14


NEWS


City Link has launched a new web-based service that allows customers to monitor the status of all their parcels and track


individual consignments in real time. My


City Link allows the parcels firm’s customers to


answer questions from their own customers about the progress of deliveries and needs no special IT equipment other than access to a computer linked to the internet. Customers logging on can view the information at a number of different levels, right down to the exact whereabouts of a particular parcel which will be shown on a Google map with a coloured flag.


Users can get an overview of


all their parcels in a particular region by clicking on a map and four coloured boxes will appear giving the total number of parcels delivered, about to be delivered, delivery attempted but no-one in and deliveries unlikely to be delivered that day. Information is relayed in real time to City Link’s computers via hand-held MC70 devices that all City Link drivers have been issued with. Customers who want to


TT Club enters cargo insurance market with online product


Specialist transport and logistics


insurer TT Club has entered the cargo insurance market with a new online product aimed at freight forwarders and logistics operators. TT Club Forwarders is one of the very few online products available, it says, and its launch follows extensive trialling and testing. Senior underwriter Graham Hooper explained: “The web makes processing easier. Traditionally, cargo insurance is quite a ‘messy’ area and quite often certificates are wrongly issued or paperwork sometimes gets lost.” The new


system is much more error-proof and creates a permanent online record


of argued.


One problem that repeatedly arises with cargo insurance is that the insured party may not see any documentation until weeks afterwards and it has often gone missing by the time any claim has to be made, argues Hooper. “The web system is actually more secure, as there are no more lost certificates.”


The initial quotation process has been designed to be as quick and


the transaction, he


simple as possible, he continues. “There is just one screen and you only have to fill five or six fields to get a quote. Then, if you decide to take it up, you get a slightly longer version, which takes a few minutes to complete.”


TT Club says it will check and


verify the system to ensure that correct information has been input and its system also checks that trade restrictions and sanctions are complied with. While in most cases the insured party will be the actual shipper of the goods, TT Club envisages


that often it will be the freight forwarder or logistics service provider that takes the insurance out on its client’s behalf, and in most cases via the forwarder’s existing broker.


Often, forwarders are required to obtain insurance on behalf of shippers at short notice, for diverse commodities and in all parts of the world. Many shippers only consider the need to insure their goods at the last minute and the online service will allow forwarders to be much more responsive, Hooper believes.


Gefco goes daily to Europe


Transport and logistics operator Gefco has launched a new daily road service from the UK to 15 European countries, offering some of the fastest surface journey times to many destinations, claims the French- owned company. It uses Gefco’s existing pan-European overland network to offer regular services from Gefco’s Coventry hub and five other UK deports to pivotal points across Europe.


UK sales and marketing manager Karen Kinsella said that Gefco could offer a much wider range of direct services to individual cities in France


and other European countries than many of its competitors. “We have 45 depots in France, for example, and direct services into the regions reduce transit times compared with a hub and spoke system. Most other companies use Paris as a platform for the rest of France, but this can add 24 hours to journey times.”


For example, Coventry to


Toulouse in the south of France on Gefco’s direct routing takes only 26 hours.


8293-Seatruck 270x60mm Advert 26/05/2011 12:24pm Page 1


Other countries lend themselves better to a hub and spoke approach, she continued, for example


Germany where Gefco has a hub in Wuppertal, which also acts as a cross-dock facility for Eastern Europe. Gefco has recently opened branches in Latvia, Kazakhstand and Ukraine. Other Gefco initiatives include the GefBox returnable packaging system that uses collapsible boxes in varying sizes to replace disposable wooden or cardboard packing. Initially launched in the automotive market (Gefco is part of the French PSA Peugeot-Citroen car group) the box is now being offered on a pool basis to other customers. Some 4m GefBoxes are now in service, and


so far the concept has been used mainly by manufacturing rather than retail clients.


Kinsella argues that the system


is not only greener than disposable packaging but


also reduces


handling of goods. “A typical part in a supply chain can be repackaged four to five times,” she says. Losses of GefBoxes have so far been very low – less than 1% of the total – helped perhaps by the fact that they are produced in very bright colours, which makes it hard to mislay them in yards or warehouses.


track the whereabouts of a particular consignment can see its precise location by inputting the consignment number and a coloured flag will appear on the Google map, pinpointing its position.


The system operates on the entire City Link network in the


ISSUE 3 2011 City Link claims a first with real time parcel information


UK and Eire. The company’s head of on-boarding and implementation Paul Scratchley added that My City Link would also be available to international partners, minus the Google Maps element which depends on the availability of the MC70 equipment.


Customs declares war on incorrect export entries


HM Revenue and Customs is to launch a campaign against incorrect information on export clearances. HMRC export unit senior officer Lynne Davies told a seminar at the Multimodal show on 6 April that the quality of information on export clearances was currently “extremely poor”, with many entries being submitted with incorrect commodity codes and other practices such as illegal ‘bulking’ of goods. She also pointed out that even where a freight forwarder or agent is used, shippers are ultimately responsible for incorrect information. While HMRC acknowledges that the tariff can be hard to negotiate, a help desk is available and shippers can ask for a binding tariff agreement. There


are also concerns


over the misuse of simplified procedures, Davies continued. These included the personal effects coding being used for


commercial cargo or the low value code - which is supposed to be used for consignments worth under £867 - being used for more valuable cargo.


Shippers who break the rules could, following verbal and written warnings, end up with a financial penalty. Shippers also needed to alert


their forwarders if they were exporting licensable goods, as it was possible for the forwarder to override the prompt given by Chief. There are are similar concerns over goods subject to restrictions under the CITES code for trade in materials made from endangered species such as sealskin.


Agency Sector Management (ASM)


has also produced a


forwarder’s guide to non-arrived exports. See:


www.asm.org.uk/exports.pdf


Central clearance falls flat Consultation on Centralised


Customs Clearance,


the cornerstones of Modernised


Customs one Code, of


the EU’s has


produced a fairly underwhelming response. ASM’s Peter Macswiney told a seminar at the Multimodal exhibition and conference on 5 April that a total of 39 replies had been received from the entire EU, most of them from the UK and Germany.


Of those that did bother to reply, most wanted VAT declarations to


be carried out in the country where the company was registered as an authorised economic operator (AEO) or, possibly, for VAT not to be declared at all at the import stage but instead to be dealt with periodically. Interestingly, most respondents also favoured the idea of VAT and customs duty being dealt with together. Meanwhile, Macswiney reported, the EU customs authorities were still taking a ‘light touch’ approach to the new Import Control System.


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