DB Schenker has halted shipments to the UK with immediate effect. The Germany-based logistics giant cites the bureaucratic regulatory burden due to brexit as the reason. Existing orders will still be carried out.
DB Schenker announced on Wednesday that road transport between Europe and the UK was immediately suspended. Customers were advised to postpone all trade until further notice. It is unclear when the company plans to resume shipments.
In a statement, the freight forwarder wrote that customers were insufficiently prepared for brexit. Customs declarations were entered correctly in only 10 per cent of cases, DB Schenker said. There would be a constant need for assistance in filling them out, especially for recipients in Britain. "Most recipients in Britain have never dealt with customs procedures before and need more information about the new regulations."
Customers are outraged by the abrupt halt. A company with the clout and international experience of DB Schenker could have prepared better, it sounds.
In the first week of the new year, the consequences of brexit still seemed manageable; there were few shipments. In recent days, more problems arose, evofenedex and TLN also note. To the Volkskrant, evofenedex informs that, for example, when transporting animal products such as meat, things go wrong on both sides. In fact, this is where most of the new rules apply. For vegetables, fruit, flowers and plants, this applies to a lesser extent, as controls on these will be phased in in the first half of 2021.
