IRELAND\\\ CustomsPlus helps make order out of chaos


Irish traders and the logistics industry are trying to get to grips with post-Brexit reality, but it is an uphill struggle, says customs expert Dominic


McGough. saddled Some


companies have found themselves


with


large, unexpected bills from their transport providers for customs declarations, for using their deferment accounts or for charges such as ‘handover’ fees. At the same time, a number


of companies have pulled out of the customs brokerage business either because they were unable


to handle the


sheer volume of extra business or because they have lost key people to other brokers.


It’s hardly surprising


considering that, whereas in the whole of 2020, Ireland handled 1.6 million declarations, that figure increased to 2.3m in just the first few weeks of 2021 – and that is a conservative estimate as it doesn’t include declarations for airfreight or express, says McGough. Given that an experienced customs clerk


– of which


there is a severe shortage in Ireland – will take a minimum of 15 minutes to complete even the most straightforward of entries, many brokers have been unable to cope with the volume of business thrust upon them by Brexit. Many have also found their deferment accounts have


come under huge pressure, because their own customers had not increased their own accounts to cope with the demands of Brexit. There are ways in which


technology can reduce the burden, though. McGough is a partner in CustomsPlus, a company founded in November 2019 and with offices


in the UK (Chester),


Ireland (Blanchardstown) and the Netherlands (Amersfoort) aims to take some of the complexity out of the customs process. CustomsPlus, says McGough, “is not a customs broker but a customs bureau. We work with brokers and with major 3- and 4-PLs to provide them with a Cloud-


based digital solution, and we support our clients in making the correct submissions to Customs.” Data can be put into electronic


an format and


exported into any application, including direct in customs systems, or those of a customs intermediary. The technology documents and codifies companies existing business rules, but also gives them a health check and helps clients implement best practices. CustomsPlus has technology


that can extract, validate and enrich data, according to the needs of the country concerned, allowing clients to automate their entries and to minimise the amount of rekeying of information. The company’s management


are a mixture of supply chain veterans and recent graduates, while the chief technical officer was a data expert in the City of London.


Issue 1 2021 - FBJ Ireland speeding


Technology up


is the key to customs


process, but many of the smaller brokers have not until now had access to it. CustomsPlus can provide a ‘white box’ solution that


brokers and logistics


companies can offer to their clients. Meanwhile, Ireland’s ports


and airports remain busy, but will get busier still, McGough believes. “The impact is only just starting to be realised,” he says. Ireland’s customs borders


are just about coping at the moment, but in McGough’s view further changes will be needed in future to make them more effective and less cumbersome. Better connectivity between UK and Irish customs systems is needed and the scheme needs further tweaks. For example, the system is set up to capture a booking number for a specific ferry service, but it cannot cope


13


if the truck fails to get onto the expected sailing, for example. Moreover, the full reckoning


may be yet to come. Irish Customs has allowed goods to go on their way, in the interests of not clogging up ports completely, but at some stage a reconciliation process will have to take place, which could throw up nasty surprises for some traders. McGough says: “Don’t forget, if you’re the importer of record you’re responsible for keeping records and providing them to Customs if asked.” CustomsPlus itself is


meanwhile expanding. It has recruited


a new managing


partner based in Singapore to head up its Asia Pacific region and is looking to increase its staff strength by around 25% in the near future. In the UK, it is training people through the Customs Academy while in Ireland CustomsPlus itself is a major trainer in its own right.


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