Freight forwarding Łódź – transport to and from the Czech Republic

From cotton mills to appliances and online fashion

In the 19th century Łódź grew within a few decades from a small town into one of Central Europe's biggest textile centres. Its red-brick mills still shape the city, although most now house flats, offices, shopping and culture. Clothing has not disappeared from the region; it is simply sold differently. Apparel companies and online fashion retailers run warehouses around Łódź and ship cartons on pallets across Europe.

The second big industry is home appliances: washing machines, dryers, dishwashers and refrigerators are made in and around the city. Cosmetics and pharmaceuticals are strong in Łódź and neighbouring Pabianice, and the south-east of the province produces ceramic wall and floor tiles.

What Czech buyers import from Łódź

• washing machines, dryers, dishwashers and fridges,
• clothing, home textiles and footwear,
• cosmetics, toiletries and medicines,
• ceramic tiles,
• Asian goods that arrived in Łódź by rail container.

Czech exporters send machine parts, plastic components for appliance makers, packaging, paper and food to Łódź.

Rail containers and the Stryków warehouse cluster

Łódź is one of the European destinations of container trains from China. Containers are unloaded at the terminal on the city's eastern side and continue by road, either on a container chassis or transloaded into a curtainsider. For non-EU goods it matters whether they were cleared in Poland. If not, they travel to Czechia under transit and are cleared there; we book a carrier who handles transit and need the documents before pickup.

North of the city, near Stryków, the A1 north–south and the A2 east–west motorways cross, and one of Poland's largest warehouse clusters has grown around the junction. Goods ordered from Polish distributors are often loaded here even if the supplier's office is elsewhere. Warehouses work with booked slots; the driver checks in with the order number.

Routes and timing

The A1 runs from the Łódź junction to the Czech border at Bohumín, which makes Moravia straightforward. For Bohemia the S8 via Sieradz to Wrocław is shorter; see our Prague – Wrocław page for the last leg. Groupage pallets take 2–3 working days.

Handling appliances and tiles

White goods are light but bulky and cannot take weight from above, so full loads are planned by piece count and stacking height rather than tonnes. Tiles are the opposite: a trailer reaches its weight limit before its floor is full, and pallets must be spread to avoid overloading an axle. For smaller volumes of clothing or cosmetics, pallet groupage works best; aerosols may be ADR goods and need an equipped vehicle.

Before collection please send the exact loading address (Stryków warehouse, rail terminal or factory in the city), the reference under which the goods are ready, the booked slot, the stacking limit for appliances or the weight per pallet for tiles, and for containers the container number, free pick-up date and customs status.

Vehicles over 12 t may not drive on Polish public holidays during the day, and in summer also on Friday evenings, Saturday mornings and Sundays. The A1, A2 and S8 are electronically tolled; tolls are included in our calculator price. EU goods need a CMR note and invoice or delivery note; Asian rail containers also need transit or customs documents.