Freight forwarding Kecskemét – transport to and from Czechia

A county town built on fruit, wine and cars

With around 108,000 inhabitants at the 2022 census, Kecskemét is the seat of Bács-Kiskun county and the main town of the sandy plain between the Danube and the Tisza. Its 19th-century wealth came from vineyards and orchards, and the local food industry grew out of that wine trade. Since March 2012 the town has also been home to a large car assembly plant producing compact passenger cars, and suppliers followed: towbars, brake systems, cables and electrical enclosures are now made here.

The airfield outside town is a military base, home to the Hungarian air force's only jet fighter wing, so any air cargo for the area arrives through Budapest and continues by road.

Freight we move between Kecskemét and Czechia

• Components for Czech and Slovak assembly lines: towbars, brake parts, cable sets.
• Canned fruit and vegetables, sauces and other ambient food on pallets.
• Frozen bakery products, which need a freezer trailer and an unbroken temperature log.
• Fresh apricots in July, plus apricot pálinka, which carries a protected geographical indication.
• Wine from Kunság, by area the largest wine region in Hungary.

Southbound, Czech suppliers send pressed and plastic parts, fasteners, returnable packaging and production equipment to the car plant and its supplier base.

Route and transit time

The truck takes the M5 north to Budapest, follows the M0 ring onto the M1, crosses into Slovakia at Rajka near Bratislava and continues on the D2 to Brno. That is approximately 420 km to Brno and 620 km to Prague. A full load collected in the morning normally reaches Brno the same evening and Prague the next working morning. The M0 ring is the bottleneck at rush hour, so we time departures to avoid it. Our Budapest page covers the capital itself. Moving the other way, a truck leaving Brno at dawn can unload in Kecskemét in the early afternoon.

Distance-based electronic tolls apply all the way: in Hungary on motorways and on many main roads as well, then in Slovakia and Czechia. Hungary bans trucks over 7.5 t from Saturday 22:00 to Sunday 22:00, from Saturday 15:00 in July and August, and on public holidays. Perishable goods, including fresh apricots, can fall under the exemptions.

Spirits and wine: check the excise status first

Pálinka and wine are excise goods. Before loading we ask how the consignment travels. Goods moving under duty suspension need an electronic administrative document raised by the sender, and the Czech consignee must be registered to receive them. We want the reference number before the truck arrives, otherwise the loading can be refused. Duty-paid goods move under a simpler procedure, but the paperwork still has to be in order.

Choosing the service

A few pallets of canned food or parts suit our pallet groupage service, which takes two to four working days to Brno. A full trailer of production components goes as a dedicated truck. An urgent part for a line that is about to stop goes by express van and arrives the same day, usually within hours of the call. Fresh fruit and frozen bakery products travel in reefers with temperature records. For a quote, use our price calculator.

When you book, send us the exact loading address, warehouse opening hours, whether there is a dock, the number and size of pallets and the total weight. For deliveries to the car plant, add the time slot number and the reference the gatehouse will ask for.