Freight forwarding Gliwice – transport to and from the Czech Republic

Where the A1 meets the A4

Gliwice (German: Gleiwitz), with around 175,000 inhabitants, is the third-largest city of the Upper Silesian metropolitan area and its western gateway. The A1 (Baltic coast to the Czech border) and the A4 (Germany via Wrocław to Kraków) cross within the city limits at Sośnica, one of Poland's largest interchanges. A truck loaded in a Gliwice industrial zone is on the motorway within minutes and at the Gorzyczki – Věřňovice border crossing in roughly half an hour. Ostrava is about 80 km away, Brno about 250 km and Prague about 450 km.

Canal, port and containers

The Gliwice Canal, about 41 km long with six locks, links the city's port to the Oder at Kędzierzyn-Koźle, and from there to the German waterway network and the seaports of Szczecin and Świnoujście. The port is one of Poland's largest inland ports, with a rail-served container terminal, gantry cranes, bonded warehouses and areas for steel and chemicals. Containers arriving by rail from seaports can be unloaded here and the goods trucked to Czechia by the pallet, or the full box collected. Non-EU goods in a bonded warehouse are either cleared in Poland or travel to Czechia under a T1 transit document – something to agree in advance with your customs agent.

From coke furnace to vans

The first coke-fired blast furnace on the European continent was built in Gliwice in 1796. Steel and coal dominated until the 1990s, after which the city turned to automotive and engineering. The site that built passenger cars for over twenty years now produces large commercial vans, including electric versions, since 2022, together with a conversion centre for special bodies; parts suppliers have settled around it. The Gliwice subzone of the Katowice special economic zone also hosts sanitary ceramics, engineering and metalworking companies.

• components for commercial vehicles and conversions,
• sanitary ceramics such as washbasins and toilets,
• steel structures, metal products and machine parts,
• container cargo from the port terminal,
• chemical and construction products.

From Czechia we carry automotive components, steel, glass, plastics and food to the Gliwice area.

Handling the typical loads

Sanitary ceramics need sturdy cartons, non-stackable pallets and no transhipment. Line-side parts need a booked unloading slot and often returnable packaging. Steel structures call for side loading and secure lashing. Samples and spares go by express van straight to the recipient, while single pallets travel by pallet groupage. The short distance even allows a round trip in one day.

Collecting a container: what we need

Please send the container number and the terminal release reference, the seal number, whether the box is to be unloaded in Gliwice or driven to Czechia in full, how long free storage at the terminal lasts and where the empty must be returned, plus the customs status of the goods and your broker's contact.

University town with a wooden tower

The Silesian University of Technology, founded in 1945, gives the city a strong engineering base. Gliwice is also known for its 118-metre wooden radio tower, probably the last of its kind in the world, where the staged attack of 31 August 1939 took place. For drivers it matters more that the centre has narrow streets, while industrial areas lie next to the motorways on the outskirts.

Rules on the road

Vehicles over 12 t may not drive in Poland on public holidays during the day, and in the summer holidays also on Friday evenings and at weekends. Motorways and expressways use electronic tolls. There are no border checks or customs duties between Poland and Czechia; a CMR note and an invoice or delivery note are sufficient. See the calculator for an indicative price.