FBJ 4 FREIGHT BUSINESS JOURNAL


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EDITORIAL


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chris.lewis@f j-online.com MIKE BRYANT PHIL HASTINGS


CIRCULATION


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Issue 5 2021 - Freight Business Journal


From the Editor By Chris Lewis


To our 21st Century eyes, there’s something incongruous about a ship juxtaposed with a modern city tower block. While most of our major metropolitan areas were founded precisely because they had access to the sea or waterways, the shipping industry has progressively retreated from the built-up areas, port and vessel operators preferring the convenience and relative freedom from congestion of out-of-town sites. But has shipping no place in today’s conurbation? While clearly a city centre is not an ideal place from which to run major logistics operations, water can provide unprecedented access for certain types of load and actually help to reduce road congestion, not contribute to it.


This is what logistics operator Esprit has been arguing for years about the Manchester Ship Canal and its eff orts were fi nally vindicated aſt er many years of lobbying when its Traff ord Docks terminal handled three large ships bringing project freight right into the heart of the city. While the ‘fi nal mile’ leg of the journey for the outsize loads was highly involved, including removing street furniture and shiſt ing tramlines, a longer road route from a coastal port would have been even more diffi cult. Some of the cargoes involved were destined for Heineken, the brewers. If Esprit’s enterprise helps get heavy loads off the streets and onto the Canal, we should certainly drink to that.


One of the former Soviet Union’s more alarming bits of technology was the Ekranoplan. A cross between an aircraſt and a hovercraſt , this resembled a giant, almost wingless multi- engined aircraſt that could skim along at treetop height to quickly deliver troops and materiel to those parts of the empire that other transport couldn’t quickly reach. While favoured by the Soviet navy for a time, the Ekranoplan never really caught on as civilian transport, not least because a giant turboprop-powered aircraſt hurtling along at 200mph literally a few feet above the ground or sea would have been unbearably noisy, and terrifying. The concept could though have a new lease of life, if the scheme by Brittany Ferries and its tech partner, Boston-based REGENT sees the light of day. The planned Seaglider would use the same ‘ground eff ect’ as the Ekranoplan, allowing it to skim effi ciently over the sea at speeds of around 180mph, but it would be battery-electric powered, and hence quieter. While the Brittany-REGENT project appears to be confi gured as a passenger carrier, could the idea have a place in the freight market, mid-way between gas-guzzling jet aircraſt and effi cient but much slower ships?


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Scarcely a day seems to go by without news dropping into the FBJ in-box of yet another freight train service between China and Europe. But Finland-based Nurminen Logistics


Brexit impact on commerce is just beginning


Guest Opinion - Davind Dhingra, director, solution consulting at BluJay Solutions


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Six months on from the signing of the Brexit deal, its huge impact remains. Customers who were once used to frictionless UK-EU trade have, since the beginning of 2021, been facing a jarring new trade landscape - one in which excess charges, product shortages, and reduced accessibility to particular stores have become the norm. These issues aren’t simply the


result of a hitch in the post-Brexit trade-deal, to be corrected aſt er the fact. They are the result of permanent changes etched into the future of UK-EU trade relations – for which the customer is currently bearing the brunt. UK consumers unwittingly ordering international products are being surprised by the fees passed on by companies


now shipping through completely uncharted trade territory. UK shoppers


are used to


quick and easy delivery at the lowest cost possible. However, since 1 January, nearly half of UK consumers who have purchased goods from retailers based in the EU have experienced issues. The most shocking of these may well be doorstep taxes, such as a surprise fee of £82 on a £200 coat from the EU.


These fees have come as a


surprise not only to consumers, but to product sellers too. Though a Brexit deal was secured, the new trade landscape remains vastly misunderstood by swathes of the international business community. A lack of preparation


///NEWS


FBJ is the only UK and one of the few pan-European Multimodal newspapers. The comments we have received prove there is still room for a hard copy publication within the freighting industry. You don’t have to look at a screen all day!


FBJ boasts the most informative and authoritative source of information with unrivalled in-depth knowledge of the rapidly changing freight business environment.


As the defi nitive publication within the sea, air, road and rail freight sectors, each issue includes regular news and analysis, in-depth coverage discovering the business decisions behind the news stories, shipper and exporter reports, opinion, geographical features, political and environmental issues.


If you have any stories or letters which should be of interest or any feedback on FBJ, please contact our editor Chris Lewis - +44 (0)208 6450666 chris.lewis@f j-online.com


next issue >> circulation >>


Our next issue will include features on: North American


Ports, Germany, North-East England and Freight Consolidators. For further details contact: John Saunders - +44 (0) 151 427 6800 john.saunders@f j-online.com


To guarantee your personal copy of FBJ please register by emailing


your details to circulation@f j-online.com or fax back the address cover sheet included with this issue.


has broken new ground, in claiming the fi rst block-train between Europe and India. The map shown by Nurminen on its website indicated a train routing from Helsinki via Russia and central Asia to Bandar Abbas in Iran followed by a sea leg to Nhava Sheva in India. Using Iran, a country that does not enjoy the best relations with the West as a transit point could be described as ‘courageous’ but the initiative is to be applauded. Relations between Iran and Europe may not be the best now, but who’s to say that they could not improve. Politics aside, the country is a natural pivot-point between West and East.


has caused confusion over new VAT requirements, duties requiring payment, and the mitigation options available. Indeed, the British Chambers of Commerce states that 49% of UK-based exporters in a survey of 470 fi rms had suff ered problems with post- Brexit arrangements. This all fi lters down to poor communication with customers who are leſt to foot the bill. Advanced customs planning


off ers mitigation to those who prepare. For example, a customer we’ve worked with was shocked to learn that, without mitigation, they’d face £180,000 of duty annually that didn’t exist before. Luckily, they were clued up on the government’s customs warehouse scheme, which off ers them 100% relief on goods that have a positive rate of duty. For those without the right guidance from customs experts however, such schemes could fl y under the radar and continue costing customers a pretty penny – and their brand loyalty.


Many smaller organisations bided


their time to wait and see what the new trade landscape post-Brexit would look like. Unfortunately for many, the amount of red tape came as a shock. Even those with experience trading with more complex ‘third countries’ (those outside of the EU, pre-Brexit) needed to make large-scale adjustments and investments to adapt to the new requirements. Others pulled back: UK exports to the EU fell by 41% in January, and EU imports by 29%. Taking no action inhibits


companies from the degree of international trade they are used to. This is because, even before fees for non-EU goods, moving shipments across the border now requires a ‘double duty hit’: an export declaration to leave the EU, and an import one to enter the UK. Previously, none was required. The government’s conservative estimate was that this would create an extra 270 million declarations per year, but many suspect it is double that.


For businesses of all sizes, this


overnight increase in declarations requires either outsourced services, which charge high fees, or automated solutions to manage the sheer volume of data required for clearance. The latter option off ers a good return on investment; artifi cial intelligence and machine learning- enabled technologies complete and submit forms, drawing upon embedded


customs organisations, experience,


and saving huge amounts of time for


ultimately


justifying the cost of continuing to make products available to the international customer base. However, there is another cost to


pay. Customers who are used to a smooth returns process are receiving poor service. Returns cost more than ever for companies who are unable to claim duty and VAT back. As they attempt to manage these costs long-term, whilst avoiding shipment mistakes in the present, managers are struggling to provide the stability that customers need.


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