Freight forwarding Duisburg – transport to and from Czechia

Europe's largest inland port

The port of Duisburg consists of dozens of basins on the Rhine and Ruhr, container terminals, rail yards and large logistics parks built on former steelworks and mine sites. Barges bring containers up the Rhine from Rotterdam and Antwerp, and Duisburg transfers them to trains and trucks. The city has also become one of the main European end points for freight trains from China.

For a Czech importer this opens a useful option: an overseas container does not have to be collected in Rotterdam. If the shipping line or forwarder moves it by barge or rail to Duisburg, our truck picks it up there and the road leg to Czechia is shorter. Inland terminals are also easier to plan around than congested seaport terminals.

Steel from the Rhine

A large share of German steel is produced in and around Duisburg, and rolling mills, wire works and steel stockholders cluster around the plants. Typical loads for Czech customers:

• hot- and cold-rolled coils, galvanised and pre-painted sheet,
• cut-to-length sheets and blanks for engineering and car body production,
• wire rod and coiled wire, tubes and sections,
• heavy plate for structures and machinery.

Steel is loaded by overhead crane, so we use trailers with a fully sliding roof or curtain and, for coils, trailers with a coil well. Each coil sits in the well and is secured with chains or straps and edge protectors. Sheet must stay dry or it will rust, so the roof is closed straight after loading. Within the 40-tonne gross weight limit a truck carries roughly 24 tonnes. Ask the supplier for the EN 10204 inspection certificate in advance or with the shipment.

Other cargo from the Lower Rhine and Ruhr

• chemicals and plastics from chemical sites along the Lower Rhine, some as ADR dangerous goods,
• consumer goods, electronics, furniture and textiles from overseas and Asian containers,
• secondary raw materials: steel scrap, non-ferrous metals, recovered paper,
• used industrial machinery from modernised plants.

In the other direction we carry car parts, engineering products, glass and food from Czechia to Duisburg. Some of these exports continue by barge to the seaports or into containers bound overseas.

Route and transit time

By road Duisburg is about 750 km from Prague. Trucks use either the D5 via Rozvadov, Nuremberg, Frankfurt and the A3 past Cologne, or the D8 via Dresden, Chemnitz, Erfurt and Kassel. A single driver covers this in one long day; in practice a full load arrives on the next working day after loading. Pallet groupage typically takes three to four working days.

North Rhine-Westphalia observes Corpus Christi and All Saints' Day (1 November) in addition to nationwide holidays. On those days and on Sundays trucks over 7.5 tonnes may not drive and steelworks and warehouses do not release goods. The motorways around Duisburg and Cologne are among Germany's busiest, and repairs on Rhine bridges regularly restrict traffic, so we build in a buffer for time-critical loads.

Documents and overseas containers

Goods already in free circulation in the EU need only a CMR and an invoice or delivery note. Containers not yet cleared are either cleared in Germany or travel under transit to Czechia and are cleared there. To collect a container we need its number, the shipping line and customs release, and where the empty unit is to be returned. For steel, confirm the mill order number, individual coil weights and inner diameter. A similar river-and-sea hub is described on the Rotterdam page; prices are in the calculator.