"The commission have now amended their import rules, without scientific or technical justification. Effectively, they have changed the law to justify their position in blocking the trade"
As is their right. Pity GB not inside/part of the market anymore. (NI is of course) & if so
"On Tuesday the UK finally delivered the roadmap it had promised last December to Brussels in relation to the implementation of the Northern Ireland protocol"
The Ever Given may be unstuck, and the canal unblocked, but the disruption is expected to last for weeks, forcing shippers to seek alternatives to avoid port congestion and delays – and some shipping lines are refusing any new bookings.
As a result, airlines and forwarders are reporting an increase in enquiries for air freighting ‘distressed’ sea freight.
“It will take at least two weeks to unravel this, if not more, with vessels being off schedule and the impact on ports at destinations,” said one forwarder.
“It’s like a champagne cork being released.”
He referred back to the disruption to air services from the Icelandic volcano in 2010, when it took several weeks for airlines to reposition aircraft back to the correct schedules.
But while shippers may want to take to the air ...
"UK SME retailers are having to route goods through friends and family in the EU to cater to the single market as they struggle to stay afloat in a maze of post-Brexit red tape.
The owner of an independent record label said their LPs and singles were being sent direct from a Czech pressing plant to a relative in the Republic of Ireland to post on to customers in the EU because additional costs otherwise made the sales unviable.
“VAT, admin, collection charges, plus postage and packaging, for a £20 (€23.40) album runs to about €50, nearly double” the label’s owner told The Loadstar. Compounding the issue, on 1 July the EU will introduce its e-commerce VAT package....
“Even when the canal gets reopened, the ripple effects on global capacity and equipment are significant, and the blockage has already triggered a series of further disruptions and backlogs in global shipping that could take weeks, possibly months, to unravel,” it warned.
However, shippers & forwarders on either side of the canal face weeks of potential supply chain disruption – according to Leth Agencies, there are 357 vessels of all types waiting to transit Suez
...will have a global impact and lead to severe capacity shortages. It will impact all tradelanes, as carriers will seek to cascade vessels to locations where they find they have the greatest need.
It must be clear to all now that UK Gov desperate for an American trade deal...any deal...priority to politically grandstand something no matter how relative little balance on market access for UK businesses vs US businesses on UK market.
Why is more not done to expose this?
The greater the accommodating of USA standards the greater the barriers will remain on EU trade and on that trade from GB to NI.
Help GB exporters (esp food/horticulture) & alleviate the NIP by aligning to EU/EEA/present UK (SPS) standards it reduces chance of a quick USA deal.
But which is more important to *UK* businesses/livelihoods/jobs?
Put another way what are the chances of Canadian or Mexican businesses (Canada or Mexico even going as far as leaving NAFTA) aligning more to EU/EEA (UK) standards instead of the USA standards on *their* doorstep?
“We’ve been sold a dud,” Sharon da Costa, the managing director of Fighting Film said. “If it weren’t for Covid, people would be shouting from the rooftops.”
Any excuse?
(& again UK "sold" a "Canada/Australia" deal outside the CU&SM: these procedures always guaranteed from then)
Mike Cherry, the FSB’s chairman, said smaller businesses faced “incredibly demanding, unfamiliar paperwork”.
... “what we hoped would prove to be teething problems are in danger of becoming permanent, systemic ones".
From a friend: verifying "senior" level(s) incompetence
"I was at FSB policy meetings at HQ discussing impact of leaving the EU. It was seen as a ‘political position’ rather than a fundamental legislative change to doing business and one of the reasons I left the committee.....
Another tacit way of demonstrating how dependent UK is on (food) imports from EU & EU driver accompanied hauliers ..can't afford to jeopardise that "border facilitation" priority of EU exports (& EU customs transit smugglers)
flow over compliance..
esp in peak "Hungry Gap" month