Surveys of vehicle arrivals and service have been carried out at two UK common-user terminals and the effects of vehicle booking on service standards have been estimated using a computer model to relate the turn-round times of vehicles to their arrival patterns, terminal throughput and the deployment of handling resources. The consequaences for terminals have also been examined. Although practical booking systems would enable improved service standards to be achieved at the throughputs found in the surveys, they would lead to only small reductions in the total resource cost of container handling at the terminals because of the additional staffing costs incurred in running the systems. Booking would have greater benefits at higher thoughputs than those found in the surveys or at terminals with more irregular vehicle arrival patterns