Nijmegen provides Freight Network with Europe Gateway

Since the UK voted to leave the EU in June 2016, Palletways, an Imperial Group company and Europe’s largest and fastest growing express palletised freight network, has been working hard to ensure the business is well prepared to continue to deliver a high-quality service for its members and customers. Part of this preparation involved creating strategic import and export customs clearance sites to avoid delays to shipments.

Palletways Benelux’s Nijmegen hub has been prepared as one of the company’s key entry points to mainland Europe at the end of the Brexit transition period on 31 December. The hub, located in the Gelderland region, Netherlands’s oldest city lies close to the German border. The Hub is now licensed through the Imperial Group to carry out import and export clearance for goods coming into and leaving Europe. All Hub employees have received in-depth training on how to handle import and export goods.

Rob Gittins, managing director of Palletways UK, said: “Despite Brexit creating a number of challenges for logisticians to overcome, it has also acted as a catalyst to make the supply chain more flexible. We’re confident we have the infrastructure, expertise and local knowledge in place to guide our members and customers through this period of change. Our dedicated customer service team supports our partners in all aspects of international shipments. They have in-depth knowledge of the entire international network, so can provide expert advice on local and international regulations and offer support to find the best way to ship customer pallets with the network.

“The Nijmegen hub was selected for its strategically close location to the UK mainland and for its access to central and Eastern Europe, as well as the in-depth customs knowledge that is helping to position the business as the first choice for international palletised freight.”

Palletways has also offered certified and fully accredited training for its +115 members in the UK in partnership with the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce. The training provided an understanding of what Brexit will mean for the logistics sector, Palletways, its members and their customers. Digitally delivered, it covered export and import terminology and processes including sanctions and embargoes, terms and documents and the implications for trade and how to understand commodity codes and customs procedures.