I might be doing a bit of casual work next week pulling boxes out of Southampton. What is the procedure there?
Thanks in advance!
Harry Monk:
I might be doing a bit of casual work next week pulling boxes out of Southampton. What is the procedure there?Thanks in advance!
Plenty of food/water/coffee/milk
Good book
All the videos of TV programmes that you’ve taped but not got round to watching
Big Joe:
Plenty of food/water/coffee/milk
Good book
All the videos of TV programmes that you’ve taped but not got round to watching
Sounds like my kind of job already!
I worked out of Southampton docks and my hubby is down there as I post and has to hang around for a while. He wanted to take me with him, but last time he was there he was in and out so quick, I would not have been able to visit with friends. This time, I am at home and he is waiting around. Wish I had gone this trip. Liz
I’ve only ever picked up boxes in Southampton twice, albeit a few years ago. Each time it was straight in and straight out - not even time for a cuppa 
Having said that I’ve seen trucks stacked up on the M271 waiting to get into the place in more recent times.
you want to try now , i sat there for 4 hours on monday last week , and ran out of time on the way back
last time in there ,i was in and out in a hour,but make sure your in the vbs window.
only done area 1 & 2 and the empty parks…
pentalvers middle yard (by martini) can have a 2 hr que in the mornings/ late afternoon.
according to the security gate 10 they now have NINE (9) yards.
best of luck.
I go there everyday, if i’m going to sct theres never a problem, book in with your vbs number in the time your booked then all easy, empty parks very quick unloading, transfer 1, 2 or 3 are pretty good too for loading, pentalvers is the total nightmare most days, i’ve got a vbs booking time of 10am til 11am everyday but if i’m going to pentalvers i’ve generally got to ring up to extend my vbs booking time for collecting my container at sct, don’t miss your vbs booking slot cos its a total nightmare if you do, just ring them up if you think you’re going to miss the window and they’ll extend your time
Southampton container dock, they could not have made it any more complicated if they had tried, for first time visitors it is a nightmare with very few signs telling you which way to go…DUMP…Best of luck… 
I was at Southampton docks the other day, first time ever, wasnt doing containers though, thank god.
I have to say, from a newbs perspective, the place looks mighty complicated. The address I had was simply a building name and a road, and a tip off that the place I needed to be was right on the quayside not in the slightest bit helpful.
I took a gamble on the way in, and just picked a gate number at random, following a couple of container guys through 10, nice and in the middle I thought, a fair gamble. Turned out it was the right gamble, and after a few circuits of the place, found where I needed to be at the Canary Fruit Terminal.
The guy who tipped me off was right, any further South and i’d be swimming 
Unfortunately there was no way back out, due to some people laying tarmac over my exit.
I had to reverse back along the quayside, and blindside reverse through a ship loading queue (which i’m sure ■■■■■■ the loaders off, but I explained the situation beforehand and they were fairly understanding) back onto the main road. Got me sweating a fair bit by the time I was ready to go forward again.
On the way out, saw all the container dock bits, and the queues of trucks were long to say the least. This was maybe 3.30 in the afternoon if I recall.
Fairly straightforward to get back out, just following the signs. However, there was a bridge towards the last bit which had several signs claiming a height limit on some bridge(from memory 10 or 11 feet) but yet, several containers going that way, so I followed them, and said height limit was nowhere to be seen.
It’s stuff like this that makes it all so difficult to do this job if you havent got a clue. No one explains anything, no one is willing to accept responsibility for anything, no one will go very far towards helping you. But quick as a flash to laugh at point at your lack of skills, or bellow at you from 200 feet away to get your high vis on.
“Oh, my mistake dons vest. I’m invincible now, is that better”
Utter joke at times. I realise that a lot of truck drivers have the, water off a ducks back attitude and just go with the flow whatever, I imagine after a while this will develop. But for the new guys, all this can be a really stressful and fairly soul destroying experience.
It’s no real wonder why this so called profession can, at times, appear to be such a mess.
Best of luck at the docks.
Good luck Harry!
Went in on Friday morning at 0325 and came off at 0750 with a 0800 Desborough(Northants)so as you can gather i was very late but customer wasn’t too bad,tipped and loaded at the same place and went back to Soton,got in on Saturday Morning at 0510,tipped and turned in 20 minutes.
Thing i hate about the place is no facilities,toilets etc.
I think its as good and as bad as every other container port in the country,can’t wait for Felixstowe’s VBS system to start on Monday!
Must remember to buy a newspaper on Monday morning.