Originally planned for introduction from September 2024, the Vehicle Booking System (VBS) fee for collections and deliveries through Southampton and London Gateway has been delayed until January.
The fee is £10 per vehicle and will be applied by the port operators who manage both ports, which means that all full container load movements travelling through these ports will incur the fee, effectively per container.
Regrettably, Killick Martin have no alternative but to pay the fees and pass them on when we are arranging container transport for customers. If transport is being arranged by a third party then the fee will be billed directly from the port to the transport company.
There is a chance that a similar charge will be applied by Felixstowe port from October, which we understand is being considered and if applied will be called a Container Booking System (CBS) fee.
