​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​1. Road Limitation

Direct Truck Transport

Maximum weight on German roads = 40 tons

(within a radius of 150km to/from seaport a maximum weight of 44 tons is allowed)​

* incl. cooling chassis

Rail/Road & Barge/Road Combined Transport

Maximum weight on German roads = 44 tons

* incl. cooling chassis

 Shipments of granite, marble, stone or other loose and high density commodities are not accepted for door deliveries to final destinations in Germany, Austria, Czech Republic and Slovakia.

​2. Terminal Limitation

• ​Please see above

3. Transhipment Restrictions

• Subject to local laws

4. Restricted & Prohibited Commodities

5. Shipment of Waste(s)  

• All shipments of wastes related to Basle Convention or similar regulations via German Ports (Import, Export and Transit Onboard) or transported to / from or through German territory need to be checked and approved before the booking can be accepted.

• Please provide details of Shipper and Consignee and whether the waste is listed in "Green" or "Amber" waste list.  In case needed you will receive a request / information from OOCL Bremen about further documents required to be provided prior to acceptance of a booking.

• Contacts for Import, Export or Transit onboard: marbre@oocl.com

• Contacts for landside transports: Bretrans@oocl.com  (on-/pre-carriage of “Amber” waste shipments are only acceptable in Merchant’s Haulage)

6. Dangerous Cargo 

• Bremerhaven and Hamburg: DG cargo to be reported 24 hrs prior to arrival

• Following materials are to be approved: Class 1 - 4.2 - 4.3 - 5 and 7

• When you want to ship tank containers of hazardous nature with us, please provide following documents:

  • cleaning certificate

  • hazardous certificate / shippers declaration

7. Weapons, Arms and Am​munition

• Shipments of weapons, arms and ammunition (regardless whether dangerous cargo according to IMDG Code or not, or whether military goods or for sporting purposes​) according to EC and/or German weapon law are subject to a Transport Permit (so called “Verbringungserlaubnis” or “Ausfuhrgenehmigung” issued by the concerned German authority). This applies for Import, Export, Transshipment and even transit on board of the same vessel through any German Port or the Kiel Canal. Prior t​o acceptance of any of such bookings, please request a copy of the permit issued by the German authorities. If the booking party refers to any exception from this rules, always cross check with MARBRE@oocl.com prior to acceptance of such booking.​ 

8. Heavy and high density cargo information

Please find related information here: 

• ​Information on Heavy and High Density Cargo.pdf​
• Warning Notice Granite - Inbound.pdf

​9. High Value Cargo

• Cargo value > EUR 150,000 shall be advised to carrier in writing prior to cargo door collection, latest in line with placement of booking notice to allow verification of sufficient transport insurance coverage beforehand. In case of non-conformance, carrier rejects all liability. Same applies for alcoholic beverages, tobacco, cigarettes and cigars which are restricted for transport. Transport options / costs must be pre-checked for transport in carrier's haulage.
• Cargo Value > EUR 500,000 is on request.​

10. Custom Requirements

The ports of Bremerhaven and Hamburg are liable to the general customs laws of the European Community (EC).
 

Since 01.01.2011 all cargo bound to the EU has to be announced with an Entry Summary Declaration (ENS) 24 hours prior loading on EU-bound vessel (EU24 Regulations) to the customs authority of first port of entry in the EU.  The resulting Movement Reference Number (MRN) is a mandatory item in order to allow the loading of the announced container on the intended ocean vessel. Loading is not allowed without valid Movement Reference Number (MRN). The Movement Reference Number (MRN) will be confirmed to customs office of first entry port by vessel owner 48 hours before entering first European port.

Import to Non-Free Port:

All containers must be discharged with Customs Summary Declaration referenced to Movement Reference Number (MRN) of Entry Summary Declaration (ENS) where applicable, based on manifested shipper's load stow and count details, latest 24 hours prior to discharge of the mother vessel (via EDI). With reference to the ATB-number provided by Customs as a result of the summary declaration, the ATB Number will be settled by (customer’s) customs clearance or, in case of Transshipment, by carrier’s Transshipment customs declaration. In case of multiple commodities in cargo descriptions, each commodity must be provided with full breakdown of quantity, weight and (if available ) cubage.
 

General:

Manifest changes related to the Entry Summary Declaration (ENS) cannot be arranged after presentation of the Arrival Notification (48 hours prior entering first EU Port) to first office of entry, as they would result in data mismatch between Entry Summary Declaration (ENS) and local Customs Summary Declaration (Ü-SUM-A).

Customs Clearance or generation of Transit Document referring to shipper's load stow and count shall be carried out before leaving the Free Port/Non-Free Port area. For transportation based on Transit Document, Customs Clearance shall be arranged at the place of delivery.

In general, it is being assumed that Customs Clearance is carried out by the Consignee (or Consignee’s service provider). 

General requirement of local veterinary authorities:

According to Article 3 (3) of Directive 97/78/EC and Article 2 (1) of Regulation (EC) No. 134/2004 an advanced notification for consignments of animal products subject to veterinary checks has to be submitted to the veterinary border inspection post (BIP) at the first port of introduction. This advanced notification is also required for consignments of animal origin which are transshipped to another port and has to include, amongst others an adequate product description of the arriving goods. The complete transmission of the manifest data by shipping companies will be acknowledged by the veterinary authority as valid pre-notification for consignments in transhipment providing that all consignments of animal products originating in or consigned from third countries are notified with the four digit code of the harmonised system (HS-Code).

The principles and conditions of the veterinary transshipment procedure are laid down in the Articles 9 and 11 No. 2 letter b of Directive 97/78/EC and Decision of Commission 2011/215/EU.

In an attempt to avoid any delays and potential extra costs for our customers during the IB and T/S process for veterinary goods, OOCL may request the HS code provision in Shipping Instructions for any type of commodity. Failure to submit HS code may result in cargo clearance delays, in additional demurrage costs and as well as in additional administrative fees.

The above is applicable to all commodities entering or T/S at Germany.

Export:

Each container/cargo designated to be exported out of the EC has to be declared at the shipper's customs-office (Form EX-1) The submission of the export declaration data can also be carried out electronically.

• Hamburg:
  A "Z-Number" will be issued after declaration; after that the shipper needs to present the original export document at the customs-house latest 24 hours prior to the departure of the vessel.

• Bremerhaven:
  Same principle as in Hamburg, here named "BHT-Number". 
   

• For ocean transhipment cargo no customs document is necessary. A simplyfied declaration will be performed by ocean carrier to report transshipment cargo to customs in order to receive Z-/BHT-Number. A declared export from another EC country has to be demonstrated only on rare occasions. 

• For overland transshipment cargo a Z-Number resp.BHT-Number has to be applied for. For export proof purposes the transshipment customs clearance procedure is sufficient. In general the creation of Z/BHT-Number is carried out by customs broker / forwarder.

OOCL also gladly offers Customs Brokerage services on request, (please contact Rüdiger Wüst, Tel. ++49-421-1605872)