French strike may impact Logistics this week

A powerful cross-sector strike is due to take place throughout France on Thursday 19th January, which aims to scupper President Macron’s pensions reforms and is likely to cause major disruption later this week.

The country’s unions have united for the first time in years to oppose the government’s plans to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64, and effectively create a national strike.

Unions are counting on French people, who seem to be overwhelmingly against Macron’s reform, to mobilise and join street protests throughout the nation. The social movement is due to be launched in the heart of cities and at certain strategic places, such as ports, airports and industrial locations.

Naturally, we may see some disruption to road and air freight services travelling to, from or via France later this week. Where possible, Simarco will look to use the most viable routes during this period and will manage the situation as it unfolds.

If you have concerns about urgent shipments, then please do not hesitate to contact us.

Team Simarco “Walk to China” Challenge

Simarco staff have taken up the ‘Walk to China’ challenge this week, which does not mean that team members will be relinquishing their work duties and arriving in Beijing this July.

The challenge is to collectively walk 4,846 miles, the equivalent of walking from the UK to China.

The Simarco Connections group is running a competition to promote a healthy start to 2023 by inviting all staff to get out walking and recording their steps. 

The challenge started on 9th January and will continue until 28^th February 2023.  All miles will be recorded and the winner, announced on 1^st March, will receive a Garmin VivoFit Watch. 

Simarco felt this would be a great initiative for staff wellbeing and we are all following the team’s progress with great interest.  If the team remain on track, they would be expected to have crossed the border into Germany by the end of the first week

Northern Ireland – Simarco Lead The Way

Northern Ireland transport, to and from the UK, has been a hot political topic since Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal was first announced.

However, Simarco continue to lead the way and make the export process as simple as possible by completing the necessary TSS (Trader Support Service) for customers, who are required to have both a GB and XI EORI Number.

Simarco provide an established daily groupage and FTL (full trailer load) service to Belfast, serving the six counties of Northern Ireland with either 48 hour deliveries or express next day deliveries.

We also provide a daily import service for groupage and FTL with an express next day services also available.

The main features of our services include:

• Daily Northern Ireland export service
• Express Next day delivery
• 48 Hour delivery
• Accompanied trailers
• TSS completed by Simarco
• Full supplementary declaration on request
• Daily Import service – Next day available

For further information contact Lee Hodson by emailing lee.hodson@simarco.com.

Customs Extend Export CDS Transition

HMRC have announced that they will be delaying the Export transition from CHIEF to CDS, from March 2023 until November 2023. The full announcement from Customs is below:

Exporters will have more time to move across to the Customs Declaration Service, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has announced.

Following consultation with the border industry, exporters will now have until 30 November 2023 to move across to the Customs Declaration Service (CDS), 8 months later than previously announced.

After 30 November 2023, businesses will need to use CDS to make export declarations for goods they send out of the UK, as they already do for import declarations.

Sarah Hartley, Director of Border Change Delivery at HMRC said:

We have moved the deadline to enable us to spend more time working with industry in delivering and testing critical functionality as well as the support needed to help declarants move across to the new system.

The extra time also allows businesses and stakeholders more time to prepare their customers and software products for the November deadline.

Mark Phippen from Descartes Pentant Community System Provider, a HMRC delivery partner for CDS, said:

We believe the new timeline for CDS exports is a sensible and pragmatic decision, allowing HMRC and, in turn, service providers, traders and agents, to develop systems and procedures that work for all from day one.

Amanda Francis, CEO, Association of International Courier and Express Services said:

AICES fully supports the Government’s extension of the migration timetable for exports on CDS. It is a pragmatic decision which reflects the need to ensure the new system is properly tested and stable. We particularly welcome the decision to allow operational flexibility with the phased migration of exports from CHIEF to CDS.

Steve Bartlett, Chairman of Association of Freight Software Suppliers (AFSS) said:

AFSS and its members welcome the announcement to move the Exports deadline for CDS, and the revised plan has our full support. Indeed, we are particularly grateful for the huge effort made by HMRC to consult and work with AFSS in the programme. Jointly, we have sound controls and checkpoints in place to ensure that as we progress into 2023, we successfully achieve the Trader migration to the new platform.

CDS has been running since 2018 and is already being used for making import declarations when moving goods into the UK. The service will replace the Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight (CHIEF) service, representing a significant upgrade by providing businesses with a more user-friendly, streamlined system that offers greater functionality.

HMRC will provide further information about the timeline for CDS exports by the end of January 2023. There is more information about using the Customs Declaration Service on GOV.UK.

A Merry Christmas From Simarco

As 2022 draws to an end, it means the season’s festivities are fast approaching.  While we will be continuing to work through much of the holiday period, it’s a time to put logistics aside for a moment and share some festive thoughts.

The spirit of Christmas is a magical time for family, giving and sharing.  It should also be a time for reflection and looking out for those less fortunate than ourselves. 

To our friends colleagues, partners and customers, the directors and staff at Simarco wish you all a Merry Christmas and a very happy and prosperous New Year.

