Part Loads & Groupage (LTL)

Freight that does not fill a truck

Most European shipments are not full loads. A few pallets to a customer in Vienna, a half trailer of packaging to Munich, samples and display units to a trade fair in Milan - sending each of these on its own vehicle means paying for empty space.

Groupage, also called LTL (less-than-truckload) or part load transport, solves that. Several consignments travelling the same corridor share one vehicle, and each shipper pays only for the loading metres their goods actually occupy.

How groupage pricing really works

Understanding the pricing usually saves more money than negotiating the rate:

• Loading metres (LDM) measure the floor space used across the full trailer width. One standard Euro pallet (1.2 × 0.8 m) placed normally is 0.4 LDM; an industrial pallet (1.2 × 1.0 m) is 0.5 LDM.
• Chargeable weight converts space to weight so light freight does not travel almost free. The common conversion in European road groupage is 1 LDM ≈ 1 750 kg.
• You are charged on whichever is higher. Dense goods are charged by weight; bulky goods by space.
• Non-stackable pallets are charged for the height above them, because nothing else can use it.

Two practical consequences: shrink-wrap and label your pallets properly so they can be stacked, and tell us the real height. A pallet declared at 1.2 m that arrives at 1.9 m breaks the loading plan for everyone else on the vehicle.

What we handle

• Collection from your site on the agreed day, including sites with no ramp - tail lift and pallet truck on request.
• Consolidation with other consignments on the same corridor, planned so your goods are not handled more than necessary.
• Side and top loading on our own curtain-side fleet, which makes awkward and oversized single items far easier to load than a box body would.
• CMR documentation per consignment, so each shipper has their own clean paper trail.
• Delivery within the agreed window, with proof of delivery returned to you.

Core lanes and departure days

Our highest-frequency part-load corridors run from Slovakia into Austria, Czechia, Hungary, southern Poland and southern Germany, with regular consolidation to northern Germany, the Benelux countries and northern Italy. Departure days are fixed on the core lanes - ask your forwarder for the current schedule on your route, and we will tell you the next cut-off.

When to choose a direct run instead

Groupage is the cheapest option, not always the right one. Choose a direct run on one of our own 7.2 t curtain-side vehicles if the delivery date is immovable, if the goods are fragile enough that any extra handling is a risk, or if your consignment is already past roughly 14 to 16 pallets - at that point a dedicated vehicle usually costs less per pallet anyway.