Local firm boost exports

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A growing number of local exporters from across the South Coast are being supported with their shipments by Southampton firm Europa Road, who have reported successful growth. For the past decade, the Southampton [2] office of road freight operator Europa Road [3] has been supporting importers and exporters from the across the South Coast. Celebrating 10 years in post, Toton-based Branch Manager John Moy reflects on how the landscape has changed, and how four years after Britain's departure from the European Union [4] road freight operator [5] Europa Road is now safely back offering pre-Brexit transit times.

Europa Road is the European road freight division of the UK's largest independent operator Europa Worldwide Group [6], headquartered in Dartford.

Andrew Baxter and John Moy

The Southampton team of 18 (based across two sites) facilitates the transport of a huge variety of goods, such as those exporting in the marine sector, for which the area is famous. "Ugly freight" - a term used to describe odd-shaped goods that are tricky to transport because of their size, shape and fragility, as well as diverse goods such as toys. Other niche sectors for the team include the interiors and furniture sectors, all of which need time certain deliveries. As well as supporting local exporters, Europa in Southampton imports goods for some very specialised customers such as wine from France, Italy and Spain a sector which is experiencing annual growth of around 10 per cent.

This fact has helped Southampton become one of Europa's largest importing branches - of its 17 offices across the UK and Ireland. Known as the "Gateway to the World" Southampton is a significant site for Europa with multiple ports, an airport as well as developing new sectors such as tech and life science industries. [1]The Port of Southampton is the UK's number one hub for deep sea trade, Southampton handles exports worth GBP40 billion annually. John Moy, Branch Manager for Europa in Southampton comments "It continues to be a tough time for exporters in general, but we appreciate that exporting offers many opportunities for businesses to grow, so are pleased that we have invested in our infrastructure resulting in improved delivery times for our customers, returning to Pre-Brexit times.

"We know that many UK exporters simply stopped shipping to the EU overnight due to the customs challenges and complexities. That's why we created Europa Flow [7] following GBP5m investment in technology and infrastructure, this eases exports to the EU on DDP terms. Europa Flow eliminates hassle by removing the need to appoint a customs broker, complete import declarations or pay import duties, whilst the process zero rates the import VAT.

"Since the launch of the pioneering service, we have delivered over 400,000 consignments. Across the country about 50 per cent of all the company's UK groupage exports now use DDP but in our area this is around 65 per cent, demonstrating the huge local demand for hassle free exports." Europa is currently offering transit times to Hungary in 4.1 days, Italy in 3.9 days, Denmark in 3.5 days and Germany in 3.1 days.

It also offers a no quibble Money Back Guarantee on all European freight options - groupage, part and full loads, and dedicated vans. The company's 1Hub is strategically located close to the Dartford Crossing and comprises of 26,368 sq. transit hub, built in 2015. Adrian Redmile [8], Branch and Sales Director at Europa Worldwide Group adds: "Over the past 10 years John and the Southampton team have supported customers with an excellent service, through some challenging times.

We know these South Coast exporters have been grappling with delays on time-critical consignments over the past few years, so we're delighted to have returned to offering pre-Brexit delivery times whatever the goods shipped."

[1] https://www.abports.co.uk/locations/southampton/

References

^ Visit Shots! now (www.shotstv.com)
^ Southampton (www.portsmouth.co.uk)
^ Europa Road (www.europa-worldwide.com)
^ European Union (www.portsmouth.co.uk)
^ road freight operator (www.europa-worldwide.com)
^ Europa Worldwide Group (www.europa-worldwide.com)
^ Europa Flow (www.europa-worldwide.com)
^ Adrian Redmile (www.linkedin.com)