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Knowledge base
Knowledge base
Practical guides on transport to the UK, customs clearance, exhibition logistics and warehousing.
What is in the OTSL knowledge base?
The OTSL knowledge base is practical articles on international road freight: customs clearance and border procedures (SIVEP, GMR, PBN, ATA carnet), transport to the United Kingdom, Ireland and Switzerland, trade fair logistics, warehousing and returns. We cover the real risks and how to prevent them before they hit your cargo.
Articles are coming soon.
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Carrier Central: How Delivery Slot Booking Works for Amazon UK
Discover how to book delivery slots in Amazon Carrier Central in the UK, what data is required, and how to manage…
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UK Machinery Auction Registration and Bidding Guide
How to register and bid safely at machinery auctions in the UK? Understand buyer's premium fees, sold as is terms, and…
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Border procedures in transport: SIVEP, SPS checks, GMR, PBN, ATA
A guide to border procedures in road transport outside the EU: SPS veterinary and phytosanitary checks, the GMR and…
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Supply chain risks: what can go wrong and what it costs
A guide to the risks salespeople prefer not to mention: bad documents, rejected deliveries, clandestine entrants, theft…
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Supply chain management in practice: how forwarding holds the chain together
What supply chain and supply chain management mean, what a supply chain is made of, and where the freight forwarder…
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Repacking services in the UK: how our food grade warehouse works
Depalletising, pallet exchange, relabelling and putting a consignment right after transport. How our food grade…
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Trade fair transport in Europe: a guide to the events we serve
From MSPO in Kielce through Salone del Mobile in Milan to Spring Fair in Birmingham. All the fairs we carry exhibitors…
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Furniture transport to the UK: how not to deliver a dented wardrobe
Furniture means high volume, delicate surfaces and strict booking-in. Here is how furniture logistics works on the…
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A UK returns address for EU sellers: how returns handling works
You sell into the United Kingdom without a warehouse there, and every return is a problem: a courier to Poland for tens…
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Distressed load management and rejected supermarket loads, recovery in the UK
A load rejected at a supermarket gate is not a write-off. In our Milton Keynes warehouse we take in distressed, damaged…
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Cross-dock and transshipment warehouse in Milton Keynes (pallet transshipment)
Cross-docking moves a load from one vehicle to the next without long storage in between. In our Milton Keynes warehouse…
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Freight forwarding, warehouse and transshipment in Kielce, Poland
OTSL is a Kielce-based freight forwarder with its head office at ul. Batalionów Chłopskich 71 and its own 24/7…
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Milton Keynes 24/7 value-added warehouse, full UK cargo handling
Our Milton Keynes warehouse runs 24/7 and does the work other warehouses will not touch: repack, pallet repair…
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Transport to the islands of Britain and Ireland: a guide to the destinations
Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey, the Hebrides, Orkney, Shetland, Ireland and Northern Ireland. We explain the three…
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How to choose a forwarder for transport to the UK
A checklist for choosing a UK forwarder: customs and GMR, a network instead of an exchange, out-of-hours contact…
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"Regime 42", "barcode" and smart border clearance: what it really means
In haulier slang it is often one and the same France to UK crossing. We explain the barcode, the ELO envelope and…
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Has your forwarder let you down? Urgent transport when time matters
The carrier did not show up, the goods are stuck and the deadline is closing in? We step in where others failed, with…
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UK customs and EU import: EAD, ENS, GMR, GVMS, CDS | OTSL
What actually happens during clearance to the UK and import into the EU: documents, systems and controls, step by step.
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Exhibition logistics at ExCeL London, how we deliver stands
Delivery of stand builds and goods to ExCeL London (E16 1XL): time slots, post-Brexit customs, a UK warehouse buffer.
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Time-critical delivery, when every minute counts
A 7 pm call, a few kilograms, almost 1000 km and a morning deadline. How we run deliveries when a line stoppage is at…
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The OTSL fleet, what we drive and what we carry
Our own tractor units plus vetted subcontractors we vouch for. From a single pallet to oversized cargo and machinery.
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Why we do not buy loads on freight exchanges, the OTSL model
Many brokers buy transport on exchanges and lose control over who carries the goods. We work differently and explain…
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Customs advisory, how to avoid costly mistakes | OTSL
Most problems at the border come from mistakes made earlier, at the desk. How customs advice up front protects against…
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How freight forwarding works from A to Z, step by step
Forwarding is more than sending a truck. We show the whole process, from enquiry to delivery, and who is responsible at…
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Transport to Norway, customs and VOEC | OTSL
Norway is in the EEA but outside the EU customs union, so a delivery needs clearance. What VOEC is, when it matters and…
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Transport to Switzerland, customs and documents | OTSL
Switzerland is outside the EU customs union, so every delivery needs clearance. What to prepare, which documents are…
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Cargo inspection step by step and the report for the insurer
When something happens to a load, an orderly assessment and documentation matter, not haste. What the inspection…
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GVMS from the driver's seat: the GMR at Calais, Dunkirk and Folkestone
The driver's view of the GB border: where to present the GMR at the ferry terminal and Eurotunnel, and what to do when…
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London fairs and Brexit, goods transport after 2021 | OTSL
After Brexit, taking goods to UK fairs is not just transport but customs and an ATA carnet too. What changed and how to…
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Trade-fair stand logistics from A to Z | OTSL
From collecting the stand parts, through customs and slots, to build and return. What full fair logistics covers and…
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Botched customs, and a crew that waits. How we prevent it
One missing document can stop a project and a crew of a dozen people. We show how thinking about the whole process…
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Poor exhibition logistics costs more than the transport
Late goods, goods stuck at customs, a build crew standing and waiting. We show where the money disappears and how to…
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Transport to fairs in the UK, how to arrange it
How to arrange goods transport to UK fairs: slots, ATA carnet, post-Brexit customs and the return after the event.
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UK customs clearance after Brexit, step by step | OTSL
How to clear customs step by step when exporting to the UK after Brexit: documents, ENS, GMR and the order of actions.
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Buying at Cheffins UK auction and machinery transport to Poland
Guide to transporting agricultural and construction machinery from Cheffins auction in Sutton to Poland. Customs rules…
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Transporting Vehicles from Aston Barclay Auctions UK to Poland
Complete guide on buying and shipping cars or trucks from Aston Barclay auction yards in Great Britain to Poland with…
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