Tag Archives: Shipping

Unintended consequences -UK customs and Brexit

Posted on June 13, 2021 by | 1 comment

Today’s news brings more info on unintended consequences of Brexit. I submit this could be fairly serious in thelong run, and make customs essentially unenforceable from EU to the UK.

Apparently it takes customs a long time to process the forms required to import from the EU. MNow EU shippers could use a broker to file the forms. The charge for that is small. But if the broker in the UK files the forms, they are also making themselves liable for nonpayment of the customs duty. Often this duty is quite large. And the UK customs (HMRC) cannot go after the EU cargo owner– the law isn’t in effect there. So who do they go after? The local UK brokerage.

Brokers in the UK simply cannot afford this risk, so they will quit brokering cargo from the UK. And the HMRC will have nowhere to go to collect duties.

I’m not sure what can be done to unwind this, either. Brexit will untimately break the agreements on duties that were in place, in favor of self-determination. So the UK will have to ‘self-determine’ how to collect duties. Do we go back to customs patrols and ship searches? You can bet there will be plenty of cheating by failure to file forms, on the part of EU cargo owners, perhaps even smuggling. The nightmares of the 19th century are before us.

Serious threat to UK customs duty revenue as backlog of declarations grows – The Loadstar

By Alex Whiteman, Brexit reporter 07/06/2021

Serious threat to UK customs duty revenue as backlog of declarations grows – The Loadstar

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Posted in Logistics, Shipping, Supply Chains

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Can green shipping scheme learn to ‘herd cats’?

Posted on October 10, 2020 by | 1 comment

This article provides a valuable perspective on sustainability. There seems to be, despite all odds, a rising tide of concern about the environment and sustainability behavior for maritime firms. Investors and insurers are starting to pay close attention to how ocean carriers and ships themselves are matching up to green standards. They want disclosure and frequent reporting of consistent, meaningful measures, not greenwashing.

So the odd news release isn’t enough. A company needs a sustainability charter and plan with measures of their progress in greening their business. It’s costly if you actually have to do concrete things, like replacing ships, installing scrubbers, and taking care of seafarers. Some companies are far ahead of others on this path. And it seems that now those firms will attract the investment they need, whereas others will need to work much harder to get it, at potentially higher rates.

It’s good for sustainability, and for the global environment. Economic pressure is what gets sustainability done.

Greg Miller, Senior Editor Thursday, October 8, 2020

Can green shipping scheme lick ‘herding cats’ dilemma? – FreightWaves

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Posted in Logistics, Shipping, Strategy, Sustainability

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Walmart tightens on-time, in-full requirements

Posted on September 14, 2020 by | 1 comment

A large shipping firm has grabbed a problem by the throat.

Wal-Mart has raised its on-time in-full (OTIF) shipment requirements for all suppliers to 98%. It’s in response to a significant drop-off of on-time deliveries and short shipments, possibly due to COVID-19, but also connected with general carrier and business distress. By punishing suppliers, Wal-Mart sets a standard that others will want to match.

Failure of on-time and in-full deliveries poses a severe problem for managing inventory and matching supply to demand. Carriers won’t be able to get away with it now, and suppliers won’t do as much short-shipping. The standard will ripple over first to other consumer-oriented firms, then to all sorts of firms.

Standards for delivery are a good thing if they become industry-wide. They change the stakes, and give the consumer a clear idea of what to expect for a shipment. They set a basis for deciding what a reasonable charge is. If you can cheat on the delivery date or amount and get away with it, you are likely to when you think it’s to your advantage. And that violates customer trust.

A good example is Amazon’s pioneering of two-day shipping via Amazon Prime. It created a standard for the e-Commerce practice that firms in that market have to be clear about when they set the price for their full offer (including shipment terms)– are they following it or not?

Improving customer trust is a good thing, and sets up sound guidelines for customers to evaluate the value of an offering.

Mark Solomon Friday, September 11, 2020

Link: https://freightwaves.com/news/walmart-tightens-on-time-in-full-requirements

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Posted in Logistics, Production Operations, Strategy, Supply Chains

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