From the first call to the outbound truck
Six steps. The same six whether your freight is staying three months or three hours, and none of them a surprise.
The process
Nothing here is unusual. We write it out because knowing what happens next is half of what people want from a warehouse.
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You get in touch
Call, email, or send the form. Tell us what the freight is, roughly how much of it there is, when it lands and how long you need it held. If you do not know all of that yet, send what you have.
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We confirm and quote
We check we have the space and the dock time, then come back in writing with what it costs. If we cannot take the load, you hear that straight away rather than after a week of chasing.
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Your freight arrives
You or your carrier bring it to the dock at the agreed time. Send us the bill of lading and any packing list ahead of the truck, so we are checking against something rather than guessing.
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Received and checked
The load comes off, gets counted, and is matched against your documents. Condition is noted as it comes off the trailer, not after it has been moved around the floor.
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Stored or staged
Storage goes onto racking or into a designated floor space, wrapped and labelled. Cross-dock freight is sorted by outbound destination and staged where it can be loaded without being handled twice.
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Released and out
On the release date, your goods are picked, staged and loaded onto the outbound truck. You get confirmation of what left and when.
What to have ready
Send these and the whole thing goes faster. None of them is difficult, but missing one holds a truck at the dock.
Before the truck arrives
- Bill of lading
- Packing list or item count
- Number of pallets or cases, and rough dimensions
- Carrier name and expected arrival time
Before it goes out
- Release instruction, in writing
- What is leaving: all of it, or which part
- Who is collecting, and when
- Delivery paperwork, if you want it travelling with the load
When something does not match
Sometimes the count is short. Sometimes a pallet arrives crushed, or the paperwork says forty cases and thirty-eight come off the truck.
When that happens you are told the same day, with what we found and what it looked like when it came off the trailer. Not at the end of the month, and not when you come looking for it.
It is a short conversation when it happens early, and an expensive one when it happens late.
About timing
We run 8am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. Dock time inside those hours is worth agreeing early.
Inbound and outbound both need a slot, and both have to land inside the working day. Give us the dates as soon as you have them, even if they might move, and we will hold the time. A load that turns up unannounced still gets handled, but it waits for a gap in the day instead of having one saved for it.
Start at step one
Send us what the freight is and when it lands. That is enough for us to tell you whether it works.