Brexit Border Controls – The Calm Before The Storm?

The first week of the new border controls, for traffic moving between the UK and EU, has passed without major disruption, but much further tests are about to come.

The volume of cargo moving to and from Europe has been extremely low so far, as many importers and exporters avoided moving goods in the first week of the new processes, and many groupage operators held back services.

Some disruption occurred when the new GVMS IT system crashed, but with limited volume transported so far the expected ‘chaos’ has not yet fully materialised.

Exports from the UK are seemingly more likely to be delayed, as there have been more procedural changes than imports. Exporters not completing the correct paperwork and GMR issues are the most common cause for delay so far.

The major change on import procedures is that customs declarations can no longer be deferred on arrival, which is expected to impact more when trade picks up.

From later this week and into next, volumes are expected to increase significantly and the extra pressure will be a more stringent test of how trade copes with the new border controls. We may have just witnessed the calm before the storm.

If you need any assistance with European shipments or customs declarations, then please do not hesitate to contact a member of our team.