Last year Ireland was the third expert market for Welsh goods (by value) accounting for £2.5 billion.
To support this vital trading relationship, Cardiff based road freight experts Europa Road have launched a first of its kind service on all of its daily routes between the Republic of Ireland and Great Britain, designed to remove post Brexit challenges.
Europa Road provides market leading European road freight services, its Cardiff site is at Cardiff Gate Business Park, Regus, Malthouse Ave, Pontprennau, and is home to a team of 7, and was first opened in May 2022.
Europa Road is part of independent international road freight provider Europa Worldwide Group, and has invested over £1m in its infrastructure in Ireland to establish a dedicated team in Dublin, with a specialist customs brokerage service to support this important new service.
From June 2024, Europa Flow, a service which ships goods using DDP incoterms, will be available to all businesses trading with Ireland, allowing them to better serve and grow their customers on the ‘Emerald Isle’.
Andrew Baxter, Chief Executive Officer of Europa Worldwide Group, said: “With Ireland being an important trading partner for Wales the complexity associated with the customs border, is preventing the seamless transportation of goods for businesses.
“This is impacting transit times, increasing the amount of customs paperwork required, and could have costly and time-critical implications. These customs complexities pose a significant extra burden to all businesses – and particularly those SMEs who may be less likely to have the necessary resources and expertise to handle the additional paperwork.
“This is why we launched Europa Flow – to serve companies moving goods between Britain and Europe, providing a seamless transportation of goods between the two regions. Having initially launched the Delivery Duty Paid (DDP) Europa Flow in 2021 for mainland EU countries, the service – the first of its kind in Ireland – is now being launched to GB-Ireland trade.”
Europa Flow has already successfully delivered over 300,000 DDP consignments to mainland Europe, offering a unique combination of DDP, postponed VAT accounting and anticipated declarations. In turn, the service can offer faster transit times, lower costs, and no administrative headaches for businesses.
One recent manufacturer has just trialled Europa Flow on its exports to Ireland, stating: “The new DDP service has been well received by our Irish customers, in that the admin burden imposed on them has significantly decreased. It has also reopened some customer conversations that have been closed since Brexit occurred.”
Europa Road, which operates a European groupage ‘1Hub’ in Dartford, now ships more than 50 per cent of its consignments using this innovative service. The 1Hub, which is strategically located close to the Dartford Crossing, provides scheduled, daily, road transport trunking, which allows British customers’ shipments to connect to its 42 partner hubs in mainland Europe.
Adrian Redmile, Branch and Sales Director at Europa Worldwide Group said: “Despite the challenges that were presented as trade regulations changed post-Brexit, there is a cost-effective and efficient solution to ensuring seamless movement of goods. Over the last three years we have has invested over £1m in our Irish infrastructure, more than £5m in Europa Flow in Europe and launched a Money Back Guarantee to better support customers.
“Europa Flow now provides a truly seamless service into Ireland, for businesses who companies recognise that they cannot gamble their reputations by risking delays to deliveries emanating from incomplete paperwork, or disputes over the payment of VAT and customs duties.
“The service is proven to removing these issues and return the market to pre-Brexit transit times. We are also the only provider with sites in Britain and in Ireland offering a Money Back Guarantee on all Europa Flow shipments. This unique offer will ensure full refunds for consignments not delivered on time.”
