The British International Freight Association, the trade association that represents UK freight forwarding and logistics companies, says that it hopes the package of measures unveiled by HMRC recently to accelerate growth of the UK’s customs intermediary sector is successful.

Director General, Robert Keen says: “Whilst we welcome the additional funding, as we did when the first two rounds of funding were announced, we can only keep our fingers crossed that it produces the thousands of additional customs experts that the government agrees will be needed come January 1st 2021.

“During our regular meetings with both HMRC and HM Treasury, BIFA has highlighted the concerns of our members regarding the capability of the Customs brokerage sector to increase capacity, at a time when that sector already faces a huge shortage of staff of suitable quality.

“We have regularly emphasised that it could take up to a year to train staff to be fully conversant to prepare a range of basic Customs declarations, even if there was a sufficient number of trainers to train those staff, as well as relevant courses for them to attend.

“Clearly the Government is finally getting the message that increased capacity in this sector will be important whatever our future relationship with the EU.”

The scheme represents a new round of funding for employee training and IT improvements for customs intermediaries, traders and hauliers that make customs declarations to help them prepare ahead on January 1st 2021.

BIFA says the new funding could be used to support a business that is extending and taking on new staff, or to help train an existing employee to start completing customs declarations for the company.

Training can be delivered by an external provider, or an in-house trainer.

As one of the largest providers of Customs-related training courses, BIFA decided to replicate almost its entire course range and deliver it via video conferencing, due to the Covid-19 crisis preventing face-to-face training.

Keen concludes: “Government guidance allows furloughed employees to engage in training, provided that whilst undertaking the training the employee does not provide service to, or generate revenue for, or on behalf of, their organisation.

“Hence, we are encouraging members that have furloughed employees to take advantage of the additional funding that has been made available by applying for it to finance some of BIFA’s online Customs training opportunities for those employees, as well as employees that have not been furloughed.”

BIFA understands that HMRC will unveil more details in due course and is reminding its members that applications for the new funding will be open from July 2020.

Rhenus Air & Ocean has opened a new hub at Liège Airport, as part of a strategic move that sees the company position itself perfectly within the ‘golden triangle’ between Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Paris. The new hub, which offers a portfolio of freight forwarding solutions, expands the company’s global air freight network.

Handling more than 900,000 tonnes of transported goods every year, Liège Airport is the fastest-growing cargo airport in Europe. A multitude of large airfreight and charter lines, such as Qatar Airways and AirBridgeCargo, use LGG as a European gateway to the rest of the world. 

Frank Roderkerk, CEO of Rhenus Air & Ocean Northern Europe, comments: “In addition to attractive flight schedules, LGG has excellent multimodal connections. This will enable us to offer customers more air and rail freight products, as well as sea freight products in the future. Several trains a week connect Liège with China along the land bridge, including Yiwu and Zhengzhou.” 

Future plans for the new Rhenus Air & Ocean Liège hub will see goods transported via key air, ocean and rail routes, while customs clearance and fiscal representation capabilities will also be available. In addition to its new hub, Rhenus offers the storage of goods within its Belgium network in the ports of Genk, Antwerp and Brussels and at Brucargo.

In response to heavy customer demand, DHL Global Forwarding, the freight forwarding specialist of Deutsche Post DHL Group, introduced two new block train connections from Germany to China at the end of May.

A new connection serving from the KTL terminal on the BASF site in Ludwigshafen travels via Poland, Belarus, Russia, and Kazakhstan to the destination terminal in Xi’an, the capital of the Chinese province Shaanxi. In addition, an express train connection has been deployed between Neuss and Xi’an via Kaliningrad reducing the transit time to 12 days.

With these connections, DHL Global Forwarding’s rail network is further expanding and providing customers access to faster lead times to Asia covering both less-than-container-load and full-container-load. The implementation of complete block train routes from Europe to China reflects the growing demand for imports and speed to deliver to Asian countries complementing DHL’s already existing block trains from Xi’an and Chengdu to Europe.

“In the last years, we observed an increasing demand for rail service products to and from China,” explains Thomas Kowitzki, Head of Chinarail, Multimodal at DHL Global Forwarding Europe. “Their cost-effectiveness, short transit time, and lower CO2 emissions compared to other transport modes make them an attractive alternative. To offer our European and global customers the right transport mode to grow their businesses between Europa and Asia, we continuously seek to expand our network of connections, capacities, and service speeds. The use of logistics services and infrastructure of KTL terminal in Ludwigshafen is another step towards an even more connected world and to more resilient supply chains.”

“The Rhine-Main region around Ludwigshafen as a European gateway and important source of volume is an ideal starting point for our transports,” adds Max Siep, Head of Business Development/Network Management Chinarail of DHL Global Forwarding Europe. “Ensuring that more customers can benefit from the reliability, speed, and climate-friendliness of our rail products, we are expanding the service to more departures and – at the same time – gradually improving the transit time.”

The new Germany-to-China rail services have been established in cooperation with long-term partner RTSB GmbH, Friedrichsdorf, Germany. The block trains are loaded with goods from all over Europe and transported over 9,400 km to the central hub for train services in Xi’an, where DHL distributes the cargo within China and to neighboring countries like South Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. The new routes also shorten transit times for customers in other European countries like Benelux, France, Iberia, and UK.

DHL Global Forwarding’s expansion of its intermodal network and expertise emphasizes the core of Deutsche Post DHL Group’s corporate “Strategy 2025 – Delivering excellence in a digital world”. The Group’s purpose remains to connect people and improve their lives by enabling trade and helping businesses to grow.