Logistics leader Europa Worldwide Group has reminded companies that the UK land bridge remains the most viable option for anyone seeking to move goods between Ireland and the rest of the EU post-Brexit.
Moving goods with Windsor Framework
The agreement of the new Northern Ireland protocol (Windsor Framework) brought Brexit back into the news — but Europa believes that its approach to international goods movement remains a strong option for manufacturers irrespective of recent changes to rules around border checks.
Andrew Baxter, CEO of Europa Worldwide Group, explained:
“Ever since Brexit was first announced, Europa has led the way in ensuring the continuation of frictionless export, import and transit services for companies across Ireland. The company has invested heavily to support customers based there, having recently launched a new Money Back Guarantee service on European Road Freight shipments.”
Establishing dedicated teams in Belfast and Dublin
Andrew Baxter believes that now with dedicated branches in both Belfast and Dublin — the latter having opened in January this year — Europa is perfectly placed to support companies needing to move goods in and out of Ireland and has done more than any other provider to ensure continuity and quality of service. With the new guarantee offering, for example, manufacturers are promised full refunds on shipments that don’t arrive on time.
He continued: “Brexit saw some Irish firms seeking to avoid the land bridge via the UK as they feared the impact of additional administration and instead move goods direct from Ireland to ports in the EU.”
Freight Transport Association Ireland (FTAI)
This is backed by research by the FTAI which found that traffic via this route was down by as much as 20 per cent on pre-Brexit levels.
“This resulted in many shipping companies adding extra crossings to their schedules and remains the case today. Indeed, FTAI figures suggest that exports for the eight months to the end of August 2022 were up by 28 per cent compared with the same period in 2021.
The main EU export markets were reported as Netherlands, Belgium and Germany (in November 2022).
“However, this means of moving goods is significantly slower – around 24 hours in many cases – potentially more expensive and unnecessary, given that Europa Road enables customers to transport their goods via the UK just as rapidly and efficiently as was the case pre-Brexit.”
Andrew adds:
“Stability and reliability of service remains critical for businesses, and it’s important that logistics companies can offer some degree of financial reassurance.
“In any transport environment, the key to maintaining and optimising service to customers lies with having the right infrastructure in place to overcome the challenges they face when moving goods.
“For us, Brexit has been an opportunity to show that despite these challenges, goods could still be efficiently moved between the UK, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, and the rest of the EU. Our 1Hub in Dartford, the largest groupage hub in the UK, provides the most cost-efficient way for companies in Ireland to send goods across to mainland Europe. The speed and the consistency of the transit times via this route have led us to apply our Money Back Guarantee against it.”
Dedicated European road freight services from Dublin to Holyhead
Europa provides daily services inbound from Dublin to Holyhead, bringing around 300 trailers of goods a year across the Irish Sea.
He concluded: “The situation around border checks may continue to evolve but irrespective of any further changes, we at Europa are ideally and uniquely placed to ensure the continued international flow of goods for customers wherever in the continent of Europe they are based.”
Europa Overview
Europa Road provides market-leading European road freight services, operating the UK’s largest European groupage hub in Dartford. Its network of local sales branches across the UK and Ireland manages the shipments of goods into Dartford, from where freight connects with daily, direct services to 30 continental hubs.
Europa Worldwide Group is an ambitious independent logistics operator with three divisions, Europa Road, Europa Air & Sea, and Europa Warehouse, and has been featured in The Sunday Times Top Track 250 for three years. Europa has invested £5 million in its innovative market-leading product, Europa Flow, providing a frictionless flow of goods between the EU and the UK post Brexit. The group employs over 1,400 people with 29 international sites in the UK, the Republic of Ireland, Europe, Hong Kong, China and the UAE. The global operator recently reported a record turnover of £302m for the last 12 months, as of August 2022, and remains on track with its ambitious investment programme.
