Does a forwarder at OTSL lodge customs declarations in CDS personally?

No. Declarations are lodged by the OTSL customs agency in Poland or the United Kingdom. The forwarder must, however, understand what they require, make sure the shipper provides the GB import documents before the truck leaves, and know that without a declaration no GMR is created in GVMS and the vehicle is not admitted to the port.

Do I need to know freight exchanges if OTSL does not buy loads on them?

OTSL does not trade loads on exchanges. Whether and which platforms are used purely to find a carrier is something you will agree with the owner in conversation, because we do not publish that list. More important than knowing a particular exchange is the ability to vet a carrier: licence, liability insurance, company history, and a vehicle and driver that match the order.

Who books the delivery slot, the forwarder or the driver?

The forwarder. You reserve the window in the consignee's portal, whether booking-in at an exhibition, Carrier Central for Amazon UK or a retailer's distribution centre portal, and plan loading and the ferry around that slot. The driver receives ready data: booking reference, time and the consignee's requirements.

Forwarder software skills: GVMS, CDS, portals

A freight forwarder at OTSL works across several groups of systems at once: border and customs systems on the UK side (GVMS with its GMR, CDS, ELO/ENS safety declarations), the Irish side (PBN on the Revenue service) and the Norwegian side (Digitoll); consignees' delivery booking portals (booking-in at exhibitions, Carrier Central for Amazon UK, retail distribution centre slots); and carrier vetting tools. Knowledge of such platforms is a condition of joining, not a bonus. You need not master every one on day one, but you must know what each is for and what happens when one is missing data.

Why is platform knowledge a condition rather than a bonus?

Because at OTSL one person runs one shipment from quote to delivery, and there is no separate department that keys data into systems. The forwarder books the slot with the consignee, passes the complete set for the GMR to the customs agency and checks that the safety declaration went in before the truck left. If you do not know how a GMR differs from an MRN, you will not notice that the driver is standing in Dunkirk with a number that opens nothing.

The second reason is pace. A retailer's warehouse portal closes its windows several days ahead; Carrier Central for Amazon UK rejects a delivery without a booking; an exhibition hall will not admit a truck outside its booking-in slot. Each of these systems has its own logic and its own deadlines. A forwarder who knows them plans the loading around the slot. A forwarder who does not learns about the slot from the driver at the gate. These are the freight forwarding software skills, GVMS and CDS included, that we ask about in the first conversation.

Which border and customs systems does a forwarder handle for GB, IE and NO?

On the UK route the foundation is GVMS (Goods Vehicle Movement Service), in which OTSL, as the carrier, registers the movement and receives a GMR. Without a GMR the truck is not admitted to the port. The GMR is built from declarations lodged in CDS (Customs Declaration Service), the successor to CHIEF; each declaration receives an MRN. On top of that come ELO/ENS safety declarations, the entry summary declaration required before goods enter the United Kingdom. The forwarder does not lodge these personally, the OTSL customs agency does, but the forwarder makes sure the shipper provides the import documents without which no GMR can exist.

On the Irish route the role of GVMS is played by the PBN (Pre-Boarding Notification) on the Revenue service: one notification that groups all declarations for a vehicle boarding a ferry. In Norway, which is outside the customs union, Digitoll handles the digital pre-arrival notification of goods. The daily vocabulary also includes the ATA (Admission Temporaire, the temporary admission document) carnet for temporary export to exhibitions, transit documents T1 and T2, certificates of origin and EUR.1 for preferential duty, the export declaration EX with its EAD, the ERN, and import clearance under procedure 42 with deferred VAT.

Who books the delivery: the forwarder or the driver?

The forwarder. The driver receives ready data: booking reference, time, gate, the consignee's requirements. Booking portals differ more than they appear to. Booking-in at an exhibition means reserving a window to enter the venue during build-up, often with a charge for overstaying. Carrier Central for Amazon UK requires a carrier account, a booking reference that matches the pallet labels and a fixed hour. Retailers' distribution centres (RDC, Regional Distribution Centre) book slots in their own portals, and a truck fifteen minutes late may be given a new date two days later.

