Britainโs government may have (edit) *fucked* its preparations for Brexit, but the same cannot be said for the Dutch โ the Netherlands likely to win a rush of post-Brexit business.
Brexit coordinator for Customs Netherlands Roel vanโt Veld told the panel at this weekโs Invest in Holland event that, since the result of UKโs 2016 referendum, Dutch Customs had recruited, trained & deployed 900 additional customs officers.
โOur government was quick off the mark
, saying no-deal is what we have to worry about, therefore it is also what we must prepare for,โ said Mr vanโt Veld.
โRealising this would be a massive operation, we started work immediately, and we have kept moving since, getting new staff into posts
so they have **on-the-job experience** when the change occurs.โ
The impact of Brexit on the Netherlands is expected to be sizeable, with the port of Rotterdam alone handling some 54m tonnes of freight from the UK every year.
As UK trade enters third-country status
Mr vanโVeld said he expected the number of customs declarations processed in the Netherlands to leap 20-30%, on top of the already sizeable number it handles as the main gateway for third-country goods entering the EU.
โEnsuring this required that we upgrade our IT systems,
and while this was achieved, the end user needed to be ready,โ he added.
โBut we have been lucky, because throughout the process there has been (hint) *great cooperation* between the business and logistics communities with government and customs.โ
UK-headquartered retailer Monster Group decided it needed to open a European warehouse for business continuity.
โWe decided in February [2019] that we had to open a warehouse in the Netherlands, and we set ourselves a crazy deadline for achieving this, wanting it up and running
MD Rana Harvey told the Invest in Holland event.
โIt was crazy, but what we found out was that everyone wanted us to succeed
โ the Dutch government supported us and, within three days, we had a warehouse and a manager for it.
โIt was this support and belief in our ability that really made the difference; itโs what makes the Netherlands different, because everyone not only wanted to help, but did help.โ
In the UK, the view of government is more jaded, with many still noting an absence of information
(edit) fuck all emanating from Westminster.
Commercial director of Wallenborn Transports Jason Breakwell told The Loadstar: โMost of the people I speak with are concerned because they are supply chain specialists who need to know exactly what to do from 1 January.โ
Earlier this week, The Loadstar reported on calls to further extend the transition period to allow UK businesses more time to prepare.
Mr Breakwell said that beyond companies trading with the UK, he sensed โindifferenceโ among most of mainland Europe to such a suggestion,
adding that โthe UK has decided to leave and needs to leaveโ.
Two further sources told The Loadstar that without a fundamental reset in the way border preparedness was approached, the same issues would arise at the end of any extension.
Head of business development at the Holland International Distribution Council Jochem Sanders said with the Netherlands having been โpreparing for the worst, hoping for the bestโ for the past three years, it was now ready for Brexit.
He added: โWe now see companies moving stock from the UK to the Netherlands, because we have made it an attractive proposition."
FULL REPORT theloadstar.com/dutch-governmeโฆ
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Sure ..EU is losing 65 million consumers of its customs free shared standards single market .but UK is losing 435 million .. (plus a further 16 million of its extended single market... inc NI on goods/produce) ..
In 1986 Joe Bloggs industries had 3 production lines: 1 for UK, 1 for Germany, 1 for France. Different standards but thankfully no customs issues. Then came the Single Market. 2 free production lines enabled new expansion into Japan & USA.
Support for extending the Brexit transition period is gaining traction on the UK side of the Channel, BUT it seems a Europe fatigued by โfalse startsโ is keen for the new regime to start as planned.
โItโs very clear that government and trade are not ready, and this will probably
lead to problems in January,โ Wallenborn Transports commercial director Jason Breakwell told The Loadstar.
โFor example, testing GVMS [HMRCโ new Goods Vehicle Movement Service] begins on 23 Dec & important questions about safety/security declarations for transit shipments remain
And requirements for plant-based products transiting the EU have not been explained,โ he added.
A source in the port sector added: โThe UK government has been firm, it will not seek further extension.
โAs such, further pragmatism from the UK and, indeed, the EU member states
All entirely the fault of UK/HMG (*not* the EU) ..there are some things that utterly bewilder me about brexit..then things like this that sickens me:
Ending Freedom of Movement ...Thread
โIt basically asks people to decide now, in the next 15 months, whether they want to change their whole lives. For many, itโs asking them to choose between elderly parents in Britain and partners and children in the EU.
โItโs a terrible choice, and itโs really ...
not one that any civilised government should be asking its citizens to make.โ
Making matters worse is the fact that the act - actively discriminates against British citizens abroad compared to EU citizens living in the UK.
From a friend (remember the year 2000 "Fuel Strikes" *without* the tanker drivers free to revert quickly to the status quo)
"The general consensus from, forwarders, experts, and hauliers is this is going to be a ClusterFuck like no other.
2/
"The thinking in Ireland is if European traffic goes direct, than that leaves Holyhead less congested for UK/ROI traffic. I think the whole UK is going to grind to a halt"
Picture the scene. UK a committed member of EU sees France vote to leave. France further announces it will also leave the Customs Union & The Single Market. UK Gov immediately *warns* its population & businesses what this means. It helps with the mammoth costs of being prepared
It invests heavily in ports upgrades, new needed infrastructure; training of an extra 5000 customs officers and 50,000 customs agents plus thousands of extra vets. It also recruits the many extra staff now needed in its otherwise overwhelmed tax & revenue government department .
New IT is designed costed and built with vital input from the industry that will actually use it. In the meantime France continues to insult UK and other members and tries to hide the costs of leaving from its population instead pretending it will offer "opportunities".
Blog from @JohnShirleyLtd
"The understaffing of customs clerks will become significant on 31 December 2020. Today, just a minority of forwarders retain customs clerks in EU, all of whom need *several years of training* The only remaining freight forwarder in Calais is Gondrand,
which has just three customs clerks. This greatly contrasts the 2,000 clerks that existed there in 1992, when there were approximately 40 freight forwarders.
A similar figure of clerks exists in Kent, with each clerk submitting 50 entries to customs per shift.
Given volume of traffic in the last 28 years has risen 400% each side of the Channel, the handful of customs clerks is demonstrably insufficient
Currently, a driver with intra-EU cargo simply drives from Factory A to Factory B, the only paperwork might be an invoice or CMR note.