Freight from Germany to the Czech Republic
From Germany to the Czech Republic we mainly move automotive parts, machinery, chemicals, plastics and stock from retail distribution centres. A full truckload from Bavaria usually reaches Prague the same or the next day (Munich–Prague about 380 km); from Hamburg it is normally the next day (about 640 km). We book the vehicle with a contracted haulier – the calculator gives an indicative price and we email a firm quote.
Where in Germany we load most often
Consignments for Czech customers set off from almost every federal state – Germany is, by a wide margin, the country’s biggest trading partner. Most collections, though, cluster around a handful of industrial centres in the south, along the Rhine and the Ruhr, and in the north, and it is the city and the sector that decide which vehicle and route we plan.
| City | Industry | What we typically carry from there |
|---|---|---|
| Munich | electrical engineering, car making, mechanical engineering | electronic components, car parts, machinery |
| Ingolstadt | car plant and its supplier network | body and plastic parts, components for assembly lines |
| Stuttgart | car industry, machine tools and tooling | supplier parts, machine tools, tooling |
| Frankfurt am Main | chemicals, pharmaceuticals, air freight | chemicals, medicines, goods from air cargo warehouses |
| Cologne | chemicals, plastics, vehicle production | plastic granulate, basic chemicals, car parts |
| Duisburg | steel, one of Europe’s largest inland ports | sheet, coils and sections, cargo from the river terminals |
| Hamburg | seaport, food industry | overseas cargo out of containers, food, animal feed |
| Leipzig | car plants, logistics hubs | automotive parts, stock from distribution centres |
Parts from Munich, Ingolstadt and Stuttgart travel in a curtainsider or mega trailer, and machines need a unit with plenty of lashing points. Chemicals from the Rhine and the Frankfurt area call for a tanker or ADR equipment depending on the substance, while out of Hamburg we often send a reefer or a container chassis. Glass and paper are regular collections in Saxony and Thuringia as well.
Mega trailer, curtainsider or ADR: choosing the vehicle
Car makers and their suppliers ship a lot of bulky but light cargo – plastic mouldings, seats or empty returnable packaging. A mega trailer with roughly 3 m of internal height is worth it here, because tall pallets can be double-stacked. Heavy, low cargo fits a standard 13.6 m curtainsider with 33 pallet spaces.
Paints, coatings, solvents and many industrial chemicals are dangerous goods. They travel only in an ADR-equipped vehicle with a certified driver, and you send us the UN number and class in advance. We will not book a vehicle without those details, since the consignor and the haulier share liability. Delivery windows and express runs for components are covered on our automotive parts transport page.
Routes from southern and northern Germany
Loads from Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Hesse usually run via Nuremberg and the Waidhaus/Rozvadov crossing onto the D5. Freight from Hamburg, Bremen and Berlin heads through Dresden onto the D8. Lorries do not normally stop at Schengen internal borders, although random checks by the German federal police can cause brief delays.
Sundays, bank holidays and summer Saturdays
HGVs over 7.5 t and any lorry towing a trailer may not drive in Germany on Sundays and national public holidays between midnight and 22:00. Some holidays apply only in certain states, Corpus Christi and All Saints’ Day among them. From 1 July to 31 August there is an additional Saturday ban from 07:00 to 20:00 on selected motorway sections. Fresh food such as milk, meat and perishable fruit and vegetables is exempt. If you load on a Friday afternoon, expect ordinary goods to arrive on Monday.
Toll Collect road charging – what it means for you
German road tolls apply to vehicles over 3.5 t on motorways and federal highways and are collected through the Toll Collect on-board unit. The haulier handles registration and payment, and the toll is already included in our price. As the customer you have nothing extra to arrange.
Single pallets from webshops and central warehouses
A lot of German stock is ordered in small quantities: spare parts, goods from distribution centres, samples. For 1–6 pallets we use groupage, which costs less but takes a day or two longer than a full load. From 7 to 18 pallets a part load is worth checking, and from about 18 pallets a whole truck. An invoice and a CMR consignment note are all you need, as no customs duty applies within the EU.
The freight calculator gives an indicative price. Neighbouring routes are covered under freight from Austria and freight from Poland, and every country is listed on freight from EU countries.