Freight to Netherlands

Where Dutch imports to the Czech Republic are loaded

The Netherlands is small, but the pick-up points our Czech customers use there could hardly be more different: deep-sea ports, greenhouse districts, flower auctions, high-tech manufacturers and vast distribution centres that supply half of Central Europe. Each of them needs a slightly different transport set-up.

• Westland and the area around The Hague – greenhouse vegetables, herbs, young plants and ornamentals, loaded chilled and usually early in the morning.
• The Aalsmeer area – cut flowers and pot plants from auctions and wholesalers, which have to reach Czech customers fast and without a break in the cold chain.
• Rotterdam, Moerdijk and Amsterdam – overseas cargo unloaded in the ports, food ingredients, cocoa, oils, chemical products and consumer goods.
• North Brabant – the Eindhoven region with electronics, precision instruments, semiconductor equipment and engineering components.
• Limburg and Tilburg – large distribution centres for consumer goods, online retail and spare parts.
• Friesland and the north – dairy products, cheese and food semi-finished goods.

For container collection in the port, see our Prague – Rotterdam route; for the Brabant tech cluster, the Eindhoven page.

Chilled loads: vegetables, flowers, dairy

Fresh produce and flowers make up a large share of Dutch shipments to the Czech Republic. We book reefer trailers set to the temperature your goods require, with continuous temperature logging that we can pass on to the consignee. Flowers and vegetables should not share a trailer with goods needing a different temperature, and ideally they travel direct, without transhipment.

Greenhouse packers and auction warehouses work with tight loading slots, so confirm an exact loading time with your supplier. At the Czech end, plan unloading for the moment the truck arrives; a chilled load waiting outside the gate does nothing for shelf life.

The route through Germany

Trucks from Prague usually take the D5 motorway via the Rozvadov/Waidhaus crossing, then Nuremberg, Frankfurt and the Rhineland to the Dutch border near Venlo or Emmerich. From northern Bohemia, the D8 via Dresden and Leipzig towards the Ruhr is often the better option. Prague to Rotterdam is roughly 950 km by road, Brabant slightly less.

Most of the distance is on German motorways, where trucks over 7.5 t may not run on Sundays and public holidays, and on selected routes also on summer Saturdays; perishable food is among the exemptions. The Netherlands itself has no general weekend ban, but many Dutch cities run low-emission zones for trucks, so for city-centre deliveries we check the vehicle's emission class in advance. Distance-based toll in Germany and Dutch road charges are always included in our quote.

Transit times in working days

• Full truckload from a distribution centre or port warehouse: about 2 working days.
• Reefer with vegetables, flowers or dairy: about 2 working days, direct.
• Pallet groupage for one or a few pallets: typically 3–5 working days.
• Express van for spare parts, samples or urgent electronics: usually by the next day.

Times count from loading. Distribution centres often have a daily cut-off for dispatch, and a late afternoon pick-up will move delivery by a day.

Documents, and the other direction

Between the Netherlands and the Czech Republic there is no customs: a CMR consignment note, an invoice or delivery note and, for food, a temperature record are enough. Overseas cargo arriving in Rotterdam is different – it enters the EU there and must be cleared either in the port or under transit procedure in the Czech Republic.

Westbound, we move Czech machinery, automotive parts, glass, building materials, furniture and food to the Netherlands. Return loads are easy to find on this lane, so combining exports and imports often pays off. Get a price for your shipment in the freight calculator.