, a 45-minute break after 4.5 hours, and 45 hours of weekly rest), weekend and holiday truck bans (Sunday and public-holiday HGV bans in Germany, summer-Saturday limits in France, night bans in Austria and Switzerland), and tolls plus border or Channel crossings. Figures below are indicative FTL times, not guarantees; groupage adds 2–4 days for consolidation.

Lane (from → to)	Approx. distance	Typical FTL transit
Poland → Germany	600–1,100 km	1–2 days
Poland → France	~1,500 km	2–3 days
Germany → Spain	~1,800 km	2–3 days
Poland → Spain	2,300–2,800 km	3–4 days
UK → Germany	~900 km + Channel	2–3 days
UK → Poland	~1,600 km + Channel	3–4 days

Road Tolls in 2026 - and Why They Sit in Your Rate

Tolls are one of the fastest-rising cost lines in European haulage, and 2026 brought real increases across the continent. We quote them into the A→B price, so there are no surprises on the invoice.

Country	System	2026 note
Germany	LKW-Maut, per km	CO₂ component since Dec 2023; applies over 3.5 t; ~€0.19–0.35/km for a 5-axle Euro VI, depending on CO₂ class
Poland	e-TOLL, per km	Rates raised 4–6.6% on 1 January, then a further 40–42% from 1 February 2026; network expanded to ~5,869 km
France	Péage (barrier), per section	~€0.18–0.25/km; a small indexed rise (~0.87%) from 1 February 2026; no CO₂ tiers yet
Netherlands	New per-km HGV charge	Launches 1 July 2026 (~€0.20/km); Eurovignette ends the same day
Austria	GO-Maut, per km	CO₂-linked tiers; higher Alpine section tolls

Kilometre-based, CO₂-differentiated charging is becoming the European norm, and empty running is increasingly expensive - which is exactly why our A→B model protects your budget on regular lanes. According to industry data, tolls now account for roughly 14% of total freight cost on average, and up to 23% on some single-trip routes - making toll strategy a genuine cost lever, not a rounding error.

FTL or LTL - Choosing the Right Format

Category	FTL - full truck load	LTL - groupage
Vehicle	Dedicated to your load	Shared with other cargo
Transit	Direct, sealed	+2–4 days via a hub
Best for	Full loads, ~33 europallets / up to 24 t	Part-loads
Priced by	Route / km	Loading metre (ldm), m³ or kg

Choose full truckload (FTL) when the trailer is full or the cargo needs a direct, sealed run; choose LTL groupage when you ship smaller quantities and can accept a consolidation hub. Not sure where your volume sits? Send it over and we'll price both.

The Fleet We Run

We size the vehicle to the cargo - these are the units we run and their indicative per-km rates:

Vehicle	Volume / payload	From
Curtainsider (tilt)	92 m³ / 24 t	€1.25/km
Refrigerated	88 m³ / 22 t	€1.55/km
Container transport	76 m³ / 24 t	€1.35/km
Low-loader (heavy/oversized)	up to 28 t	€2.20/km
Cargo van (urgent/city)	14 m³ / 2 t	€0.60/km

Standard EU limits shape every plan: 2.55 m width (2.60 m for refrigerated bodies), 16.5 m length for an articulated combination, and 40 t gross weight (44 t on certain combined-transport movements), plus axle limits. Height is typically capped at 4 m but varies by country, so we confirm it per route. Loads that breach these thresholds run as abnormal loads with permits.

Temperature-Controlled, Oversized and Dangerous Goods

For chilled and frozen goods, we run reefers on set corridors - for example, +2…+8°C pharma windows or −18°C frozen - checking the temperature log at loading. For abnormal loads over 2.55 m wide, 4 m high, or 16.5 m long, we arrange permits, escorts, and night driving windows - roughly a day added per restricted country. For ADR-classified goods, we assign a driver holding a valid ADR certificate, fit the vehicle with orange plates, prepare the written instructions, and route around tunnel restrictions.

Customs, CMR and Documents

Our in-house customs team handles import and export clearance on a turnkey basis, opening T1 transit and EX declarations and lodging them before the truck reaches the border, so your trailer isn't the one held in the queue.

For the UK, we run the full post-Brexit chain: a GVMS/GMR movement reference for the Channel ports, declarations on the UK's CDS platform, and the safety-and-security (ENS) filing now mandatory on EU-to-GB goods - plus the mirror ICS2/ENS requirement for movements into the EU. For food, plant, and animal products, we handle the SPS layer: pre-notification and health or phytosanitary certificates. You always receive a CMR consignment note and clean invoices your accounts team can file directly.

What Determines the Price of Your Shipment

Distance and the specific lane - motorway routing, not straight-line kilometres.
Vehicle type - a reefer or low-loader carries a higher base rate per km than a curtainsider.
Volume - loading metres (ldm), m³, or chargeable weight for LTL.
Tolls - CO₂-based LKW-Maut, Poland's sharply higher 2026 e-TOLL, French péage, the new Dutch charge, and Alpine sections.
Surcharges - ADR, temperature control, permits for abnormal loads.
Seasonality - peaks such as Spanish fruit and vegetable exports tighten reefer capacity.
Urgency - express and dedicated runs cost more than a planned slot.

Regular and Contract Lanes

If you ship the same route repeatedly, spot pricing works against you - and with tolls rising sharply this year, an empty return on a one-off booking is money lost. For scheduled flows, we set up contract lanes: a fixed rate held over the agreement, guaranteed vehicle availability on your loading days, and a dedicated manager who knows your consignees.

Ask for a rate on regular shipments. Tell us the lane and monthly volume for indicative figures.

When Road Isn't the Best Mode

Road freight is the right tool inside Europe - fast, flexible, door-to-door. For overseas origins and destinations, or very heavy long-haul volumes, a combined chain is usually cheaper. In those cases, we route through multimodal transport - sea, rail, or air for the long leg, with our contracted trucks on first- and last-mile across Europe.