Our third Brexit meeting of the year highlighted that full load shipments into and out of the UK are moving but the implications of time to create documentation, correct paperwork, apply the necessary haulier (seal/ Reg Nbr etc.) detail and process declarations and border inspections are impacting the time taken to complete many transactions.
Goods Moving But Challenges Remain
Pressure on hauliers is increasing, with delays getting documentation, entry and exit from ports and the imbalance of goods flowing in the early weeks of January (more into UK and less out) is impacting the availability of trailers and return loads. This will surely translate into higher costs where it hasn't already.
An emerging critical issue is the need for a T1 document for exports to the EU and beyond - those carriers able to raise T1s are often insisting on completing the full declaration, regardless of agents or in-house capability and many other carriers are struggling to afford the guarantees that must be in place before raising T1s.
Impossible Groupage Requirements Leading to Empty Shelves
Groupage remains a critical issue, as seen by the empty shelves for many UK retailers in NI and ROI. The current procedures require product from multiple sources being consolidated en route to carry the requisite certification for each supplier component AND include the seal details on the final vehicle. This being an administrative impossibility where retailers might be combining 100s or 1000s of products on a load of fresh products, but equally applicable for those who simply want to move part loads.
Many suppliers are seeing movements flow again without major disruption, but requiring significant additional resource to administer the loads and intervene where the inevitable niggles and disconnects occur.
What has yet to be established is the true cost of the new requirements. The implications on the cost to serve, affected by current routes, modes, documentation processing methods, will likely impact the profitability of many finished goods, whether consumed in the UK or exported. Suppliers (and hauliers) urgently need to assess the true impact of the new requirements on their current customer trading arrangements and prepare for some difficult discussions in the near-term.
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