I am often asked this, and it boils down to two factors, the landing date and the ‘cut-off’ period.

The landing date is when the container actually lands on the quayside in the UK.  With vessels getting bigger and bigger it can take between 1-3 days for a container to come off the vessel.

The ‘cut-off’ period is when the shipping line (or merchant haulier) will no longer be legally required to monitor the progress of your cargo.  Before this period, they may chase the importer or agent for payment of charges, to cancel a delivery (on their own volition) because either the vessel has been delayed or there is a sudden shortage of drivers.  Many shipping lines will outsource the haulage to a third party with whom they will communicate on the status of your cargo. After the ‘cut-off’ period has passed, this information would cease.  After this point the driver is free to apply for your container and should it not be released by HMRC or a payment not be received, or the Bill of Lading has not been lodged with them yet, then you would be charged for the ’wasted journey’ as the driver will be unlikely to get another container to load at such short notice.  The charge you would have to pay is often the haulage rate for a second time to cover the wasted journey and for the actual journey when delivery is acceptable to both parties.  The second delivery if not soon, may also incur demurrage charges of course.  The ‘cut-off’ period is often set as midday on the working day before delivery.

And your clearance agent, as much as they want to please you, does not want to upset you by suggesting a delivery date on a Wednesday for a Monday vessel arrival when there is a good chance that the container will not land on the quay before 1200hrs on the Tuesday (‘cut-off’ period). Hence a day 4 delivery for a day 1 vessel arrival is more likely to be suggested.

Also the gap may be wider between vessel arrival and delivery as West Midland and northern deliveries from southern ports often have a 2 day ‘cut-off’ period set (so those would be best set for a Friday delivery based on a Monday vessel arrival).

Also remember that vessel can be delayed, which is another reason for not being too optimistic on you expectations for a delivery within a few days of vessel arrival.

All these factors have to be accounted for, so bear this in mind when arranging any delivery.