Northampton, UK: Dachser’s Smart Border Connect is proving a game changer, the company says.
Mark Rollinson, regional managing director, Dachser UK and Ireland, says the company’s Smart Border Connect clears many of the hurdles now in place at the UK border, which in turn gives British exporters straightforward access to the EU market.
“We’ve come up with a tailored customs solution that, for UK exporters trading on DDP incoterms, returns to the historical drivers of logistics purchasing: short transit times and service quality. And all at competitive prices,” he says.
For EU member countries, seamless groupage logistics throughout Europe sounds like the most natural thing in the world. In 2023, the Dachser network alone transported more than 64 million shipments within Europe—without domestic market borders, which meant no customs clearance and none of the considerable administrative and regulatory expense that goes with it.
But this natural order was (in)famously upset by Brexit. Several international companies that were able to began relocating their UK operations to the European mainland. “But this simply wasn’t an option for many small and medium-sized enterprises. Instead, they had to find their own solutions for dealing with the new, complex, and at first entirely confusing consequences of Brexit,” Rollinson says.
“People at those companies endured many sleepless nights, as did I. We certainly didn’t want to lose our connection to Dachser’s European network as a result of customs hurdles.”
”Smart Border Connect help sUK exporters minimise the effects of Brexit for their EU customers,” says Alexander Tonn, chief operations officer, Road Logistics. “Thanks to preclearance, they can now offer their European target markets transit times similar to the pre-Brexit era.
In response to Brexit, Dachser has introduced a portal for customs documents and assisted its own customs hub in expanding shared service centre structures for various countries. Building on this work, and incorporating many ideas generated by the Dachser UK think tank, the Smart Border Connect solution was launched in February 2024. It provides a framework for Dachser to transport goods on behalf of UK customers mostly via the French smart border— and on to the rest of Europe—quickly, reliably, and smoothly while also handling all matters relating to customs, taxes, and duties. What’s more, transit times for regular groupage services are roughly what they were before Brexit. Exporters in the UK using this service can breathe a sigh of relief, the company says.
It is based on delivered duty paid (DDP) Incoterms. Since DDP makes the sender responsible for customs clearance duties and VAT, the customer no longer has to pay to receive the shipment. The goods can then be delivered in free circulation just like a domestic shipment with no increase in transit time or administrative effort. “Since we introduced Smart Border Connect, we’ve experienced a surge in demand from existing and new customers alike.
Many customers decided to adopt DDP Incoterms for their shipments in order to benefit from DAachser’s transit times, which are the shortest on the market,” Cosgrove says. “We really struck a chord here.” “Smart Border Connect is of interest not only to the UK,” Rollinson adds, “but to third countries as well—for instance, to integrate additional non-EU countries like Switzerland and Norway.
It’s going to get really exciting when Dachser integrates its European Logistics and air and sea logistics business fields even more closely with a view to offering a global door-to-door groupage solution. With Smart Border Connect in the toolbox, this knowledge has the potential to bring old and new growth markets around the world closer together and make them more efficient.” Cosgrove adds, “It’s definitely going to be another game changer.” Is that an exaggeration? Perhaps—but if anyone knows, it’s the people of the UK.