Bowker's 2025 Christmas Operating Hours

Christmas Schedule 2025

Please note Christmas schedule and delivery times run as follows:

UK Transport

Bowker own fleet – subject to availability.

• (Thu) Christmas Day 25th Closed
• (Fri) Boxing Day 26th Closed
• (Thu) New Years Day 1st Closed

Palletline Next Day Service

• Collect Monday 22nd - Deliver Tuesday 23rd
• Collect Tuesday 23rd - Deliver Wednesday 24th
• Collect Monday 29th - Deliver Tuesday 30th
• Collect Tuesday 30th - Deliver Wednesday 31st
• Collect Friday 2nd Jan 2026 - Deliver Monday 5^th Jan 2026

Hazchem Next Day Service

• Collect Tuesday 23rd - Deliver Wednesday 24th
• Hub Operations closed until Monday 5^th Jan 2026
• Collect Monday 5^th Jan 2026 - Deliver Tuesday 6^th Jan 2026

Important Information

• The last collection date for an economy service for delivery before Christmas is Friday 19^th December for a delivery on Tuesday 23rd December 2025.
• The last collection date for a next day service for delivery before Christmas is Tuesday 23rd December for delivery on Wednesday 24th December 2025.
• Please note extra Bank Holiday in Scotland on 2^nd January

International Transport

Our final shipping date from UK for groupage consignments is Wednesday 17^th December– with a view to offload no later than Monday 22^nd December (Based on deliveries to Belgium / Holland / Northern France / Mid and Western Germany, clearing customs no later than Thursday 18^th December)

For any groupage bookings to destinations further afield (such as Italy / Spain / Southern Germany / Austria) we would expect to load and ship no later than Monday 15^th December– with a view to offload no later than Monday 22^nd December (Based on clearing customs no later than Tuesday 16^th December)

Our final shipping date from UK for full trailer loads is Monday 15^th December with a view to offload no later than Monday 22^nd December (based on most European destinations including full loads to Spain / Mid to Southern Italy) this allows us to clear customs on Tuesday 16^th Dec a.m..

We can continue to load groupage bookings up to Tuesday 30^th December (taking into account Bank Holidays) but these bookings would only depart from UK earliest Sunday 4^th Jan 2026 / Monday 5^th Jan 2026

Our first groupage departures from UK to Benelux region in 2026 will commence Sunday 4^th January / Monday 5^th January – And we expect to see slower handling of customs clearances in the first couple of working days of 2026 due to sheer volumes departing from UK.

We are expecting to see some delay in the start up of our groupage and full load services to further afield destinations such as Italy / Austria / Spain, due to current market conditions, so we will confirm our options closer to the holiday shut down period, but we can look at any urgent bookings that fall outside of these dates.

Our office operating hours are reduced between Christmas and New Year.

For urgent enquiries, please call 01772 628800.