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Issue 4 2015 - Freight Business Journal Bradford tops UK export table
Bradford is the UK’s top exporting city – followed by Leeds, London, Manchester and Southampton, according to a new survey by FedEx Express. The global parcels and freight
carrier has just published a survey – the UK Export Epicentres Report - that questioned 2,500 small and medium-sized firms in manufacturing, technology, health and beauty, hospitality and finance about their exporting rates. It found an 86% exporting rate in first-placed Bradford, and 81% in the other four cities, closely followed by Belfast, at 79%. FedEx’s managing director
ground operations UK and Ireland, Ed Clarke, said the rate of exporting was relatively high
even in the cities at the bottom of the 23-strong table – 68% in Glasgow and Sheffield, 67% in Coventry and 66% in Newcastle. (In other cities, the sample size was too small to be statistically significant.) Clarke said: “What is surprising
is the number of smaller cities that punch well above their weight when it comes to exporting.” He ventured that this could partly be due to historical factors. Bradford, for example, has been a centre of the wool trade since mediaeval times and it has always had a large number of freight forwarders, relative to its size. But other cities have also come
to the fore, like Derby – which had the highest growth rate in
exports, at 93% - and Leicester, for example. Encouragingly, said Clarke, 94%
of SMEs say they are optimistic about exporting, although a third said they didn’t always get the support they needed from Government agencies or local bodies. “However, FedEx can help – we have subject experts to assist people,” Clarke pointed out. Oſten, companies got into
exporting almost by accident, he added.
“For example, one
lady had a business selling vinyl records, when she got a single order from the US. Now she’s sending 600 shipments abroad every year.” FedEx can help first-time tasks
exporters with such as
Easier customs can lead to trade surge, says express study
Implementing a single additional trade facilitation measure - for instance providing 24/7 automated customs processing – can boost a country’s trade by 4.4% over time, according to a new study commissioned by the Global Express Association. The study, carried out by
Frontier Economics on the basis of data provided by the GEA’s four members - UPS, FedEx, TNT and DHL - also found that express delivery grew on average by 7% over the past five years despite the financial crisis. The fastest
growth took place outside Europe and
North America. Africa
showed some of the strongest growth - for example, traffic from Africa to South America grew 100% between 2011 and 2013 and by 81% from Africa to Asia. It also put the total economic
impact of the express delivery industry
globally at 0.19% of
global GDP, or over $140 billion. It supports around 3 million full- time equivalent jobs, both those directly provided and indirectly. However, the authors point out that this is a conservative
estimate as it is based on GEA members’ data only. The
study also notes that
customers’ shopping habits have changed tremendously over the last decade with the wide take-up of the internet and this is expected to continue, with double-digit growth the norm. Again, regions outside Europe and North America will grow faster than average. However, there are signs that there may be a return to some form of protectionism, which could hinder e-commerce expansion.
Palletways adds Poland and Baltics Palletways will extend its
services into Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in June 2015, bringing the pallet delivery network’s coverage to 18 European countries. It now has a network of over 400 depots and twelve hub operations, with a distribution network of over 300 independent members. Managing director of
Palletways Europe GmbH, Rachael Alpha,
said: “Our
expansion into Eastern and Northern Europe is part of our
wider strategy to steadily grow our geographical presence and enhance our customer offering. This also reinforces our position
as Europe’s largest network for the express distribution of
palletised goods. We do not intend to stop there as we
customs documentation or classification of goods. The survey also found that a
large majority (79%) of SMEs view their regional locality as a positive factor in stimulating overseas growth and profitability. FedEx’s vice president of
northern Europe operations, Trevor Hoyle concluded: “Now is the time to encourage UK SMEs to embrace their regional identities when building global relationship. We’ve seen first-hand the wealth of benefits available to a business even at the very start of their export journey. Our main aim is to give all Britain’s regions the support and guidance they need in order to help our customers compete on a global scale.”
///NEWS
Export Rates in 26 Key British cities Bradford
Leeds, London, Manchester, Southampton Belfast Oxford
Leicester, Birmingham Cambridge
Bristol, Derby, Portsmouth, Plymouth Liverpool
86% 81% 79% 78% 77% 76% 75% 73%
Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Norwich, Nottingham 72% Milton Keynes Cardiff, Hull
Glasgow, Sheffield Coventry Newcastle
Germany in the dock over minimum wage laws
The European Commission said on 20 May it would begin infringement proceedings against Germany over its laws imposing minimum wages on road transit operators in its territory. It argued that the Berlin government was restricting the freedom to provide services and the free movement of goods in a disproportionate manner, and that more proportionate measures are available to safeguard the social protection
of workers and to ensure fair competition. The German authorities now have two months to respond. The International Road
Transport Union (IRU) and the Clecat European forwarder’s association both welcomed the action but called for an immediate moratorium on the German legislation. Clecat’s secretary-general,
Nicolette van der Jagt, commented: “We trust that the
Commission and Germany seek to find a solution in this infringement procedure without delay as the current situation raises further questions in the industry. We therefore call for an immediate suspension of all the legislation on all affected international transport operations, including transport in, to and out of Germany, and not just on transit operations, while the infringement process is underway.”
Brussels ponders stiffer sanctions for cabotage offences
The European Commission is considering making infringement of road cabotage rules
an offence that could
lead to the loss of an operator’s good repute, with offenders facing potential disqualification
are getting ready for further expansion in the next year.” Palletways says it plans to
dominate the continental pallet business aſter announcing a 35% growth in pan-European volumes handled. It now has
from the industry. The move was announced by the Fotis Karamitsos, land transport director at the Commission’s transport directorate, DG MOVE, at a European Parliament transport committee hearing on
12 hubs across 14 European countries including Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Republic of
5 May. The Parliament has been pushing the Commission to give more weight to infringement of social regulations, notably illegal cabotage. The measure could be included in the road legislative package planned for next year.
the UK. The Group is now looking
to extend its services into Switzerland
Ireland, Slovakia and Spain, as well as and six Eastern
European countries, as well as completing a new increased capacity hub in Germany.
71% 70% 68% 67% 66%
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