Book freight forwarding Magdeburg:
fast & easy

Logistics in Magdeburg: engineering tradition and an inland port

Magdeburg is the capital of Saxony-Anhalt and has around 240,000 inhabitants. The city on the Elbe looks back on more than a thousand years of history, from Emperor Otto the Great and its Gothic cathedral to the physicist Otto von Guericke, whose name the local university carries today. For much of the twentieth century, Magdeburg was a centre of heavy engineering, and mechanical engineering is still an important part of its economy.

Today, logistics, food production, healthcare, research and renewable energy add to that industrial base. The port of Magdeburg in the north of the city is one of the major inland ports in eastern Germany. It lies where the Elbe meets the Mittelland Canal. The Magdeburg Water Bridge, which carries the canal over the Elbe, is regarded as the longest navigable aqueduct in Europe. The port area of Rothensee combines container handling, bulk goods and large industrial and logistics sites, and it is a frequent destination for freight transport.

Thanks to its position between Hanover and Berlin, and its direct motorway links to Leipzig and Halle, Magdeburg has become a popular location for distribution. For British suppliers, it offers a practical gateway to central and eastern Germany as well as to Poland.

The route from the UK to Magdeburg

Two approaches are common for road freight to Saxony-Anhalt. From the Channel, the lorry crosses from Dover to Calais or Dunkirk, or uses Le Shuttle from Folkestone, and continues through Belgium into Germany at Aachen. From the Ruhr, the A2 leads east via Bielefeld, Hanover and Braunschweig directly to Magdeburg. Alternatively, freight from the Midlands and the north can take the ferry from Harwich to the Hook of Holland or from Hull to Rotterdam. The vehicle then drives through the Netherlands and joins the A30, which meets the A2 at Bad Oeynhausen.

At the Magdeburg interchange, the A2 meets the A14, which runs south to Halle and Leipzig and is being extended north towards Schwerin and Wismar. The A2 continues east to Berlin, while the A14 connects the industrial areas in the west of the city.

Customs for Saxony-Anhalt

Because Germany is an EU member, goods from Great Britain need a UK export declaration and an EU import declaration, and both exporter and importer must have EORI numbers. At the Channel Tunnel, Dover and ports such as Harwich or Hull, the Goods Vehicle Movement Service links the declarations to the lorry. Please agree everything with your customs agent before the collection date, as DAGO Express does not prepare customs declarations or handle customs clearance.

A freight forwarder for Magdeburg and eastern Germany

DAGO Express connects more than 50,000 vehicles in 38 countries, and more than 15,000 companies rely on the network. Should a vehicle break down, a replacement vehicle is sent so that your goods reach Magdeburg as planned. Cross-border runs are carried out by verified partners with a valid EU licence and, for dangerous goods, an ADR licence. Each shipment is monitored around the clock, including at weekends and on public holidays.

Insurance through the Schunck Group covers your goods for up to 8.33 SDR per kilogram of gross weight, and additional cover for valuable consignments can be arranged at short notice. You get a tracking link after booking and emails at collection and delivery. In the DAGO ShipperHub, regular shippers manage orders, check ETAs, track KPIs and export real-time reports as PDF or Excel. Our processes are ISO 9001 certified.

For a price, use the online calculator: postcodes, dimensions and weight are all it needs, and the result appears within seconds. You can also book in the DAGO app or ask for a quote by email. From Magdeburg, our network extends to Berlin, Poland, the Czech Republic and the rest of Europe.