Why Dover Matters
Dover is the UK's busiest roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) freight port. Trucks drive on and off ferries, and the entire port process is built around speed. Any delay on the customs side becomes a delay for the whole shipment.
Unlike deep-sea ports where there is dwell time for cargo to wait, Dover wants the truck through and gone. That means customs work has to happen before the truck arrives, not when it gets there.
What "In-House Clearance" Actually Means
Many freight forwarders use third-party customs agents. When your goods arrive, the forwarder hands off the paperwork, the agent processes it, and the forwarder waits to hear that the cargo is released.
In-house clearance means we run our own 24/7 customs office at Dover. The same team that arranges your shipment also files the customs entry. There is no hand-off. When the question is "is the cargo released yet?", the answer is one phone call away — to the same office.
The practical benefits:
- Fewer hand-offs → fewer places where information can get lost or delayed.
- Faster release → the customs entry is filed as soon as the documents are ready, not when the third party gets around to it.
- Single point of contact → you talk to one company about both freight and customs.
How Pre-Lodgement Works
For road freight arriving at Dover, customs declarations are pre-lodged before the truck reaches port. The flow is:
- Commercial invoice and packing list received from the shipper.
- Customs entry prepared with the correct commodity codes and duty calculation.
- Entry submitted to HMRC via CDS.
- GVMS movement created and the GMR (Goods Movement Reference) issued.
- The driver presents the GMR at the port — and proceeds directly to the ferry if the entry has been granted permission to proceed.
If everything has been pre-lodged correctly, there is effectively no waiting at the port. The truck rolls on, sails, and rolls off — exactly the design of a RoRo port.
What Slows Things Down
Even with in-house clearance, some things will hold a shipment up:
- Missing documents. No invoice = no entry = no release.
- Wrong commodity codes. HMRC can flag entries that look incorrect, which triggers checks.
- Physical examination. Random or risk-based checks at the port hold the truck while HMRC inspects.
- High-risk goods. Certain commodities require additional permits or certificates (food, plants, controlled goods).
We mitigate the first three by getting the paperwork right the first time. The fourth is partly under your control: if you ship regulated goods, plan the certificates well in advance.
Other UK Ports
Our 24/7 clearance facility is at Dover, but we also handle clearance at other major UK ports — Felixstowe, Southampton, London Gateway and the inland clearance depots. The principle is the same: in-house clearance reduces hand-offs and speeds up release.
If you need a quote for clearance only, or for clearance combined with freight, use our contact form.