According to Investment Monitor, UK manufacturers are still trying to come to terms with additional costs associated with trade post-Brexit. In fact, most market research indicates that most concerns relate to customs declarations and the payment of duties, with the additional administration and paperwork this entails.
To remedy this, in early 2021 Europa Road launched its first Delivered Duty Paid (DDP) product, Europa Flow, to tackle the challenges of Brexit head-on for UK manufacturers needing to move goods into and out of the EU. Now Europa Road, which is the road division of the UK’s largest privately-owned logistics provider Europa Worldwide Group, has announced a Money Back Guarantee.
Available from May 2, 2023, the guarantee is believed to be unique for the manufacturing marketplace and will be available on all road freight consignments between the UK and EU.
The launch of the Money Back Guarantee follows two highly successful years for Europa Flow, which was created following £5 million investment in the post-Brexit product. Europa Flow uses DDP incoterms to ensure goods are delivered without the need to contact importers before delivery to agree terms and collect VAT and duty, with these processes now handled by Europa’s dedicated customs team during transit across the channel.
This new Money Back Guarantee service is available on all of Europa’s European freight options and shipment sizes from groupage to part loads, full loads and dedicated vans. It is also available on shipments from Ireland and Northern Ireland to the EU.
The additional service is available on consignments booked through Europa Flow with the correct paperwork completed and supplied at time of booking. Manufacturers booking this service will receive a full refund of transport costs for any consignment not delivered on time.
Adrian Redmile, Network & Sales Director at Europa Worldwide Group, explained: “We launched Europa Flow following extensive research into the challenges that manufacturers on both sides of the channel would face as the impact of Brexit became clear. We concluded that the primary challenges related to customs declarations and the payment of duties, with the additional administration and paperwork these would entail, and set out to design a product to remove these difficulties for our customers.
“It now provides a truly seamless service into and out of the EU for manufacturers, whether their requirements are daily, weekly or monthly. These 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 in removing these issues and that is why we can now offer the Money Back Guarantee as an additional service for Europa Flow users.”
Europa Flow offers a way for UK manufacturers to counter the effects of Brexit which continue to impact negatively on the sector. The latest S&P Global/CIPS UK Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), published in December, saw Brexit-related complications continuing to be heavily blamed for companies deciding to source products from countries other than the UK.
Adrian added: “More and more companies are putting their faith in Europa Flow as they realise, they need to guarantee seamless movements of goods across Europe. It’s so successful that we’re prepared to put our money where our mouth is and guarantee on time delivery of customer consignment, or you get your money back.”
With Europa Flow, Europa acts as an EU Global VAT representative for its customers, zero rating EU import VAT and charging any duty and fees back to the UK party while also handling Frontier Declarations.
A further benefit is the availability of anticipated goods declarations, which allow consignments to be collected and exported on the same day. With Europa Flow, there is no longer any need for the customer of a UK exporter to appoint a customs broker, complete import declarations, and pay import duties.
A further benefit is the availability of anticipated goods declarations, which allow consignments to be collected and exported on the same day. With Europa Flow, there is no longer any need for the customer of a UK exporter to appoint a customs broker, complete import declarations, and pay import duties.
Europa Road provides market leading European road freight services, operating the UK’s largest European groupage 1Hub in Dartford. Its network of 20 sales branches (across the UK and the Republic of Ireland) manage the shipments of goods into Dartford, from where freight connects with daily, direct services to 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 £5m in its innovative market-leading service, 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.
