Time Critical and Same Day Cross Border Freight
When a line is down or a build slot closes tomorrow, what you need is not enthusiasm. You need someone to tell you which parts of the journey can be compressed and which cannot, and then compress the ones that can. We are open 24 hours, and most declarations are submitted within minutes of your paperwork reaching us.
What We Can Actually Control
There are three levers, and they are real.
Submission Time
The biggest delay on most urgent movements is not the border, it is the gap between the paperwork existing and the declaration being lodged. That gap is entirely ours to close. Send us a usable invoice and packing list and the entry goes in, day or night, on the same customs clearance service we run in normal hours. We also pre-lodge wherever the procedure allows, so goods are cleared on arrival rather than starting the process on arrival, which on a tight job is worth more than any amount of chasing later.
Out of Hours Cover
Customs declarations in CDS, and in Revenue's AIS and AES, are submitted electronically, and those systems are not office bound. Neither are we. A 2am ferry arrival at Dublin gets a named person on it, not a shared inbox.
Chasing Queries
Most declarations clear on submission. The ones that do not need somebody to notice quickly, work out what customs has actually asked for, and answer it properly first time. HMRC's National Clearance Hub telephone line is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and we use it. Irish Revenue's line is also staffed around the clock. Half of a good urgent service is being awake when the query lands.
We also flag exceptional consignments in advance. HMRC will consider urgent clearance for categories such as live animals, human remains, explosives and fireworks where the National Clearance Hub is notified ahead of arrival, which has to be arranged before the goods turn up.
What Nobody Can Control
If a supplier tells you otherwise, they are selling.
Routing and Inspection
Whether a declaration is selected for a documentary check or a physical examination is a decision made by HMRC or Revenue, not by the filer. That is as true of our own import declarations as of anybody else's. A clean, well built entry reduces the odds. Nothing reduces them to zero. Once an entry is routed for a physical check, the clock belongs to the inspecting officer, and where an SPS check or a port health officer is involved, to that facility's staffing.
Not everything runs around the clock either. HMRC's main National Clearance Hub line is 24/7, but its Import Inventory Control line is Monday to Friday, office hours only, and customs input entries are processed within office hours on working days. If your problem lands in one of those queues at 7pm on a Friday, no broker can move it before Monday. We would rather tell you that at 7pm than at 9am on Monday.
Ferries, Weather and Traffic
Sailings are fixed. A missed check-in cut-off is a missed sailing. Wind at Holyhead, a closure on the M20, a queue at Dover: these set the outer bound of what is possible, and no amount of paperwork speed changes them.
The Border Itself
The EU Entry/Exit System has been fully operational since 10 April 2026. It applies to non-EU nationals entering the Schengen area and adds biometric processing at Dover, Eurotunnel and the Channel ports, which affects driver processing time on those routes. It does not apply to Ireland, because Ireland is not in the Schengen area. ETIAS is not live and has no confirmed start date.
Who Is Awake, and Where
| Function | Hours |
|---|---|
| HMRC National Clearance Hub, main imports and exports line | 24 hours, 7 days |
| HMRC Import Inventory Control line | Monday to Friday, office hours |
| Irish Revenue customs clearance contact | 24/7 unless otherwise specified |
| Irish Revenue at Dublin Port, Dublin Airport, Rosslare Europort | 24/7 |
| Sevington inland border facility and border control post | 24 hours, 7 days |
| Zelir | 24 hours |
Irish Revenue's out of hours coverage is genuinely good. It publishes 24/7 customs coverage at Dublin Port, Dublin Airport and Rosslare Europort, along with Shannon, Cork and Foynes among others. The one stated exception is the An Post mail centre in Dublin, on weekday office hours. An overnight arrival into Ireland can usually be progressed overnight, which is not true everywhere.
On the Kent side, Sevington is manned 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, both as an inland border facility for customs and transit movements and as a Defra border control post. HMRC advises drivers to expect one to two hours at the facility to get through customs clearance, so if a movement is directed there, build that in. Our head office is in Ashford, a few minutes from the site, and we handle customs clearance at Dover and Sevington every week.
The Industries We Do This For
Time critical is a way of working, not a commodity. What these sectors share is that the cost of being late is far larger than the cost of the freight, which changes every decision about how a load is planned. If your sector is not on this list, ask anyway. The pattern is what counts, not the commodity.
On urgent work we handle the transport as well as the customs. That matters more than it sounds. The usual failure on an urgent cross border job is the gap between a broker and a haulier, each waiting on the other while a deadline passes. When both sit with one team, there is no handover to fall down.
Aerospace and AOG
An aircraft on ground is the purest form of this. A grounded airframe burns money by the hour, and the part is typically small, high value, and needed somewhere specific by a time that was yesterday. We raise the entry and move the part, including consignments landing at Heathrow that we clear and then run onward by road.
Automotive
Line stoppages. Just in time and sequenced supply mean one missing bin can halt a plant, and the cost of that dwarfs any premium on the freight. We run dedicated vehicles for line down recovery, and where the data allows we pre-lodge so the vehicle is not waiting at the frontier while somebody types.
Motorsport
Race calendars do not move. Cars, spares and equipment travel to a fixed date, frequently under ATA carnet, and frequently back again in a hurry. We stamp carnets at Sevington, minutes from our Ashford office, and we know what a wrongly discharged carnet costs when the next round is a week away.
