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Knowledge base
Transport types
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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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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How many pallets fit on a 12 t and 18 t rigid truck, and what the tail lift carries
A rigid truck with a tail lift takes 18 euro pallets, and the lift raises up to 1.5 tonnes. See how much payload is…
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What a freight ferry booking includes and why the driver cannot buy a ticket at the gate
A ferry reservation for a truck is not a ticket like the one for a car. We take a freight booking apart: freight…
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ADR transport documents: transport document, instructions in writing, certificates
Who issues the ADR transport document, what the driver must carry in the cab and why a company needs a DGSA adviser. A…
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Dover-Calais or the east coast ports: which corridor for which delivery
The short strait via Dover is not the only way into Great Britain. Sailings from Rotterdam, Zeebrugge and Hoek van…
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ADR classes in groupage: what an ordinary carrier will not take
Nine classes of dangerous goods, mixed loading prohibitions and quantities that add up per truck. A practical review of…
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Ferries to Scandinavia: routes from Polish ports
Swinoujscie-Ystad, Swinoujscie-Trelleborg and Gdynia-Karlskrona: three classic crossings for trucks heading north from…
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Limited quantities (LQ): when dangerous goods travel without full ADR
Aerosols, paints and cosmetics travel in the LQ regime every day. The mechanics of limited quantities, what the LQ…
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Storm and a cancelled crossing: what happens to the cargo and the deadline
Wind closes the port, the operator cancels sailings and the loaded truck sits in a queue. Here is what the forwarder…
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Shipping lithium batteries: UN 3480 and UN 3481 in practice
Batteries on their own or batteries in equipment: every shipment starts with that question. The difference between UN…
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Ferry or Eurotunnel: how we choose the crossing for a truck
The Dover-Calais ferry and the Eurotunnel shuttle between Folkestone and Coquelles serve the same corridor, yet they…
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ADR transport to the UK after Brexit: documents on both sides of the border
ADR did not disappear with Brexit; customs clearance was added on top. How dangerous goods travel from Poland to the UK…
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Deliveries to automotive plants in Poland, Czechia, Slovakia and Germany: booking and unloading windows
Plants accept trucks only in booked windows, reserved in the receiver's systems. How booking works, what a missed slot…
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Load securing: who is liable, the carrier or the shipper
The goods shifted in the trailer and there is damage. Who pays? We explain what Article 17 of the CMR Convention says…
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Express to the line: when a van is enough and when you need a dedicated truck for parts
Weight, volume, distance and what exactly is at stake: the criteria for choosing between an express van and a dedicated…
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How to fill in a CMR consignment note step by step: who writes what and where
The CMR note is the proof of the carriage contract and the first document everyone reaches for in a dispute. We go box…
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Returnable packaging in automotive: KLT, Gitterbox and settling the loop
KLT containers and steel Gitterboxes circulate between supplier and plant in a closed loop. How the exchange works…
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Dedicated truck or part load: when paying extra pays off
A part load wins on price, a dedicated truck on the deadline and safety. We break the difference into factors…
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JIT and JIS in freight practice: the difference and what it means for transport
Just-in-time means delivery in a time window, just-in-sequence adds assembly order. Both models explained from the…
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Driver hours vs the delivery deadline: how far a truck really gets in 24 and 48 hours
Regulation 561/2006 sets the limits on driving, breaks and rest, and those limits set real delivery dates. We turn the…
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What a production line stoppage costs and how transport prevents it
Contractual penalties clocked from downtime, special freight billed to whoever caused it, and a hit to the supplier…
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What an FTL from Poland to Germany or the UK costs: the anatomy of the rate
Instead of a price list that would be stale within a week, we take the FTL rate apart: fuel, tolls, driver time, the…
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Tilt, mega or curtainsider: which trailer type for which cargo
The three most common trailer builds in road transport differ in height, loading method and availability. Here is how a…
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Pallets, packaging and load securing in international transport
The sender answers for packaging, the carrier for securing. We show how to pack pallets for an international route and…
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Delivery to hard-to-reach places: no dock, city centre, time windows, ULEZ
A delivery address with no dock, a narrow city-centre street, a low emission zone in London, a time window for…
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Single pallet transport to the UK and small quantities, when others want full loads
You have one pallet or a few cartons to send to the United Kingdom, and carriers only reply about full loads? We carry…
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Airport-to-airport transport, when every detail counts
Transport between airports for airline operations: aircraft engines, coordination on the apron, UK and Ireland airports.
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Automotive transport, delivery to unloading slots
In automotive the unloading window matters more than distance. A few pallets exactly on time, so the line does not wait.
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Out-of-gauge and special loads, transport beyond the standard profile
A machine, a structure, an item of unusual size. Why out-of-gauge is a project, not a routine move, and what must be…
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Temperature-controlled transport and the cold chain | OTSL
Temperature-sensitive goods forgive the fewest mistakes. How reefer transport works, why chain continuity matters and…
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Ferry booking, how we reserve crossings on the EU-UK lane
The ferry crossing is the bottleneck on the route to the UK. How we reserve space, how we tie it to customs and why a…
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ADR transport, moving dangerous goods step by step | OTSL
ADR classes, documentation requirements and why dangerous goods need separate planning, not just a trailer with a label.
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Express vans and time-critical transport in Europe | OTSL
When every hour counts, scheduled groupage can be too slow. How dedicated van transport and express LTL work, and when…
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Groupage and LTL across Europe, from a single pallet | OTSL
LTL is transport where you pay only for the space you actually use. When it makes sense, how we measure space and how…
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Full truckload or groupage: a simple guide for beginners
A plain-language guide for first shipments: how a full truckload (FTL) differs from groupage (LTL), what you pay for…
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