IRELAND\\\


Irish freight forwarder EFL is ready to off er a rail service from China to Ireland. Services will operate on a weekly basis, connecting


with EFL’s


could stand it in good stead when Brexit comes into play at the end of the year. Chris Radley is also keen to


twice


weekly service from Tilburg to its depot in Dublin. Shipments will arrive into EFL’s temporary storage facility (TSF) bonded area where customs clearance will be transacted; EFL is an accredited AEO. Full LCL containers are consolidated in Chengdu, deconsolidated in Tilburg and reconsolidated there into Ireland- bound boxes. Full containerload services by rail are also available. Transit


time from China


to Ireland is around 30 days, compared with around 48-50 days by sea. Moreover, says EFL International director Chris Radley, it is cheaper than airfreight, especially as rates remain infl ated following


the


PPE surge, and it is more reliable than seafreight where lines have blanked numerous sailings from China to Europe. “The


service off ers stable


transit times and the number of train departures has been increased,” Radley explains. It will be geared to LCL for


imports only initially and is expected to handle a wide variety of commodities including wearing apparel and machinery. While not the only rail service


from China to Ireland, Radley believes that it is at the time of writing the only one operated by an Irish forwarder not interlinked with a China-UK service, which


push ahead with direct LCL services from the Raunheim and Cologne regions of Germany into Ireland in the near future. These will also be geared to imports, although EFL already has the capability to export via its Tilburg, Netherlands hub, all geared to the greener, container mode of transport in preference to road. It has teamed up with local German agent Ontour Transport Services to operate the service, which is based primarily on short-sea shipping services via Rotterdam or Antwerp. Transit times over the


weekend with arrival into Dublin on Monday are similar to road, says Radley. EFL has a separate service from


Hamburg to Ireland operated with a diff erent partner. EFL, like all Irish forwarders


has meanwhile had to cope with Covid. Radley states: “We put everything in place to provide protection for our staff


and


service providers such as remote access, protection screen and sanitising facilities. However, most staff preferred to come to the offi ce to work. We remained open for business throughout and have had no issues internally.” EFL’s systems relating to Covid


have been examined by the HSE and IAA and approved. But EFL’s clients have mostly being working remotely, which


has created challenges for the physical handling of cargo for delivery and collection due to the slowdown in communications. Customers involved in the


food packaging and medical sectors, for example, have been extremely busy with imports, including large volumes of PPE from Asia by air and ocean. The


lockdown did though for a time put a complete stop


to the specialist pet and bike transportation services that EFL off ers, “but since the end of June we are seeing a steady increase in bookings for both services”, says Radley. Pet transport is starting to


recover to something like its pre- Covid levels and while the bikes business remains subdued due to the almost total cessation of international tourism to Ireland,


Issue 7 2020 - FBJ Ireland


EFL has moved a few machines for people moving to take up jobs overseas. Unfortunately, he adds, “there


are a lot of mixed messages from the Irish


government relating


to Covid which is causing uncertainty in the general public and this can have a negative knock on eff ect on retail for example. The future will remain uncertain for perhaps another year or more until some breakthrough relating to a vaccine is made available to the general public. Until then we


3


have to live with Covid.” The Irish government has


though introduced a localised lockdown system that could take some of the pain out of the situation by enabling businesses in unaff ected areas of the country to continue relatively normally. However, around a third of the country’s population and an even greater proportion of its trade and commerce are concentrated in Greater Dublin so any lockdowns there would aff ect the whole country.


“YOUR NEW IRISH PARTNER” Toga Freight, Ireland’s award winning &


longest established UK to Ireland groupage operator seeks additional Partners


If you ship goods to Ireland, either direct or via an existing partner or network - we would like to speak to you about working with us for mutual benefit. Toga loads up to 20 groupage trailers daily in the UK for Ireland and offers first class delivery in all 32 counties of Ireland, courtesy of our own “Private


Delivery Network” based around 15 partner depots operating over 300 trucks and vans. We also have daily collections from most areas in the UK.


We are also Ireland’s largest customs clearance agent, processing more customs entries annually than any other Irish forwarder, and we have bespoke “Brexit Solutions” in place now, so working with us gives you an advantage over your competitors.


PLEASE GET IN TOUCH TODAY IN THE STRICTEST CONFIDENCE: (e) Robert@TogaFreight.com (t) +353 1 630 4255


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44