Freight to Albania

Direct service for full loads with transit time of about 7 days. Part loads via our hub in Slovenia with transit time 8 – 10 days.

Humanitarian Aid:

On behalf of charitable organisations, John Shirley Ltd arranges humanitarian aid shipments from the United Kingdom to Albania. Several shipments have taken place between Scotland and various Albanian towns including Kukes and Tirana.

2010 developments:

Cross-trades: Since the beginning of the year, the company has forged a new relationship with a French client who has regularly been both exporting to and importing from Albania. Most movements have involved full load shipments of stone from the middle of Albania to the south west of France. 

John Shirley Ltd has also arranged shipments between Albania and Croatia for the same client.

Exports from the UK: During the Spring, the company arranged full load shipments of reconditioned goods to Tirana from Dewsbury, near Bradford. At short notice, John Shirley also arranged an import back to the UK set for another world destination.

For other clients, the company arranged one-off part load and sometimes full load shipments to Tirana and Durres.

Past experience: 

Albania is a far flung spot for which most shippers ask us to deliver to Tirana, the capital, since not all roads are suitable for international transport. 

When we started shipping to Albania, customs clearance was arduous and lengthy - we once had a driver there for two weeks. He survived by fishing and through the generosity of the ferry crew. Things are much improved now and it also possible to transit to Kosovo and Macedonia without trouble.

Freight to Bosnia

Direct service for full loads with transit time of about 5 days. Part loads via our hub in Slovenia with transit time 7 – 8 days.  

Past experience: Exports from Bosnia centre largely on wooden furniture and doors. Following the war in Bosnia and the Dayton Agreement all parts of the country received humanitarian aid cargo and development aid. At first it was only outlying towns near the borders such as Metkovic in Herzegovina and Srpska Brod in the Republika Srpska, then Bihać and Mostar, Banja Luka, Tuzla, Gorazde until eventually we carried goods into Zenica and Sarajevo.

Customs clearance: For goods shipping to or from countries outside the EU we can offer furnishing of entries for H.M. Customs. For all exports from the United Kingdom, we generally provide export documents for consignments within our quoted price. Please contact us for more details.

Containers: For worldwide destinations we arrange collection and delivery of line or shipper’s own containers whether 20’, 40’ or 45’  standard or high top. Most recent consignments have involved the shipment of raw materials from Bosnia to the United Kingdom where containers travelled via an road-rail-ship intermodal service.

Vehicles: We regularly ship Land Rovers to Bosnia and can facilitate the shipping of backhoe loaders, cars, vans pick-ups and lightweight trucks. 

Humanitarian Aid: Known for forwarding work carried out in Bosnia and Kosovo, John Shirley Ltd is ready to provide assistance to aid and reconstruction bodies elsewhere in the world. 

John Shirley has at hand tried and trusted hauliers who are not only experienced at working in difficult conditions but also ones that used to carry enormous quantities of aid construction materials. 

Our experience working in theatres of war and the rebuilds that take place afterwards is second to none. We have arranged shipments of all kinds of aid including hundreds of tonnes of flour, cooking oil, pasta, baby boxes, water purification equipment, clothing, bailey bridges, transformers, cables, forest tractors, stone crushers, pipes and so on. We trust that you will take advantage of this knowledge.

Freight to Croatia

We work directly with a large number of reliable Croatian hauliers, providing door to door service across Croatia with delivery “on-wheels” for larger shipments, plus full loads. Trucks from 90 to 120 cbm are  readily available and most can carry ADR goods.  


Transit time 3 - 4 days for full loads,  4 – 6 days for part loads


We use Croatian and Slovenian hauliers with direct deliveries where possible, or send loads via our hub in Slovenia. Since Croatia is a crescent shaped country with a long coastline full of shipyards, we effect regular collections from the Dalmatian coast from towns such as Split, Dubrovnik, Zadar and Rijeka. 

Inland, we deliver part loads and groupage to Pula, Osijek, Vinkovci, Varaždin, Karlovac & Zagreb. 