Pharmaceutical and Medical
Clinical trial material, temperature controlled consignments, and hospital and laboratory supply. Short shelf life and an unbroken cold chain mean a delay is not a delay, it is a write off. Placed with operators equipped for the temperature range the load actually needs.
Manufacturing and Machinery Breakdown
A failed bearing, a replacement tool, the only spare in Europe. The same profile as AOG: small, urgent, and expensive to be without while a production line or a site stands idle.
Events, Exhibitions and Broadcast
Stands, rigging and broadcast kit to an opening date that is public and immovable, usually on carnet and usually returning. The return leg is where these go wrong, because the carnet has to be discharged properly or the deposit is at risk.
Perishables and Fresh Produce
Where the SPS side is every bit as time critical as the transport. A plant or animal product check at Sevington can cost you the shelf life, so the paperwork has to be right before the vehicle leaves, not sorted out at the booth.
Semiconductors and High Value Electronics
Allocation constrained, high value, and often tied to a delivery window that closes. Security of the movement matters as much as its speed.
Planning Around Driver Limits
Urgent road movements are bound by drivers' hours, and since 1 July 2026 those rules also cover vans between 2.5 and 3.5 tonnes on international journeys. That changed what is genuinely deliverable on same day van work into Europe. We plan around it with double manning or a staged run, whether the job is a dedicated vehicle or part and full load haulage, and we will tell you which your deadline needs, rather than quoting a time that depends on a driver breaking the rules.
How We Run an Urgent Job
Tell us the deadline and the sailing or slot you are aiming at, not just the goods. We work backwards from the check-in cut-off, tell you the latest time we need paperwork to make it, lodge as soon as we have it, confirm the MRNs, build the boarding notification and stay on it until the vehicle is through. If something is not going to work, you hear it while there is still time to change the plan. You can send paperwork through Z-Clear or simply email it.
Roughly two thirds of what we do is customs and a third is our road freight operation, so where we are also carrying, one team owns the whole thing. We hold AEO authorisation (AEOC) from HMRC, and we are members of BIFA and FIATA, rated 5.0 from 40+ Google reviews. A good part of our work comes from other freight forwarders and hauliers who need a customs desk that answers at night.
- Give us the deadline. The sailing or slot you are aiming at, not just the goods.
- We work backwards. From the check-in cut-off, so you know the latest time paperwork can reach us.
- We lodge as soon as we have it. Then confirm the MRNs straight back to you.
- We build the boarding notification. And stay on the movement until the vehicle is through.
- Bad news travels early. If something is not going to work, you hear it while there is still time to change the plan.
What We Will Not Promise
Guaranteed 24 Hour Clearance
No authority guarantees a clearance outcome at any hour.
Cleared in Minutes
Our submission is fast. The decision that follows is not ours.
Same Day Anywhere in Europe
Legal driving limits decide what is reachable. We will tell you honestly whether your deadline needs a single vehicle, double manning, or an overnight with an early second leg.
A Border Crossing Time
Nobody can promise one. What we can do is make sure that when the vehicle reaches the front of the queue, there is nothing outstanding on our side.
Time Critical Freight FAQs
Can customs clearance be done out of hours?
Declarations can be submitted at any hour, because CDS in the UK and AIS and AES in Ireland are electronic systems that are not tied to office hours, and our desk is open 24 hours. What is not guaranteed out of hours is a clearance decision. Some HMRC functions, including the Import Inventory Control line, run Monday to Friday during office hours only.
Is HMRC's National Clearance Hub open 24 hours?
The main National Clearance Hub imports and exports telephone line is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and we use it on urgent movements. The separate Import Inventory Control line is Monday to Friday during office hours. Email contacts have no published operating hours or response times, so on a time critical job we phone rather than email.
Does Irish Revenue work overnight at Dublin Port?
Yes. Revenue publishes 24/7 customs coverage at Dublin Port, Dublin Airport and Rosslare Europort, along with several other ports and airports, and its customs clearance telephone line is staffed 24/7 unless otherwise specified. The stated exception is the An Post mail centre in Dublin, which operates weekday office hours. Overnight arrivals into Ireland can usually be progressed overnight.
Can you do a genuine same day run into Europe?
It depends on the collection point, the destination and the crossing. Drivers' hours limit what one driver can legally cover in a day, so beyond a certain range the answer is double manning or a staged run with an early second leg rather than a single vehicle. Tell us the deadline and we will say which of those your job needs, or tell you plainly if it is not reachable.
Do the drivers' hours rules now apply to vans?
From 1 July 2026 the rules extend to light goods vehicles between 2.5 and 3.5 tonnes on international operations within the UK and the EU. Vehicles in that weight band running cross border express work were previously outside the regime. If you buy same day van services to Europe, transit times quoted before that change may no longer be deliverable.
Does the EU Entry/Exit System affect freight to Ireland?
No. EES has been fully operational since 10 April 2026 and applies to non-EU nationals entering the Schengen area, adding biometric processing at Dover, Eurotunnel and the Channel ports. Ireland is not in the Schengen area, so EES does not apply to Ireland bound traffic. It is a factor to plan for on continental routes, not on Irish ones.
If it is urgent, phone rather than email
Call the 24 hour desk on +44 1233 516081 or email [email protected]. If you would rather see a price first, get a price on an urgent movement.