Already established in the UK for ten years, customs software specialist Conex is expanding its European network with the creation of a German office in Saarbrücken. The move extends the company’s solutions to ten European countries, giving UK importers, exporters and customs professionals broader support for managing customs operations across the UK and continental Europe.
The creation of Conex GmbH comes at a time of major transformation in the European customs market, driven by the customs reform initiated by the European Union and the growing digitalisation of procedures.
This evolution is opening up new opportunities for solutions that can support companies across several markets simultaneously. Building on a common application foundation that adapts to the regulatory and operational requirements of each country, Conex has chosen to set up a local team dedicated to the German-speaking market, with in-depth knowledge of its customs requirements.
Conex is also deploying its AI agents to this market, automating tariff classification and the extraction of data from commercial and logistics documents for the preparation of customs formalities. The aim is to reduce repetitive manual work while improving the reliability of the data used to prepare customs formalities.
“Germany is one of the European Union’s leading import and export economies. With Conex GmbH, we aim to establish a strong presence in this dynamic market, working closely with businesses and their customs challenges. We offer them the benefit of our experience built over more than 40 years: solid industry expertise and technology that simplifies and secures the management of their flows, via a European hub where their customs operations in all the countries in which they operate converge,” says Bertrand Gruson (pictured), President of the Conex Group.
What the German expansion means for UK customers
For UK customers, the value of the expansion lies in being able to manage a growing number of European customs operations within the same Conex technology environment, while retaining the local regulatory expertise required in each country.
“UK businesses trading with Europe now have to deal with several customs environments at the same time. Germany is a major market for many of them, so establishing a local presence there strengthens the support we can provide across their European operations. It also means they can benefit from the same technology and automation tools across more markets, while keeping the local expertise that customs requires,” says Paul Grobler, International Development, UK & Ireland, Conex.
With subsidiaries in Belgium, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark, the group also provides operational and regulatory coverage in Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway: with the addition of Germany, its solutions now cover ten European countries. For UK companies with cross-border supply chains, this means access to a wider European network from an existing presence in the UK.
