News
motortransport.co.uk
VOX POP How have you tackled the Brexit border challenge? Bob Terris, chairman, Meachers Arranging movements is very difficult at the moment, with each transaction taking much longer to organise. We are also heavily involved in the importing of Covidrelated requirements. Shipping lines are unable to give firm rates or commit to bookings in many cases. There are no signs of any improvement and I would guess this will carry on to the end of the year. Stuart Charter, MD, Aztek Logistics The situation has eased considerably on our daily movements into both sides of the Irish Sea. The complexity of the situation thwarted a seamless transition in the wake of the existential Irish border question and special protocols – an issue freighted with economic, security and political uncertainty. However, we published a Brexit administrative essentials checklist on our website and created a visual guide to display specific information on subjects including EORI notes, commodity codes, declarations, commercial invoicing, packing lists, certificates and licences and tariffs. None of this material was obvious to
businesses looking on the GOV.UK website so we created a visual step-by-step representation. Some firms had simply stopped shipments until it was sorted out, with one courier company complaining that more than 70% of parcels were accompanied with the incorrect paperwork. Apart from complex new customs arrangements published by the UK government, businesses dealing with Irish customers now also need to ensure shipments only travel on heat-treated pallets as the UK falls outside of an EU-wide exemption to this rule. We are also investing additional customs clearance training for our staff and engaging apprentices to take on this role. Dan Myers, MD, UK and Ireland, XPO Brexit has presented challenges, but working together with our customers we have found ways to ensure that trade has continued. Further investment in our people and systems has improved the ease at which goods now flow. We are helping new customers navigate this landscape and we will scale our solution, helping more businesses continue their trade with their European partners.
Charlie Shiels, CEO, ArrowXL We deliver to Ireland and the Republic and our Brexit project was split into three. First, our people and its impact on them. Second, operational compliance. Third, other legal/contractual/regulatory compliance issues like data protection, procurement and client contracts. Project two took most of the work and involved becoming import/export educated and re-engineering the way we worked to ensure compliant and significant IT work and investment on import/export rules. We also sourced customs clearance partners, educated clients on the new rules, provided internal training and implemented a new operational solution. We’ve seen delays, some of our own making, but the relevant authorities seemed a bit overwhelmed at the new rules and it was a struggle for a period. But we were pleased at our January/February operational success and delays were relatively minimal. The situation is now very much improving. We’ve got better and so have our clients and the authorities. We’ve also employed an import/export expert who is doing an amazing job. The next step is Northern Ireland compliance, which has been moved back to October.
Welch’s Transport choc full as Easter demand rockets Welch’s Transport has resumed normal service after being forced to cancel all its non-contractual bulk collections and deliveries last month due to record freight volumes. The family-owned firm, which operates a fleet of 80 trucks, said demand over Easter, combined
6 MotorTransport
with the government’s decision to ease lockdown and allow nonessential shops to re-open just after the holiday, created unusually high demand for its services. The Palletline member undertakes considerable work into Amazon fulfilment centres. Welch’s Transport also reported its latest annual results for the year to 31 December 2020, which saw the company climb out of the red despite a fall in sales. While turnover declined to £12.5m (2019: £14.1m), the company turned a loss of £75,635 in 2019 to a pre-tax profit of £75,635 by the end of 2020. The company, based in Duxford, said the impact of the pandemic peaked in April and May with revenues down by a third, 30% of staff furloughed and 40% of the transport fleet off the road, leading to “significant” losses in both months.
ALL CHANGE: Kuehne+Nagel’s decision to sell a major part of its UK business last year resulted in a 9.3% fall in turnover in its international contract logistics division in the first quarter of 2021, the group has reported. The results also revealed that when the division was sold to XPO in March last year it had made a loss of £3.9m in the first three months of 2020. The sale, which followed a major review of its contract logistics business, included the drinks logistics, food services, and retail and technology divisions, which generated a turnover of around £617m in 2019 and employed 7,500 staff. Kuehne+Nagel retained its UK pharma and healthcare transport divisions. The results also revealed that in the first three months of 2020 the UK contract logistics division contributed CHF164m (£129m) of net turnover, CHF146m (£114.9m) of gross profit, and a loss for the period of approximately CHF5m (£3.9m). 10.5.21
