New customs checks worsening logistical 'nightmare'

By James Lawrence

Published: 17 January, 2022

The introduction of full customs checks on non-excisable goods (such as fruit & veg) is greatly exacerbating the logistical challenges facing the industry, according to the trade.

On 1 January 2022, the UK government introduced full controls on all good entering the country – previously only excisable goods were subject to inspection.

“Now that full controls have been introduced for all goods, traders who are less familiar with the electronic processes are more likely to make errors which means that excise goods are at a greater risk of being delayed,” said WSTA chief executive Miles Beale.

“The increase in the number of physical checks will also mean that consignments will take more time to process and create further hold ups in the supply chain. Groupage and consolidated loads remain a point of difficulty as one incorrectly managed consignment can delay an entire load,” he added.

Philip Cox, owner of Romanian winery Cramele Recas, agreed that the new checks were compounding an already "nightmarish" situation.

“I am increasingly observing a major reluctance from logistics firms to send drivers to the UK from the EU, given the problems with delays," he said.

“That is leading to even longer shipment times up from 5-7 days from Romania to UK in 2019, to over three weeks now.”

Meanwhile, a chronic shortage of HGV drivers is continuing to push domestic costs up, according to Cambridge Wine Merchant's MD Hal Wilson.

“Other industries are willing to pay more for drivers as they have perishable goods – this means huge wage rises, and extra costs. However, the lack of drivers means that logistical firms dealing with consignments left at ports awaiting UK drivers to collect and deliver to destination (goods that come by sea or rail) are charging very considerable demurrage fees for goods left uncollected,” explained Wilson.

He added: “The introduction of the full checks has obviously further impacted wine imports – it crashed on day one, which was an inauspicious start. It means that producers have less time to provide the required commercial documentation. Government and opposition are aware of these issues, but short of joining the Single Market, there is little that they can offer in terms of solutions. All in all a very predictable nightmare.”

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