WOCSOM Forwarding Ltd

UK customs & import compliance

Import from anywhere.
Land it in the UK
without the guesswork.

We handle UK imports end to end, from the factory floor to your door. One contract covers it, and one number to call when a container runs late.

Request a quote See how it works
Shipments
150+
Origin markets
8
Trading since
2024

Shipment

WOC-24815

1 × 40ft HC · 18.4 CBM

Example
Shanghai Felixstowe Sea · FCL

Booked & collected

· Origin pickup confirmed

Departed Shanghai

· Bill of lading issued

In transit

Vessel MV Northern Trader · entry pre-lodged

Customs cleared

Entry submitted ahead of arrival

Delivered

POD & document set issued

ETA
Documents
4 of 5
Duty
Calculated

Illustrative example of a shipment view. Not a live tracking feed.

Trade lanes into the UK

Indicative routing — confirmed at quote stage

Trade routes into the United Kingdom A stylised map showing freight routes converging on a United Kingdom hub from the Far East, Indian subcontinent, Middle East and Europe. Far East Indian subcontinent Middle East Europe UNITED KINGDOM
  • Sea freight FCL & LCL
  • Air freight
  • Road haulage
  • Customs declarations
  • Supplier vetting
  • UKCA & CE conformity
  • Bonded storage

What we do

Six services,
one point of contact

Most importers hire a sourcing agent, then a freight forwarder, then a customs broker. Three contracts. Three people to chase when a date slips. We do the whole job in house, so nothing sits in the gap between two suppliers.

Where every import starts

Supplier sourcing & vetting

We find factories that can actually hold your spec, then check them properly before any money moves. Trading history, certifications, real production capacity, and a physical sample in your hands. Most import disasters start right here, with a supplier nobody verified.

  • Factory audits On-site or independent checks before you commit.
  • Sample approval A physical sample signed off before production runs.
  • Price benchmarking Quotes compared across shortlisted suppliers.

Sea, air & road freight

Full containers, part loads, air and road. We book against whatever matters most on this order: the cheapest landed cost, or the fastest door-to-door. You see both numbers before you choose.

UK customs clearance

Declarations filed correctly the first time. We handle commodity codes, duty calculations, deferment accounts and postponed VAT accounting. Your container clears instead of sitting on the quay collecting charges.

Compliance & product safety

UKCA and CE conformity, labelling, restricted goods, documentation. We check all of it before the goods leave the factory. Finding a labelling fault at Felixstowe costs far more than fixing it in Ningbo.

Warehousing & fulfilment

Short-term overflow or ongoing storage, with pick and pack if you need it. We deliver onward to your customers, into a retailer's distribution centre, or straight to a marketplace fulfilment site.

Import consultancy

First import, or one that has outgrown its process? We map the route and the duty exposure before you tie up cash in stock. Sometimes the numbers do not work. We will tell you that too.

How it works

What actually happens
after you call us

No black box. This is the sequence every Wocsom import follows, and what lands in your inbox at each stage.

  1. 1

    Brief & feasibility

    You tell us the product, the target cost and the deadline. We come back on whether the route works. If it does not, we say so before anyone spends money.

  2. 2

    Sourcing & verification

    You get a shortlist of checked factories, with samples and what each one quoted. Enough to choose from, with the evidence behind it.

  3. 3

    Booking & freight

    We agree the mode and routing, book the space, and arrange collection at origin. The schedule reaches you in writing before anything sails.

  4. 4

    Customs & compliance

    Declarations go in before the vessel arrives. Duty and VAT are worked out up front, so the final invoice holds no surprises.

  5. 5

    Delivery & storage

    Haulage to your door, or into storage if you are not ready for it. You get proof of delivery and the full document set for your records.

Trade lanes

Where we bring goods in from

Indicative transit, port to UK port. Real schedules move with the carrier and the season. We confirm actual dates when we quote.

Price a lane
Indicative transit times by origin region and freight mode
Origin region Sea freight Air freight Typical goods
Far East 30–45 days On request Consumer goods, electronics, homeware
Indian subcontinent On request On request Textiles, garments, leather goods
Middle East On request On request Industrial supplies, chemicals, metals
Europe On request (road) On request Machinery, food & drink, components

Sectors

Industries we import for

Different goods fail in different ways. Food consignments get held on paperwork. Electricals get held on conformity. We match the checks to what you are actually importing.

Discuss your category

Retail & wholesale

Homeware and general consumer lines, timed to land before your buying window closes.

Usually held on: commodity code disputes

Food & beverage

Temperature-controlled and ambient lines. We handle port health checks and the labelling rules that come with them.

Usually held on: port health paperwork

Industrial & machinery

Heavy and oversized cargo, including out-of-gauge loads and part shipments.

Usually held on: incomplete packing lists

Textiles & apparel

Garments and fabric, where the commodity code you use decides the duty you pay.

Usually held on: fibre-composition evidence

Why one partner

Three suppliers, or one accountable one

Freight is usually the cheapest line on the invoice. The costly part is the fortnight lost while three companies work out whose problem it is.

Sourcing agent + forwarder + broker

Three contracts and three invoices, each carrying its own version of the schedule.

When a classification error surfaces at the border, everyone blames the other two.

Compliance gets checked after booking, once changes cost real money.

You become the project manager for your own shipment.

With Wocsom Forwarding

One contract and one invoice, against a schedule everyone works from.

Classification and duty are settled before the goods move.

Compliance is checked at the sourcing stage, while changes are still cheap.

One named contact who owns the outcome end to end.

FAQ

Importing,
answered plainly

The questions we field most often. If yours is not here, ask us. We would sooner answer it now than after you have committed.

Ask a question
Do I need an EORI number to import into the UK?
Yes. Any business bringing goods into Great Britain needs a GB EORI number, registered to whoever acts as importer of record. If you do not have one, we flag it at the feasibility stage and walk you through the application. It is free, and it usually comes through quickly.
What's the difference between FCL and LCL, and which do I need?
FCL is a full container booked for your goods alone. LCL means your pallets travel alongside other importers' cargo and you pay for the space you use. LCL suits smaller volumes. It also adds consolidation at one end and deconsolidation at the other, so expect more handling and a longer door-to-door time. We price both against your real volume before we recommend either.
Who is responsible for paying duty and import VAT?
The importer of record carries the legal liability. That is normally your business, unless the agreed Incoterm moves it elsewhere. DDP, for instance, puts it on the seller. Because the Incoterm decides who carries cost and risk on each leg, we put it in writing at quote stage.
How far in advance should customs paperwork be prepared?
As early as possible. Declarations can be lodged before the vessel arrives, so the goods clear on schedule. In our experience customs is rarely the bottleneck. The usual culprits are an incomplete commercial invoice, a missing certificate, or a commodity code that does not match what is actually in the box.
I've never imported before. Can you help from scratch?
That is a large share of our work. We start with a feasibility conversation covering the product, your target landed cost and your deadline. Then we tell you whether the route works, before you commit capital. Sometimes it does not, and we say so.
What happens if my goods are held at the border?
We deal with the authority directly and keep you posted. You should not have to chase it. Holds almost always trace back to documentation, classification or a product-safety query. Those are the things we check at the sourcing stage, while they are still cheap to fix.

Get started

Tell us what you
need to move

Tell us where it ships from and roughly how much there is. You get a costed option back within one working day, covering landed cost, transit time and what the compliance side will involve.

Request a quote

We reply within one working day. Your details are only used to reply.