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Issue 2 2018 - FBJ


The gin flows – and so do Irish exports


Gin is fuelling an Irish export boom, say Richard Doyle and Robert Greene at the Dublin branch of forwarder a.Hartrodt. “The sector really has ignited,” explains Doyle. “There are now 28 gin and whiskey distilleries


in Ireland” – and many of these firms are exporters. While Irish gin is still


something of a niche market, it is a very fast growing one, fuelled by the government’s keenness to encourage its exporters


DSV mounts major bypass operation


As one of Ireland’s premier international transport operators, DSV Road has given more thought than most to the implications of the UK’s Brexit, now barely a year away. In fact, says managing director


in Ireland, Robert Greene, DSV is already a key exponent of the idea of sending its trailers direct to the Continent instead of transiting the UK, using the various ferry services that are available: “I would say that 40% of our volume leaving the island for the Continent already goes on the direct ferries.” He adds that, should


conditions demand it, the proportion could be increased still further.


The move to use the direct


services was in fact a response to the ongoing driver shortage rather than a response to Brexit, he says. With drivers at a premium, it can oſten make sense to put an unaccompanied trailer on a ferry and maximise sea mileage rather than allow the truck to drive miles under its own power. There are already quite a


number of options available from Ireland to the Continent, Greene points out. There is the Cobelfret freight service from Dublin to Zeebrugge - which is shortly to be upgraded with a new 8,000 lane- metre vessel which, reportedly, was originally designated for the Purfleet service; Irish Ferries’


to diversify away from over- dependence on the UK, still by far the most popular destination for Irish goods. It’s not always easy, though.


UK consumers’ tastebuds are attuned to Irish produce; the


direct sailings from Cork to Cherbourg; and Brittany Ferries from Cork to Roscoff. Both the Irish Ferries and Brittany Ferries options are moreover due to be expanded. Irish Ferries’ plans include a new service between Dublin and Cherbourg which, together with the existing route from Rosslare to Cherbourg and Roscoff, will give a daily schedule in alternate directions between France and Ireland. Brittany Ferries is to launch


the first ever ferry service between Ireland and Spain at the end of April, between Cork and Santander. The twice-weekly route will be operated by a new chartered vessel, which will also be used to add an extra weekly return sailing to Brittany’s long- standing service from Cork to Roscoff in France. While the Cork to Santander


route will initially be seasonal, there are hopes that it will


///IRELAND


same cannot necessarily be said of people in Germany or the US. There is also the difficulty of dealing with people with a different language, or culture – though at least the currency is the same in the Eurozone. In time, Irish importers too


may consider other sources of supply than the UK aſter Brexit. As a global forwarder, a.hartrodt is of course in an ideal


become a year round operation. As a major operator, DSV is in a better position to exploit the opportunities offered by the direct ferry services than some of its competitors, Greene continues. Carriers with smaller volumes are obliged to use the UK as a hub where they combine Irish with UK traffic and so are, effectively, tied to transiting the country. In contrast, says Greene, DSV can fill full trailers to most countries in Europe direct from Ireland without stopping in the UK to top up. It also has regular allotted space on the ferries. DSV has meanwhile set up a


Brexit Committee to consider what might happen in March 2019 and the implications of the various hard or soſt borders that have been suggested. As a pan- European carrier, it is well aware of the situation in other parts of the Continent. Switzerland – not an EU member but an important


position to help its customers deal with the complexities of overseas trade. “We’re having a dialogue with our customers at the moment, trying to help them prepare for what could be a bit of shock,” says Doyle. The forwarder itself has also


been training more of its staff in customs clearance, a process that


Doyle considers takes


around 18 months of mentoring before the trainee can carry out clearances unaided. This process could be much more of a challenge for companies


transit country between EU nations including France, Germany and Italy – is perhaps the most obvious comparison for the UK’s future position as a bridge between Ireland and the Continent, though Greene urges caution. For one thing, while it does


operate a transit system, there are delays on Switzerland’s borders at times. “Also, unlike the UK, Switzerland has a lot of entry and exit points, whereas the UK traffic is heavily concentrated on a few Irish Sea ports and, at the other end, Dover and the Channel Tunnel. But the primary difference is that, if you have a ten minute delay in Switzerland, it’s just a ten minute delay. But if you have that in Ireland’s situation, that delay could mean missing a ferry and maybe a delay of six hours.” Between the UK and Ireland,


Greene continues, “there’s no way we could go back to having physical borders; some sort of electronic system would be needed.” This could be in the form of a transit corridor with automatic numberplate recognition, similar to the toll system on Ireland’s motorways. DSV already has plenty of


customs expertise in house and it also has a programme to train people in customs procedures. It’s a service that Greene would also be happy to offer to other hauliers. “There’s no way that the transport industry could train enough people in the time that’s available,” he points out. DSV already has customs-


bonded warehousing in Dublin and Belfast, and it would be feasible to transit vehicles from the ports through to these areas. Other hauliers could in theory also acquire their own bonds if that should become necessary aſter Brexit, but Greene warns that it is not an easy process: “There’s a very


that have until now considered themselves as hauliers dealing only with the UK or the EU. Importers from a ‘Brexited’ UK will also have to consider the implications of paying VAT upfront. Meanwhile, though, it is a


matter of getting on with the day-to-day job of running a freight forwarder, against a background of speculation – but very little hard information - of what type of Brexit the UK government intends to perform in 2019.


stringent auditing system, and it’s also aligned with the very strict AEO procedures. Customs has a very small tolerance for people getting things wrong, and your data quality has to be very, very strong.” But despite all the concerns


over Brexit, business is meanwhile pretty good in Ireland, Greene says. “We had very strong growth in 2017, and DSV Road alone employs 200 staff in Ireland.” (There are 600 in Ireland across the DSV group as a whole.) The company moves around 320,000 shipments a year for a very diverse base of around 1,500 customers and ships around 400 trailers a year. As well as direct full load, part load and groupage services between Ireland and most European countries, it also has a busy UK/Ireland segment, specialising in groupage and part loads. Despite Brexit – or even


because of it- the UK/Ireland business has been growing very rapidly, says Greene. “We send 20 trailers of groupage a day, and volumes have grown,” he explains. The plunge in Sterling immediately aſter the Brexit vote actually boosted UK sales to Ireland, especially by smaller firms not tied in to long term contracts or agreements with suppliers in other parts of the world. In Ireland, DSV Road operates


two main international cross- dock facilities, 12,000sq m at Naas to the south of Dublin at the crossroads of Ireland’s new motorway networks, and 9,000sq m in Belfast. As well as transport, DSV Road also offers a range of value-added services such as freight management, final mile delivery or breakbulk while its sister Air & Sea arm offers freight forwarding services to and from all parts of the world.


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