If you trade with the EU and Brexit planning wasn’t at the top of your business agenda before December’s General Election, the chances are it is now.
The change in the Parliamentary arithmetic makes Britain’s exit from the EU all but certain and, with opinion split over the UK Government’s chances of securing a trade deal before the end of 2020 that will avoid the need to adopt WTO terms, it is essential that businesses take all possible steps to mitigate the effects of Britain’s withdrawal from the EU on their day-to-day activities.
Regardless of whether a ‘no deal’ Brexit is dodged or not, it seems inevitable that, initially at least, some increase in customs administration will lead to delays at the ports that will impact upon supply chains.
Companies can seek to mitigate against this kind of disruption by adopting a dual storage solution that splits inventory between the UK and mainland Europe.
Last year, Walker Logistics announced that it had entered a partnership agreement with German-owned Limal GmbH – an international sales and fulfilment services provider based some 40 miles north of Hamburg.
The deal allows Walker to offer its clients the opportunity to hold stock at Limal’s storage facilities, utilise their in-house sales platforms and fulfil orders bound for mainland Europe from these sites. In a reciprocal arrangement, it also means that Limal’s client base will be able to use Walker’s 250,000 sq ft multi-user storage facilities as the hub from where goods for the UK market can be stored and dispatched.
Walker are also currently in negotiations with other European fulfilment specialists that will allow increased capacity to provide Europe-wide supply chain services in the post-Brexit environment.