Freight and Imports from Bologna to the Czech Republic

Three industries, three ways to ship

Emilia-Romagna is one of Italy's strongest manufacturing regions, and three of its specialities matter most to Czech buyers. The area around Bologna is home to a large cluster of packaging and filling machine builders. South-west of Modena, the ceramic district around Sassuolo produces a big share of Europe's wall and floor tiles. And the whole region is famous for protected-origin foods. Each of these needs a different vehicle, a different way of securing the load and different planning, which is why we ask a few specific questions before quoting.

Packaging lines and spare parts

Packaging machines usually travel as separate modules on skids or in crates, and a single line can take several trucks. Please send a packing list with dimensions, weights and whether each piece is lifted by forklift or crane from above. We then book open-top trailers, sliding-roof curtain-siders or flatbeds. If the modules need to arrive in a set order for installation, we schedule pickups and deliveries on consecutive days.

Spare parts for these machines are the opposite: small and urgent. An express van from Bologna usually reaches the Czech Republic the next day.

Tiles from Sassuolo: weight before volume

Ceramics fill a truck by weight long before they fill it by space. Pallets of tiles often weigh more than a tonne each, so a trailer reaches its legal maximum with floor space left over. Even weight distribution across the axles, solid strapping and no stacking are essential, because tile edges chip easily.

Smaller orders for a showroom or a single building site can go by groupage, provided each pallet stays within the network's weight limit, so we need exact pallet weights in advance. Larger orders for wholesalers travel as full truckloads.

Food from the region

• hard cheeses, whole wheels or portioned, ideally temperature-controlled,
• cured hams and salami, always chilled with a temperature log,
• pasta, balsamic vinegar and preserves, fine in a standard trailer,
• fruit in summer and autumn, chilled according to type.

Please tell us the required temperature range and whether the goods may share a trailer with other cargo.

Route and timing

The shortest way to Prague runs via Modena and Verona over the Brenner Pass, then through Innsbruck, Kufstein and Munich to the Waidhaus/Rozvadov crossing and along the D5. It is roughly 950–1,000 km, normally 2 working days for one driver. For Brno and Moravia a route via Venice, Tarvisio, Villach and Vienna, entering at Mikulov, is often better. Tyrol has a night-driving ban for heavy trucks, weekend limits and truck metering on busy days. Tolls in Italy, Austria and Germany are included in our freight calculator. See also the Prague – Milan route.

Before you book

Tile factories run large dispatch warehouses with fixed loading times and often a queue, so a booking slot and order number help. Machine builders load inside the hall by crane or forklift, which takes longer than a dock. Italy bans heavy trucks on Sundays and holidays during the day and on some summer Saturdays, and many Italian companies close for part of August, so plan summer orders early. Within the EU no customs apply: a CMR note and an invoice or delivery note are enough, plus a temperature record for food. On the way back we bring plastics, paper and board, steel, glass and machine parts from the Czech Republic to the region.