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Issue 2 2018 - FBJ


Brexit: will it all end well for Wells Cargo?


When FBJ interviewed Tom Thornton – managing director of Dublin forwarder Wells Cargo and also Brexit spokesperson for the IIFA – everything was still up for grabs in the Brexit negotiations. The industry had held numerous meetings with people from customs and the European Commission, and various solutions to the different issues had been suggested, including the so-called Chequers plan for the UK to collect EU customs duties on for EU customs officers to be stationed in UK ports - but the two sides still seemed as far apart as ever. Dublin port also has some


interesting ideas on how would handle things post-Brexit, including a pre-notification system to tell drivers if they have been selected for customs examination, avoiding the need to stop every truck as it arrives off the ferry ramp. (That said, the port authority has reportedly set aside some land in case there is a backlog of traffic awaiting clearance.) The only hope, as far as Tom


Thornton and the rest of the Irish freight community are concerned, is that as long as the politicians keep talking, there is a chance of a workable solution. What can an Irish freight


forwarder do in these circumstances? “Well, we’ve been training extra staff in how to do customs clearance – and we’re also looking for an agent in the


UK,” Thornton says. Wells Cargo has historically


held back from getting involved in the cut-throat Anglo-Irish haulage market, but it might become more interesting financially if a customs process was involved, requiring the sorts of skills that an international forwarder like Wells


IIFA courses are well supported, Thornton confirms.


“They’re


pushing through around 25 a month for the industry as a whole. However, we estimate that Ireland will need about an extra 800 qualified people, and we only have a fraction of that number currently – perhaps


are low. But in general things are pretty good.” He hopes soon to get approval


by March for Wells Cargo to carry out customs clearances at its own premises, just to the south of Dublin Airport. This would allow it to handle clearances for third- country non-excise goods rather than having to take them to the customs terminal for clearance. Handling customs clearance


at its own premises could be an advantage for groupage cargo, as it would mean that any ‘problem’ consignments could be dealt with there, rather than holding the whole trailer or container up in the port. European road freight is


the mainstay of Wells Cargo’s business. The majority of its import traffic – which predominates – uses the direct ferry services available from continental


ports such as


Cargo can provide. Thornton however stresses that he would still be interested in a UK agency, even if the politicians do come up with a pragmatic, business-as- usual approach to Brexit. A UK agent could help


Wells Cargo fill its quieter periods, which, owing to the pan-European nature of its existing business, tends to be the second half of the week. The ideal partner would probably be a good groupage operator with a presence in the London, Birmingham and Manchester areas. Meanwhile, two further Wells


Cargo staff are receiving training in customs clearance and the


around 2-300.” However, there is a problem


with training staff in the intricacies of customs clearance, he acknowledges: “If there is to be a transition agreement, they would then have to wait 21 months before they can use their new skillset.” The other issue, is that if it


emerges in November that there is to be a ‘no deal’ Brexit, that could spark a big panic as firms scramble to get people trained up. Despite everything, business


for Wells Cargo is pretty good at the moment, Thornton continues: “The Irish economy is pretty busy, although actually making money is tricky as rates


Cherbourg to Ireland rather than the UK ‘landbridge’ route, a decision taken long before Brexit was even thought of because it involves less driving time and because there is now a reasonable frequency of direct ferry services. The smaller export traffic


out of Ireland to Europe does tend to use the UK landbridge, mainly because it is dominated – in terms of value - by urgent pharmaceuticals and the higher frequency of ferry services across the Irish Sea and over the Dover straits mean that missing a specific sailing is less critical. Things could change if Brexit makes operation across the UK more difficult and uncertain, but any changes to routings would have to be in close consultation


///IRELAND


Success for Mr Motis-ation


Months of intensive training paid off for Chris Polwart, who combines the triathlon with being commercial director at trucking services firm Motis Ireland. Competing at gruelling ITU Triathlon (Age Group) World Championships in Australia this summer, he finished with a time of 2hrs 07 minutes, 33 Seconds – 31st out of 95 and the second Brit home out of 12, and hence qualifying for the Team GB triathlon team. The Olympic Distance race


comprises a 1500mtr Sea Swim, 40km Bike and 10km Run. Chris rises at dawn to go out


running, swimming or cycling as part of his intensive training regime.


with clients, Thornton stresses. What the pharma companies


hate most are unpredictable transit times and the prospect of trucks having to park in insecure areas because the driver has run out of hours, so it is possible that there could be a switch to the direct routes, if they offer more reliability aſter Brexit. While pharma may be the


biggest traffic out of Ireland in monetary terms, food and agri products are by far the major trade in volume. Again, Brexit throws up many questions. Would such goods have to undergo health checks in port (the answer for live animals is almost certainly ‘yes’) or


could food products be dealt with inland, maybe routed via controlled corridors to specific destinations? Freight forwarding from


outside the EU, especially from China, is Wells Cargo’s other main market. Other than the extra $300 or so charge for feeder service from continental ports, Ireland is little different from any other market, says Tom Thornton, who adds that there is now a very good level of service to and from Ireland. Many of the big shipping lines run their own dedicated feeder services, which means that connections are guaranteed.


A platform for project fowarding


Irish freight veteran Finbarr Cleary has become the Ireland agent for the new XELLZ project logistics IT platform. XELLZ (pronounced ‘Excels’) aims to help companies manage their complex operations in what was a notoriously difficult area to automate. The platform manages the whole supply chain for complex projects, taking control of all information from different suppliers, shippers, forwarders and other entities and helps them to communicate with each other effectively. In any given project, there are


many tasks, costs and resources that need to be carefully


managed. Oſten, managers have to simultaneously handle many different logistics operations, all with different scopes, priorities, resources, and stakeholders and it’s no surprise that they can run into trouble, says Cleary. He explains: “Xellz operates


an open book policy, drawing together information from emails, bills of lading and so on, using technology similar to the blockchain.” He envisages that typical


users would be engineering procurement companies managing large, complex projects with multiple suppliers. The


technology could also


help fill the gap leſt by the disappearance of full-time shipping managers in many organisations. Cleary is blazing a trail in


Ireland for the technology, which is the brainchild of president and chief executive, Peter Brouwhuis. While XELLZ now has representation in the Netherlands and US, at the time of writing a UK representative was still being sought. Brouwhuis states: “Having


worked many years in project freight forwarding as well as the shippers’ side of the industry, we started to put the experiences and needs of both


together. This has resulted in XELLZ offering project logistics management which is totally different from traditional project freight forwarding. Together with our in-house developed projeXsmart IT platform, we believe that our customers are better serviced and that projects can now be operated without the use of email communication as this is done through our system.” The


platform was tested


for two years with an energy corporation and a number of


projects were managed


simultaneously without any issues, he says.


He adds: “The platform and


processes XELLZ uses bring over 25% cost savings during the project timeline and will provide 100% transparency and 100% control to the customer and we are in the process of adding even more tools that will help projects and project freight shipments to be better managed.” Cleary is also involved in


the Chartered Institute of Transport (CILT) in Ireland and has other interests in the sector, including a group of logistics professionals that are looking into the feasibility of setting up a refrigerated block


train service between China


and Europe. While services for dry containers have operated successfully for some time, until recently refrigerated container technology was not considered adequate for the 30 - day rail journey without access to an external power source. However, the


staying power


of on board reefer units has improved greatly, and the group believe that a China-Europe- China reefer train service is now a possibility. It would be particularly interesting to exporters from Ireland, given the importance of food and pharma traffic.


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