Reading, UK: Customs changes coming in tomorrow (1 January 2022) could lead to delays and goods not being able to get across the border, warns Cold Chain Federation chief executive Shane Brennan.
Businesses will have to start customs declarations for the first time in 40 years and many smaller EU firms are unprepared for the changes.
Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme, Brennan said that some small EU firms may simply now decide it’s too costly/ complicated to export goods to the UK.
Companies bringing food into the UK will need to make a declaration about food safety, which is a new process; make a customs declaration; and make a declaration about the goods that are moving through the port.
“ So there are three different process that you have to complete, all of which have to be in synchronisation and that is a big barrier, or a big potential thing to go wrong, when moving goods through the border,” says Brennan.
“What we’re really worried about is businesses across the European Union, they’re the ones that have to make a change now – we’re worried about how prepared they are.
“So we’re worried about delays, we’re worried about goods not being able to get across the border.
“It’s really about what happens in the chain, what happens in the depots. When my members turn up with their lorries at a business in Italy, for example, is that customer ready to dispatch these goods? It could be here that we see the real problems and what worries us is that preparedness from the EU side.”
Talking to the Guardian, Brennan said speciality food imports could face the same 70% decline that affected exports of food by small businesses this year after Britain quit the EU single market and customs union.
Extra costs that could amount to £300 to £400 for each lorry load of goods will mean sales of food to EU countries in small batches could become uneconomic, said the CCF.
“The big casualty of these trade barriers is the business that needs to import small and frequent quantities across borders – a pallet load of speciality cheeses or boxes of onion powder. This is the sort of trade that is going to suffer,” said Brennan.
“This is a much more inflexible, and a much more costly process. This is the long-term change that we’re seeing in our food supply chain.”
He says that the UK government has made assurances that it will take a pragmatic approach in the first few days and weeks when the new customs changes are introduced.
