BIFAlink June 2022

BIFAlink June 2022

June 2022 The magazine of the British International Freight Association BIFA link Issue: 382 Transitioning from CHIEF to CDS www.bifa.org 6: News Outcome of Member survey on container shipping market 8: BIFA Awards BIFA Specialist Services Award winner YSDS 10: Policy & Compliance Government announces delays to final stages of implementing border controls INSIDE

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Robert Keen’s Column

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BIFA seeks compensation for Members

BIFAlink is the official magazine of the British International Freight Association Redfern House, Browells Lane, Feltham TW13 7EP Tel: 020 8844 2266

In response to the government’s decision to postpone the next phase of the Border Operating Model, which was scheduled for implementation on 1 July, we have written to Jacob Rees-Mogg, Minister of State for Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency, to request that a mechanism be created to compensate the trade association’s Members for the financial losses that they have incurred as a result of making investments in IT and software, staff, premises and equipment, that are most likely not now going to be required. In the letter, we make it clear that BIFA Members have done exactly what

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government requested in order to facilitate the changes that result from the Border Operating Model. The letter reminds the government of the huge contribution that the freight forwarding sector has made in keeping the UK’s trade flowing during both the recent pandemic and the implementation of the Stages 1 and 2 of the Border Operating Model. BIFA believes that some form of compensation is entirely reasonable, and we are liaising with other sector trade associations whose members have been similarly impacted. A colleague recently observed to me that looking back to March 2020, coping with new COVID-19 restrictions was a lot easier than emerging from them. We quickly adapted to the necessity of re-engineering our services and communication methods to maintain our capabilities in providing dialogue and training to our Members. An ongoing dilemma for us is the return to face-to-face meetings, either around the UK or at the regular policy group meetings regarding Customs, Air, Surface Transport or Legal matters. The widespread adoption of video conferencing using Microsoft Teams or Zoom has enabled BIFA Members to simply ‘tune in’ for technical or legislative updates without leaving the office. This has been impacted by the huge surge of work in handling the consequences of EU Exit where BIFA Members have little free time. Our goal is to develop regular UK-wide updates on the information BIFA Members need, but we are mindful that many of you are looking forward to seeing each other again and we are working on ways to facilitate this. Freight forwarding growth Staying with the impacts of COVID-19, a recent article in the publication Transport Intelligence stated that global freight forwarding had grown by over 11% in 2021, the fastest expansion in a decade. Growth was led by air forwarding, which expanded at more than double the rate of the seafreight forwarding market and was driven by strong demand for goods, as well as supply chain bottlenecks in the sea and land transport. Of course, there are clouds on the horizon with inflation, the war in Ukraine and low consumer confidence denting the prospects for 2022. Certainly, empirical evidence from many BIFA Members is that they are extremely busy and the growth in the UK is mirrored by our membership growing to yet another all-time high at the end of 2021. We still lack clear direction from government, with the recent Queen’s Speech indicating possible changes to the Northern Ireland Protocol, which will no doubt bring further friction. Prior to the speech, the media suggested it would include widespread initiatives to ‘digitalise trade’ but this turned out to have been a red herring with nothing of substance apparent. The problem with ‘digitising trade’ is that there is no clear definition of what it actually means – and there are significant privacy and security issues. There is a deep mistrust of parties holding >Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24

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