Owing to the fact there are far more imports coming to the UK, there is greater availability of international road transport for exports to Croatia. This also means that there is greater price flexibility as well.


2010 developments:

Imports from the Croatia to the UK: The company regularly arranges the shipment of part loads from Croatia and Britain, recently developing partnerships with clients seeking regular movements. We have regularly loaded at Zadar, Rijeka, and Zagreb for destinations such as North Kent, Birmingham, and Wednesbury.

Personal effects to Croatia: We have already arranged several personal effects shipments to Croatia from the UK this year, ranging from less than a pallet to half a full load. Although we are not an international removals company, we are able to offer a service to clients wishing to sent their personal effects using a more cost effective method. Given the ability of customers to load and pack their items, we have been able to offer a limited door-to-door service.

Cross-trades: For the first time, John Shirley Ltd has been organising shipments between Croatia and Albania for a French client.

Freight to Kosovo

Direct service for full loads with transit time of about 5 – 6 days. Part loads via our hub in Slovenia with transit time 8 – 10 days. 


Past Experience: Most freight to Kosovo has been funded by the EU and is mainly reconstruction material. A great deal of cargo went to the power station near Pristina, but also to Djakovica, Kosovska Mitrovica, Pec, Prizren. Camp Bondsteel, the large NATO base which used to be near Vrosevac had also been in receipt of much cargo. Our trucks would enter from Macedonia or Montenegro (where snow can be a problem) but now from Serbia as well.

Freight to Macedonia

Direct service for full loads with transit time of about 5 – 6 days. Part loads via our hub in Slovenia with transit time 8 – 10 days.

Past experience:  Usually deliveries of freight or collections of cargo are made in Skopje, the capital. However, Ohrid, Bitola, Kumanovo, Stip and Prilep have a certain amount of industry as well. Macedonia used to be last stop before Kosovo for reconstruction materials and humanitarian aid.

Freight to Slovenia

We work directly with a large number of reliable Slovenian hauliers, providing door to door service across Slovenia with delivery “on-wheels” for larger shipments, plus full loads. Trucks from 90 to 120 cbm are  readily available and most can carry ADR goods.  

Transit time 3 - 4 days for full loads,  4 – 6 days for part loads

Port of Koper

A major European port with major road and rail links to Austria, Germany, Hungary, and Eastern Europe. Through our partners there, we can offer a global service by container effecting collections to from and from e.g. Canada, Brazil, Australia, Singapore, the United States etc. 

We ship part loads to Albania and Montenegro via the Port of Koper. Many of our hauliers are based in Ljubljana, Maribor and Novo Mesto and we use them to make collections and deliveries in nearby Italian towns such as Udine, Venice, Trieste, Vicenza, Belluno and Brescia for the U.K. and France.  

Geographical Position

The very central geograhical position of Slovenia makes it ideal for a whole variety of transit routes. For example, there are deliveries of Italian marble to Moscow and/or Russia in general, and countries beyond such as Kazakhstan. From the other direction, destinations include the Scandinavian countries.

Full loads
We provide driver-accompanied full load services on most routes to and from Slovenia . Typical routes might be Maribor to Manchester, Ljubljana to Glasgow, and Ptuj to Paris. There are dedicated trucks exclusively for a shipper’s cargo, whether dry, hazardous or temperature controlled. 

Wide loads
We organise the transport of oversized and overweight cargo including the provision of escorts and all necessary permits. 

Part loads
On the bulk of routes we can provide an on-wheels collection service for smaller consignments of a few hundred kilos or a few tonnes. Generally we can collect within 24 to 48 hours of instruction.

Personal Effects

We are happy to arrange shipment of your personal effects if you are able to have them packed before loading. This can often turn out to be much more cost effective than an international removals company. For personal effects movements between the United Kingdom (or other countries) and Slovenia, the larger the shipment, the more cost effective it can be for you. Do contact us if you are unsure whether this is the right option for you. 

If you are an international removals company, we are also happy to be part of the removals process. Email our Operations Manager:

robin.ross@johnshirleyltd.co.uk