Only One Stop Needed For Chemicals

Simarco are increasingly becoming the preferred one stop shop for chemical and dangerous goods businesses needing UK transport, logistics and worldwide shipping.

Utilising our modern fully traceable UK fleet, with fully ADR trained drivers and specialised equipment, we are providing both UK and international services for packaged chemicals & ISO tank consignments.

Regulations surrounding the movement of dangerous goods have tightened during recent years and are not just limited to chemicals and the more obviously hazardous goods.

Many household products are classified as dangerous goods and need specialist transport, including; fragrances, cleaning products, aerosols, hair dye, smoke detectors and even the millions of electronic devices that include lithium batteries.

Simarco provide dangerous goods and chemical services for warehousing, domestic transport, European road freight, air freight and ocean freight. For more information, please do not hesitate to contact our specialist team.

Snow & Ice – Logistics Running But Slowly

With overnight snow hitting many parts of the UK, travel conditions are impacted and while logistics will be running, some consignments will be moving more slowly than usual.

Air
Snow and freezing fog led to both London Gatwick and Stansted closing their runways last night, with Heathrow and Manchester airports cancelling many flights. Therefore, air freight shipments inbound and outbound may have delays.

Road
Many drivers were stuck on the M25 overnight and ongoing traffic alerts and weather warnings throughout the UK mean that collections and deliveries may be affected, which could also impact inbound and outbound road freight movements.

Ocean
Traffic will undoubtedly impact some ocean freight transport, and operations will inevitably be slow at some ports today.

Should you have any questions about specific consignments, then our team will be delighted to confirm the latest information, so please do not hesitate to contact us.

Do You Know About Our Courier Services?

We have recently come to discover that not all of our customers are aware that Simarco offer a door to door courier service for documents and small parcels.

While many clients are used to the high service levels we provide for road, ocean and air freight, we would like to ask you to consider us for courier services too. We provide a range of services including standard and express options across all international trade routes, and covering the UK too.

Whether you have regular needs, occasional, or just one off, we have the capabilities and global reach to provide the ultimate in service, at competitive prices.

For further information on our courier products, or to get comparison pricing, then please contact Megan Plumpton on email: megan.plumpton@cfxadmin

Simarco Enhance Employee Benefits With Perkbox

Simarco have instigated a host of programmes during 2022 that enhance the working environment and benefit schemes for our employees, which has been extended this month through our internal launch of the Perkbox platform.

Perkbox is a global benefits and rewards platform that enables us to care for, connect with, and celebrate our employees.

The platform gives our employees the opportunity to access around 4,000 deals and discounts with the biggest brands. Whether that’s supermarket savings, discounted days out, the daily coffee, or a summer holiday, Perkbox allows them to shop and save all year round, with the intention of adding value to our employees’ lives.

Further benefits include:

• Wellness content from industry experts
• A place to celebrate and reward our teammates
• A hub for Simarco updates and information all in one place

At Simarco, we see Perkbox as a powerful recognition tool that aligns perfectly with our ongoing engagement strategy.

Simarco Launch 442 Formation Video

Simarco have just launched our new social media video that offers an insight into some of the benefits of our DDP Regime 42 service for Exports to the European Union.

By using the DDP Regime 42 scheme, Simarco are able to improve EU customs efficiencies, and even reduce door to door transit times, for DDP export shipments moving to European Union countries.

Regime 42 allows for an intra-community supply of goods to another EU Member State.  Under this scheme, we can present goods to our French partner to clear into EU free circulation at the time of arrival at the French border (Calais or Dunkirk). An intra-community supply is then made for the goods to the destination EU Member State (if located outside France).

The benefits include:

• Simarco can customs clear goods at the EU frontier SMART border (Calais or Dunkirk) and defer the payment of Import VAT, so no monies need to be exchanged.  Should duty be incurred, this cost will be charged back to the GB exporter.
• This avoids delays in delivering goods, or waiting for consignees to pay Import VAT or duty before the release of goods at destination.
• Larger shipments can deliver directly on an international trailer, rather than transhipping via one of our partner hubs, by removing the barrier of customs clearance and/or payment delays at final destination.

Simarco are able to set these benefits up in as little as 2 days, but we do require some forms completed to do so:

• Power of Attorney (authorising our customs partner to fulfil the import formalities on your behalf in France).
• Fiscal Mandate (appointing our tax partner as your Tax Agent, who then register you for VAT in France and report the transactions to French Tax Authorities for VAT and Intrastat purposes).
• EU EORI Application (unless you already have an EORI).
• Regime 42 Process Document to be signed by the consignee. (If goods are for delivery outside of France, they need to sign this to confirm their understanding of the goods being cleared in France, but still need to enter the purchase into their records as usual).

Unfortunately, for French deliveries, the process of registering for VAT takes approximately 3 months. However, during this time, you can share your Tax Agents global VAT number and still use Regime 42 for DDP sales into all other EU countries.

Once set up, there will be specific requirements for the export commercial invoice and a need to provide the consignee with a copy of the customs entry, but Simarco will guide you through this process at the time.

If you would like to find out more about the above feature, then please do not hesitate to contact us.