About Zelir Logistics
A customs broker that also runs the trucks, founded by Joe Jeffery and Matt Dawson and built so that one team handles both halves of a cross border movement.
Who We Are
Zelir Logistics is a UK customs clearance broker and road freight operator, founded by Joe Jeffery and Matt Dawson. About two thirds of our work is customs clearance and the other third is moving the freight ourselves. That split is unusual, and it is the reason most of our customers stay.
Plenty of brokers file declarations. Plenty of hauliers run vehicles. When those are two different companies, the gap between them is where loads sit at a port waiting for a reference nobody has sent. We do both halves in the same office so that gap does not exist.
Customs Clearance
Imports, exports, transit and safety and security, filed direct to CDS.
Road Freight
Part loads and full loads between the UK and Europe.
Z-Clear Portal
Our own software for creating ICS2, safety and security GB and ELO documents.
The People
Eleven people, named and pictured, with the job each of them does.
Where We Are
Two offices, one either side of the Irish Sea, both working the same files.
Head Office, Ashford
The Cobalt Building, 1600 Eureka Park, Ashford, Kent TN25 4BF. A few minutes from the Sevington inland border facility and a short run from the Kent ports, which matters when a driver is already at the frontier and something needs sorting now rather than tomorrow.
Irish Office, Dublin
WeWork Bankside, Charlemont St, Dublin D02 VN88. Irish entries are filed by our own people rather than handed to a partner broker, so a UK to Ireland movement is one conversation from end to end.
What You Can Hold Us To
Joe and Matt started the company to run this work the way their own experience of the industry told them it should be run. What that turned into is a short list of things we can be held to, rather than a page of adjectives.
Filing a declaration is the easy part. What we also do is put the vehicle under it, tell you when something on the paperwork is wrong before HMRC does, and answer the phone at two in the morning.
- AEO Authorised (AEOC). Assessed by HMRC on our customs competence, records and controls.
- BIFA and FIATA members. Members of the British International Freight Association and its international federation.
- Direct on CDS. We file ourselves rather than through a third party bureau.
- Open 24 hours. Declarations submitted overnight, at weekends and on bank holidays.
- A named person. You deal with someone who knows your file, not whoever picks up.
- Ashford and Dublin. Offices on both sides, so Irish entries are filed by our own people rather than handed to a partner broker.
The Business in Four Numbers
No invented statistics. These are the four we can evidence.
From 40+ Google Reviews
Written by hauliers, forwarders and importers, several of whom name the person who helped them.
Authorised Economic Operator
Customs simplifications authorisation held with HMRC, which is a standard your broker either has or does not.
Every Day of the Week
The customs desk is staffed around the clock because freight does not keep office hours.
Of the Work Is Customs
The remaining third is road freight, so the declaration and the vehicle are never separate conversations.
What Our Clients Say
All of these are public Google reviews, quoted as written.
When I get asked for tender of that business I tell them not to bother as there's no reason to change. Zelir are that good.
Always fast and super reliable... a light in an industry full of dark, unreliable customs businesses.
Matt Dawson clears almost all of our cargo from Ukraine to the UK, and he is the fastest and best guy we have ever met!
I have worked with many customs agencies, but none of them were as good as Zelir... 'cheap, fast and good' really rings true.
Zelir are always on hand day or night to complete any declarations required.
Fast, friendly & super knowledgeable. I often speak with Matt, Alfie & Will, they have supported me numerous times.
About Zelir FAQs
Are you a broker or a haulier?
Both, and that is deliberate. About two thirds of our work is customs clearance and a third is road freight. You can use either on its own. Most customers start with one and add the other once they see the paperwork and the vehicle being handled by the same people.
What does AEO Authorised actually mean?
We hold AEOC status, the customs simplifications strand of Authorised Economic Operator. HMRC assessed our compliance history, our record keeping, our financial standing and our practical customs competence before granting it, and reviews it. It is a reasonable proxy for whether a broker knows what it is doing.
Do you work behind other freight forwarders?
Often. Forwarders and hauliers use us to file declarations in their own name so they can offer customs without building the capability in house. We do not contact your customer and we do not compete for the freight. The arrangement only works on that basis.
Who will I actually be dealing with?
A named person from a team of eleven, whose face and job title are on the meet the team page. Both founders are on that page as well, and several of our Google reviews name the individual who handled the job rather than the company.
Can you handle Irish as well as UK customs?
Yes. Our Dublin office files Irish entries and our Ashford office files into CDS, so a movement in either direction is covered at both ends by one team. Where goods move under transit rather than being cleared at the frontier, we open and close that too.
Test us with one movement
Send us a single job and judge us on how it goes. That is how most of our customers started.