A spare part for a production line in Wolfsburg, contract papers for a meeting in Hamburg, samples for a pitch in Cologne: a lot of what leaves a Munich business on a weekday afternoon has to be at its destination first thing the next morning — not at some point during the day. That is what overnight express is for.
The overnight network is the backbone of express shipping in Germany, and the transport itself rarely goes wrong. What trips shipments up is usually something either side of it: a collection that comes too late, a public holiday at the destination, or a goods-in desk that does not open until nine.
This guide covers how overnight express works, the delivery times you can choose, what to plan for — and when a courier or a dedicated vehicle is the better option.
How overnight express from Munich works
Every overnight shipment follows broadly the same pattern:
- Afternoon collection. The shipment is picked up from you and taken to the depot.
- Evening sort. Everything is sorted by destination region.
- Overnight trunking. Lorries carry the shipments to their destination region during the night.
- Morning delivery. From the local depot it goes out on the delivery round and reaches the recipient by the agreed time.
The step that matters most is the first one. To make the overnight run, a shipment has to be collected by a set time — the cut-off. When that is depends on where it is collected and where it is going, so ask for the cut-off on your regular routes and plan your dispatch around it. A shipment that is ready ten minutes late travels a day later.
Collections run Monday to Friday.
Delivery options: standard, timed or Saturday
At SkyNet the service is called National Express, and it comes in several versions. The main difference between them is how precisely the delivery time is fixed:
- Standard: delivery on the next working day, at some point during the day.
- Timed, by 8, 9, 10 or 11am or by noon: delivery on the next working day by the time you choose.
- Saturday: delivery on a Saturday, for shipments sent on a Friday that cannot wait until Monday.
Whether an early slot is possible for a particular destination is worth checking in advance, especially for islands and remote areas. It saves a surprise the next morning.
Which delivery time is worth it?
An early slot pays off when the time genuinely makes a difference:
- By 8 or 9am, when the shipment has to arrive before a shift or the working day starts: the spare part a machine is waiting for, papers for a morning meeting, stock that needs to be on the shelf before the shop opens.
- By 10 or 11am or by noon, when the morning is enough — samples, test material or documents that are not needed until later in the day.
- Standard, when "tomorrow" will do. For most business shipments, it will.
One point is easy to miss: delivery by 8am only helps if someone is there to take it at 8am. Plenty of companies open their goods-in later, and offices are often still empty first thing. Check with the recipient when someone will be on site, and choose the slot to match.
The next working day is not always tomorrow
"Next working day" sounds clear-cut, but three situations regularly cause confusion.
Fridays. A shipment collected on a Friday arrives on Monday with the standard service. If it needs to be there sooner, you need Saturday delivery — and a recipient who accepts deliveries on a Saturday.
Public holidays at the destination. In Germany, most public holidays are set by the individual federal states. Reformation Day on 31 October is a holiday in several northern and eastern states, All Saints' Day on 1 November in Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia among others, and Corpus Christi mainly in the south and west. If it is a holiday where the shipment is going, the recipient will usually be closed — even when it is a normal working day in Munich.
Holidays in Bavaria. The same goes closer to home. Bavaria has more public holidays than most other states, including Epiphany, Corpus Christi and All Saints' Day, and in many municipalities Assumption Day on 15 August as well. For shipments within Bavaria, that means many recipients are closed on those days.
Packing for the night
An overnight shipment is handled several times on its way: loaded, sorted and loaded again. Pack it so that none of this matters:
- A sturdy box, no bigger than it needs to be, with any gaps filled.
- Old labels and barcodes removed, so the scanner cannot pick up the wrong one.
- The address label flat on the largest side, not across edges or tape.
- A complete delivery address with company name, contact person and phone number. With an early slot, a phone number can save the quarter of an hour that makes the difference.
Overnight, courier or a dedicated vehicle?
Overnight express is the right choice when a shipment needs to reach anywhere in Germany on the next working day. In two cases there is a better option:
- It has to arrive today. Then only a vehicle that drives straight there will do. Within Munich and across Bavaria, that is our Munich courier service; for longer distances there are dedicated vehicles and on-board couriers under same-day and time-critical.
- It is going abroad. Overnight express covers Germany; for international shipments, see international express.
Overnight shipping checklist
- Know the cut-off for your route and have the shipment ready in time
- Choose a delivery slot that matches the recipient's goods-in hours
- Check for public holidays at the destination, especially before long weekends
- On a Friday, decide: Saturday delivery or Monday?
- Pack for repeated handling and remove old labels
- Give the full delivery address, including a phone number
If you are a business customer, you can book National Express with any delivery slot directly in the customer portal. We are happy to tell you the cut-off for your routes, and everything about the service is on the express delivery page.