Road freight is the workhorse tier between a parcel and a ship, and on European routes it is where most consignments actually travel. It is priced by the space you occupy rather than by weight: a pallet space, several of them, or a whole trailer. That makes it cheap for anything dense and bulky going to a European address, and it is the reason a business sending regularly to the continent almost always ends up on it rather than on parcels.
How a road freight service is quoted
By pallet space or by trailer, with a weight ceiling per space rather than a rate per kilogram. A quarter, half or full pallet are the usual steps and the gaps between them are much smaller than the volume gaps, so the practical advice is always to consolidate rather than to split. A groupage service shares a trailer between several shippers, which is cheaper and slower because the trailer waits to fill.
Where it beats a parcel, and where it does not
Below the published parcel bands it never does. Royal Mail's grid ends at a 20kg Medium Parcel and Parcelforce's published ladder at £21.40 for 30kg, and a single box inside those is cheaper as a parcel because it is sold from a price list. Above them a parcel is not available at any price, and road freight is what replaces it on any route a lorry can drive.
What road freight forwarding adds
A forwarder books the space, files the customs entry at each end and makes the legs meet. On post-Brexit European routes the customs entry is the part that decides whether the lorry crosses, so it is worth more than it was: a consignment with a defective entry sits at a port while its transit time evaporates. What a forwarder cannot do is make your commodity codes correct, which stay your responsibility.
Timing on a road route
Quoted transits on road freight are usually realistic, but they start at collection and not at booking, and a groupage consignment starts when the trailer fills. Add the customs clearance at each end. The failure mode is not the driving, which is predictable; it is the waiting either side of it, which is not, and which nobody quotes.
Questions people ask about road freight
How much does road freight cost from the UK?
It is quoted per pallet space or per trailer, so nothing in this record publishes a rate. The tier below it is published: Parcelforce's ladder ends at £21.40 for up to 30kg and Royal Mail's grid at a 20kg Medium Parcel.
Is road freight cheaper than air freight?
On European routes, considerably, because it is priced by space rather than by chargeable weight. It is also slower and only available where a lorry can drive.
What is groupage?
A shared trailer. Several shippers' pallets travel together, which is cheaper than a dedicated load and slower, because the trailer waits until it is full.
Do I need a customs entry for road freight to Europe?
Yes, at each end, and it is what decides whether the lorry crosses on time. The commodity codes on it stay your responsibility even when a forwarder files them.