Freight forwarding Florence – transport to and from the Czech Republic

From the Apennines to the Brenner

Northbound freight leaves Florence on the A1 motorway across the Apennines to Bologna. The mountain section was long a bottleneck of Italian traffic; today trucks mostly use the newer stretch with tunnels, which eased the gradients and the congestion. From Bologna the route continues on the A1 to Modena, then on the A22 via Verona, the Brenner, Innsbruck and Munich to the Waidhaus – Rozvadov border. For Moravia the eastern route via Padua, Venice, Tarvisio and Vienna is common.

• Prague: roughly 950 km; a full truck with one driver unloads on the second or at the latest the third working day.
• Brno: roughly 930 km.
• Pallet groupage: usually four to five working days.

From mid-November to mid-April winter equipment is compulsory on many Italian motorways, including the Apennine section of the A1. Italy bans trucks over 7.5 t on Sundays, public holidays and some summer Saturdays, and Austria and Germany have their own restrictions.

What Tuscany sends north

Behind the tourist city lies a ring of production towns. Scandicci and its surroundings make a large share of Italy's leather goods – handbags, wallets, belts and accessories for fashion houses worldwide. About 40 km west, around Santa Croce sull'Arno, is the Tuscan tanning district, known among other things for vegetable-tanned leather. North-west of Florence, Prato is one of Europe's largest textile centres, famous for woollen fabrics and recycled wool. Florence also hosts major menswear and textile fairs twice a year. Add Chianti wine from the hills between Florence and Siena, olive oil, terracotta pots and tiles from Impruneta and pharmaceuticals, and the typical loads to the Czech Republic are:

• leather goods, footwear and clothing
• hides and finished leather
• fabrics and yarn from Prato
• terracotta and tiles
• wine and olive oil

Hides travel in bales or on pallets and must be kept away from moisture and direct sun to avoid mould or discolouration. Prato fabrics are bulky but light, so a trailer fills up by volume rather than weight, and in groupage the number of pallet spaces matters most. Containers from overseas arriving in Livorno can, once cleared in Italy, continue to the Czech Republic by truck like any other EU shipment.

Southbound we carry Czech glass and crystal, porcelain, engineering parts, paper, packaging and food.

Choosing the service

Fashion and leather goods are light but valuable, so pallet transport in closed vehicles is the usual choice, and we recommend cargo insurance. Garments on hangers travel with specialist carriers whose trucks have hanging rails. Restocking shops or shipping samples around trade fairs is a job for an express van. Terracotta is heavy and fragile and goes as a well-secured full load; wine and oil travel temperature-controlled in summer.

Collection and delivery in Florence

The UNESCO-listed historic centre is a large limited traffic zone (ZTL); deliveries to shops are made by small vans during set hours. Industrial and warehouse areas lie north-west of the city towards Sesto Fiorentino and Prato along the A1 and A11, and around Scandicci. An expressway links Florence with the port of Livorno, roughly 90 km away. Many leather workshops have no loading dock, so a smaller truck with a tail lift is often the better fit. Many workshops also close for two to three weeks in August.

Italy is in the EU: a CMR consignment note and an invoice or delivery note are enough, and for wine we check whether an excise document is needed. Get a quote in the calculator.