Carrier selection is a separate group of tools. OTSL does not buy loads on freight exchanges. Which platforms, if any, are used purely to find a vehicle is something you will agree with the owner in conversation; we do not publish that list. Every carrier outside the regular pool is vetted before the first load: licence, carrier liability policy with a realistic sum insured, company history, and a vehicle and driver that match the order.

A UK shipment in the systems step by step

Data from the shipper. You collect the invoice, packing list, commodity codes and the GB importer's details. You check that the importer is registered and who lodges the import declaration on the British side.
Declaration in CDS. The OTSL customs agency lodges the entry in the Customs Declaration Service and receives an MRN. If the goods move in transit, a T1 is raised instead of a direct import declaration.
ELO/ENS safety declaration. An entry summary declaration must exist before the goods enter the United Kingdom. You make sure it is lodged before the truck heads for the port.
GMR in GVMS. The MRNs and vehicle details go into GVMS and a GMR is created. You pass it to the driver together with the ferry booking. A last-minute trailer swap invalidates the data in the GMR.
Delivery booking with the consignee. You reserve a slot in the consignee's portal: booking-in, Carrier Central or an RDC portal. You plan the delivery time backwards from the slot, allowing for the ferry and the driver's hours.
Check and close. You check the status in every system before the truck departs, and after delivery you collect the proof of delivery and file the reference numbers.

Definitions

GVMS (Goods Vehicle Movement Service): the UK system linking customs declarations to a vehicle's passage through a port; it issues the GMR (Goods Movement Reference).
CDS (Customs Declaration Service): the UK customs declaration system, successor to CHIEF (customs clearance of Import and Export Freight).
MRN (Movement Reference Number): the number assigned to a customs declaration in an electronic system, entered into the GMR.
ELO/ENS (Entry Summary Declaration): the safety and security declaration lodged before goods enter the United Kingdom.
PBN (Pre-Boarding Notification): the Irish notification on the Revenue service grouping the declarations for a vehicle boarding a ferry to Ireland.
Digitoll: the Norwegian system for digital pre-arrival notification of goods at the border.
T1 / T2: common transit documents for non-Union goods (T1) and Union goods (T2) moved under customs seal.
ATA carnet: the international document for temporary export and import, for example of exhibition goods, without payment of duties.
Booking-in: reserving an entry and unloading window at an exhibition venue or a consignee's warehouse.

Checklist of platforms for a forwarder candidate

You know how a GMR differs from an MRN and why no GMR can exist without GB import documents.
You have booked slots in at least one delivery portal: Carrier Central, a retailer's RDC portal or booking-in at an exhibition.
You understand what the ELO/ENS safety declaration is for and when it must be lodged.
You know what the PBN is on the Irish route and Digitoll on the Norwegian one, even if you have not worked in them personally.
You can vet a carrier before the first load: licence, liability insurance, company history, vehicle and driver match.
You can tell an ATA carnet, T1, T2, EUR.1 and procedure 42 apart and know in which shipment each appears.

When are these systems not used at all?

The set of systems depends on the route. For carriage within the European Union, say from Kielce to Lyon, GVMS, CDS and ELO/ENS do not apply: there is no customs clearance, the documents are the CMR (the Convention on the contract for international carriage of goods by road) and the invoice, and of the whole list only the consignees' booking portals remain. The PBN applies only to ferries to Ireland, Digitoll only to Norway. An ATA carnet does not cover goods sold on site, even if they travel to the same exhibition as the exhibits. Carrier selection tools do not come into play at all when the shipment moves on an OTSL vehicle or with a carrier from the regular pool.

The OTSL role

OTSL is an international freight forwarder based in Kielce with its own customs agencies in Poland and the United Kingdom. How the GMR works from the driver's seat in Calais, Dunkirk and Folkestone is described in GVMS in practice; booking a delivery window with Amazon UK is explained in our article on Carrier Central, and exhibition deliveries in how booking-in works. Carriers outside the regular pool are checked as part of our vetted carriers service. If you work on these systems and would like to talk about a logistics platforms freight forwarder job at OTSL, use the contact form with the subject "Careers". See also: How a forwarder works at OTSL: one contact from quote to delivery.