Freight forwarding Metz – transport to and from Czechia

Lorraine industry and what comes back to Czechia

For decades Lorraine meant iron ore and blast furnaces. The steelworks of the Fensch valley around Hayange and Florange have shrunk dramatically, yet steel processing continues there, including a mill rolling railway rails. Around Metz the main employer today is the car industry: engines, gearboxes and electric motors for passenger cars are produced near the city, and light commercial vans are assembled not far away. Loads we typically move to the Czech Republic:

• powertrain units, gearboxes and their parts for production and after-sales,
• steel products and rails, long and heavy, often on special trailers,
• Lorraine crystal and glass, which travels best without transhipment,
• mirabelle plums: Lorraine grows most of the world's crop, fresh fruit is harvested from about mid-August to mid-September and needs refrigeration,
• fruit brandies, jams and speciality food for delicatessen importers.

In the other direction Czech firms ship automotive parts, castings, plastics, glass, building materials and food.

The cereal port on the Moselle

Metz operates France's leading river port for grain. Wheat and barley from Lorraine are stored in its silos and shipped down the Moselle, navigable for large vessels all the way to the Rhine at Koblenz, towards Benelux seaports. For road hauliers that means heavy grain traffic around the port at harvest time, and the port area also handles building materials, fertiliser and scrap. If you load there, confirm the exact entrance and the opening hours of the weighbridge.

Getting there: A6 all the way

The route from Bohemia is unusually simple. The German A6 starts at the Rozvadov / Waidhaus border and runs via Nuremberg, Heilbronn, Mannheim and Kaiserslautern to Saarbrücken, where it becomes the French A320 and joins the A4 to Metz. Distances are approximately 750 km from Prague, 660 km from Plzeň and 950 km from Brno. A single driver needs two working days; a double crew can deliver by the next morning. From Moravia allow two to three working days.

Most French motorways run by concession companies are tolled, including the A4 towards Strasbourg and Paris. The A31 between Luxembourg, Metz and Nancy is toll-free but one of France's most congested roads, packed every morning and evening by tens of thousands of cross-border commuters heading to Luxembourg. We plan pick-ups and drops along it outside rush hours.

Choosing the service

Driving bans, paperwork, delivery tips

France bans trucks over 7.5 tonnes from Saturday 22:00 to Sunday 22:00 and from 22:00 on the eve of a public holiday until 22:00 on the day, with extra summer Saturday restrictions. Germany adds its Sunday and holiday ban on the way. Under the local law inherited from the period of German rule, the Moselle department also keeps two extra public holidays, Good Friday and 26 December, when many businesses in Metz are closed. No customs between Czechia and France: a CMR and an invoice or delivery note suffice, plus temperature records for chilled goods. French warehouses often receive only in the morning and require an appointment; keep the contact name and delivery instructions in French as well. More on transport to France, nearby Luxembourg and prices in the calculator.