What we do
Freight services built around your delivery date
Whether it is a single insured parcel or a quarterly container programme, CargoVault plans the route, moves the goods and keeps the tracking honest from collection to signature.
Sea freight
Full and part container loads on scheduled sailings, with consolidation, transhipment management and port-side handling.
- · FCL & LCL
- · Reefer and out-of-gauge
- · Live vessel position
Air freight
Priority uplift for time-critical cargo, including pharma, electronics and documents, on next-flight-out or consolidated services.
- · Next flight out
- · Temperature control
- · Airport-to-door
Road freight & courier
Dedicated trucks, groupage and final-mile courier delivery with signature and photo proof of delivery.
- · Dedicated haulage
- · Groupage
- · Same-day courier
Warehousing & fulfilment
Bonded, climate-monitored storage with inventory counts, pick-and-pack and scheduled release to your buyers.
- · Bonded storage
- · Pick & pack
- · Inventory reporting
Cargo insurance
All-risk cover written into the booking, covering transit, transhipment and warehousing, with in-house claims handling.
- · All-risk cover
- · Warehouse included
- · In-house claims
Customs brokerage
Documentation, tariff classification and duty management pre-filed by in-house brokers so clearance is measured in hours.
- · Pre-clearance
- · Duty management
- · Compliance audits
How an account runs
The operating rhythm behind every service
A service line is only as good as the routine behind it. This is the routine we run on every account, whether you send one parcel a quarter or forty containers a year.
Route design before rates
We start with your delivery date and work backwards: which corridor, which mode, which cut-off, which broker at the far end. Only then do we price it. Quoting first is how shippers end up on a cheap sailing that lands two weeks after the shelf date.
Documents prepared in advance
Commercial invoice, packing list, certificates of origin, licences and tariff classification are prepared and checked while the goods are still being packed. Paperwork is the most common cause of a hold, and it is entirely preventable.
Custody discipline in motion
Sealed, scanned and photographed at each handover, with exceptions raised the moment they occur rather than discovered at delivery. Your timeline is the same record our operations room works from — there is no better internal version.
Review after the fact
For regular accounts we look back every quarter at transit performance, hold reasons and spend by lane, and change the routing where the data says we should. Freight should get cheaper and steadier the longer you use us.
Extras worth having
Add-ons you can attach to any booking
Doorstep packing
Our crew packs, cushions and cartons fragile goods at your address, with a photographic inventory taken before anything is sealed.
Palletising & shrink-wrap
Loose cartons converted into scanned, stable pallet units — cheaper to move and far less likely to be damaged in a groupage trailer.
Export & import clearance
Full brokerage at both ends of the lane, including duty deferment and post-clearance amendments if a code needs correcting.
Temperature logging
Data loggers travel inside the consignment and the readout is attached to your delivery record as proof the chain held.
Bonded storage days
Hold cleared or uncleared stock in a monitored bonded facility and release it in the quantities your buyers actually order.
Photo proof pack
A downloadable PDF of every seal image, scan event and delivery photograph, formatted for insurers, auditors and finance teams.
Service standards
What each service commits to
| Service | Collection | Typical transit | Tracking detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sea freight | Next working day UK | 18–38 days port to port | Vessel position, port calls, transhipments |
| Air freight | Same day before cut-off | 1–5 days door to door | Flight legs, handling milestones, recovery |
| Road freight | Same or next day | 24 hrs – 5 days | Live road position, depot and driver changes |
| Courier & final mile | Same day in London | Same day – 48 hrs | Doorstep signature, printed name, photograph |
| Warehousing | Scheduled inbound | Release on demand | Inventory counts and release confirmations |
Before you book
Service questions, answered plainly
Can you combine modes on one booking?
Yes, and we frequently do. A common pattern is air for the urgent portion of an order and sea for the balance, both under one reference so your tracking view stays in one place and the paperwork is filed once.
Do you handle dangerous or restricted goods?
We handle properly declared dangerous goods on approved lanes with the correct documentation and packing. What we will not do is move an undeclared item — that is the risk that endangers a whole vessel or aircraft.
What are your storage charges?
Bonded and general storage is quoted per pallet per week, with the first days after arrival free while clearance completes. We tell you the free period at booking so demurrage never appears as a surprise line.
Can you work with my existing supplier or factory?
Absolutely. Give us the supplier contact and we will arrange collection, inspection on request, consolidation of multiple suppliers into one shipment and the export formalities at origin.
Need a quote or a routing plan?
Tell us the origin, destination and cargo type and our operations desk will come back with lanes, transit times and an insured rate.
Contact the desk