Artwork Courier: Declared Value, Handling and Records

There is no cargo where standard carrier cover is further from the value than artwork. Liability is calculated per tonne, so a painting that weighs 3 kg is covered for the price of a sandwich — which makes the declared value, not the vehicle, the most important thing agreed before collection.

Why is standard carrier cover almost worthless for artwork?

Because it is calculated from weight. The RHA Conditions of Carriage 2024 limit liability to £1,300 per tonne of the gross weight of goods lost, wrongly delivered or damaged, unless otherwise agreed before the job.

Work that through on a painting. A framed canvas weighing 3 kg is 0.003 of a tonne, so the default cap is £3.90 — whatever the work is worth. A 30 kg crated sculpture reaches £39.00. There is no category of cargo where the gap between value and weight-based cover is wider.

That is not a defect in the conditions; it is what they are for. But it means an artwork movement with no declared value and no cargo cover is, in practical terms, uninsured. The conversation belongs before collection, every time.

What should be agreed before an artwork moves?

The condition report is the one most often skipped and the one that decides a dispute. A timestamped set of photographs at collection and at delivery turns "it was like that" into a question with an answer.

Who packs and crates the work?

Not us. We carry artwork that is already packed to a standard the owner or a specialist has set, and we will say plainly when something is not adequately protected for the journey rather than accepting it and hoping.

Crating for fine art is its own trade, with materials and construction standards that depend on the medium, the frame and the length of the journey. A gallery, a conservator or a specialist crate maker does that work; a courier should not be improvising it with bubble wrap at the kerb.

What we do provide is the vehicle, the handling, the orientation discipline and the record. For an unframed or unglazed work, or anything with a loose surface, the packing question needs answering before the booking rather than during it.

Does artwork need a temperature-controlled vehicle?

Sometimes, and it is the owner's call rather than ours. Panel paintings, works on paper, photographic prints and anything with a glue or gesso layer are sensitive to swings in temperature and humidity; an oil on canvas in a good crate on a short journey usually is not.

Where a climate constraint applies, our temperature-controlled courier vehicles will hold and evidence a range. What a courier cannot do is decide what the range should be — that is a conservation judgement that belongs with whoever is responsible for the work.

The practical trap is the waiting time rather than the drive. A vehicle that holds a range for 4 hours of driving and then stands in sun for 40 minutes at a loading bay has not maintained the condition, and only a record covering the whole movement shows which happened.

How should a framed work travel?

Upright and on edge, not flat, with the glazed face protected and nothing resting against it. A frame carries its own weight well on edge and badly across its face, and glass under pressure in a moving vehicle is the commonest cause of damage to a framed piece.

Glazed works need the glass taped or an acrylic alternative if the owner will accept one, because broken glass inside a sealed package will do more damage to the work than the impact did. That decision is the owner's; the consequence is not reversible.

Multiple works travelling together need separation, not just padding. Face-to-face contact between two frames transmits pressure through both, and a single strap over a stack is how a set of pictures arrives with matching damage.

What vehicle suits an artwork movement?

A van with a flat, clean, dry load space and secure strapping points, sized so the work can travel on edge without being wedged. A Luton van gives the height for large framed pieces; a smaller van is often better for a single work because there is less space in which it can move.

Empty space is the enemy on this kind of load. A single painting in a large van needs to be secured so it cannot shift at all, and over-filling the vehicle with other consignments is exactly how pressure gets applied to a frame.

For a single valuable work the right answer is normally a dedicated vehicle carrying nothing else — see same-day courier. A shared load is cheaper and introduces handling events that a condition report will eventually have to account for.

What about exhibitions, fairs and gallery moves?

Those are scheduling jobs as much as transport ones. An art fair has a delivery window measured in hours, a stand number, and a marshal who will turn away a vehicle that arrives outside its slot.

So the deadline is the venue's, not the gallery's, and a dedicated vehicle is usually the only way to hit it reliably. Collection timing works backwards from the slot, with the return booked at the same time because the de-rig window is just as fixed.

Our shipping artwork page covers the item-level handling, and fragile items the wider category. For a stand build rather than the works themselves, furniture transport is usually the right service.

What do we not do, and who does?

We are not a fine art specialist and do not claim to be. We hold no conservation qualification, we do not crate, we do not install or hang, and we do not provide condition reporting as a professional service — we photograph and record, which is a different thing.

What we hold is published and checkable: ADR competence across classes 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9, never class 1 explosives and never class 7 radioactives; Environment Agency registration CBDU654368; Companies House 16838210; VAT 507872864; EORI GB507872864000.

For museum-standard work with conservation requirements, a specialist fine art shipper is the right appointment and we will say so. For a gallery move, an artist's delivery to a buyer, a fair collection or a studio relocation, a careful general courier with the right vehicle and a declared value is usually both adequate and considerably cheaper.

What about artwork going abroad?

Two separate questions arise and neither is ours to answer for you. The first is customs: an export needs a declaration, and for a temporary movement — a work going to a fair and coming back — an ATA Carnet is the usual instrument.

The second is export licensing. Cultural objects above certain age and value thresholds need a licence to leave the UK, and that is a matter for the owner and the relevant authority rather than for a carrier. A work that leaves without one is a problem for the person who owns it.

We are not a customs broker and hold no customs representation authorisation, so declarations run through an agent you appoint. What we will do is carry the documents with the consignment and flag an obvious gap before collection — see certificate of origin for the document most often confused on an export.

What should you tell us when booking?

1. Step 1 — what the work is, its dimensions framed, and its weight.
2. Step 2 — the declared value, because the default is a weight calculation and it will not cover it.
3. Step 3 — how it is packed and by whom.
4. Step 4 — any climate constraint, with the range if there is one.
5. Step 5 — the delivery window or venue slot, and who may sign for it.

Step 2 is the one that is always skipped and always matters. Everything else on that list affects how the job is done; step 2 decides what happens if it goes wrong.

How does T&C Logistics move artwork?

A dedicated vehicle for a single valuable work, strapped so it cannot move, travelling on edge, with photographs at collection and delivery and a named recipient at the far end. Where a climate range is specified we hold and evidence it for the whole movement rather than the drive.

Our own goods-in-transit cover is £50,000 as standard, with higher limits to £1,000,000 arranged through partner carriers for high-value work — see goods in transit insurance for how that sits alongside a declared value and the carrier's conditions.

Enquiries are taken round the clock and answered between 06:00 and 22:00, seven days a week, from our Birmingham base on 0121 720 3841. Tell us the work, its value and how it is packed and we will say whether we are the right carrier for it — including when we are not.