When the carrier fails to provide the vehicle, act on two tracks. Confirm the failure in writing and set a short, realistic deadline. In parallel, look for a replacement vehicle, because every hour brings you closer to a missed delivery window. Collect evidence: correspondence, times, costs incurred. A justified difference in the cost of replacement freight can usually be claimed later from the carrier that failed.
The Polish-language version of this article is the reference one. This is an informational translation.
Hour zero: how to tell the truck is not coming
The warning signs usually appear earlier: the driver does not answer the phone, the dispatcher gives evasive answers, and a few hours before loading there is still no vehicle registration number. At that point, do not wait until the end of the day. Send the carrier a message asking for confirmation of the vehicle and state the hour by which you expect a reply. No reply is also a reply.
What to check in the transport order and the liability policy
Check three things in the order: the contractual penalty for failing to provide the vehicle or providing it late, the clause on the right to withdraw from the order and book replacement transport at the carrier expense, and the deadline and form in which this must be notified. If the order says nothing, you are not defenceless: general liability rules still apply, but your documentation must be all the more careful.
When to withdraw and order a replacement vehicle
Set the carrier a final deadline and announce that once it passes you will withdraw from the order and book replacement transport at the carrier expense. Such a message does not end the conversation, but it puts the situation in order: from that moment it is the carrier fighting to save the job. Do not postpone the decision until the evening. The market of available vehicles is much shallower in the afternoon than in the morning, and a night-time arrangement is harder to organise.
How to secure your claims
- Collect the correspondence: the order, confirmations, messages about the missing vehicle, with times
- Note who informed you of the failure and when
- Keep the offer and the invoice for the replacement freight, the price difference is your loss
- Document indirect costs: transhipment, warehousing, penalties charged by the consignee
- Send the carrier a written demand for payment, with a deadline
What a standstill really costs
The stake is bigger than the freight price itself: a stopped production line at the consignee, a lost booking window at the warehouse and the wait for a new one, a wasted ferry reservation on the route to the United Kingdom, a contractual penalty in the commercial contract, and the shaken trust of a client who does not need to know that a subcontractor failed. That is why the first decision is to save the delivery, and only the second is to settle accounts with those responsible.
How an emergency replacement works
At OTSL we run emergency transport takeover: we provide a replacement vehicle, take over the documents and customs clearance, and move the most urgent part of the goods by express van. The duty desk runs around the clock. Describe the situation in the contact form and a forwarder will immediately confirm a realistic arrival time.
