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Brexit Expertise


Getting Ready for Brexit

Ace Express Freight have spent the last few years planning and preparing for Brexit, we believe that very few freight and logistics companies of our size have invested the time and resources that we have to ensure the minimum negative impact on our customers if the worst should happen.  

We are committed to our core customers in Ireland and the UK, many of whom have been with us for 30 years. We want our customers, partners and prospects to know that they can rely on us as their freight and logistics partner of choice during these challenging and uncertain times.

In order to be as prepared as possible for Brexit, we have implemented a company wide change management programme to ensure we can far exceed the required compliance levels and that we will continue to provide a seamless service to all our Irish, UK and European customers, no matter what the outcome or timing of Brexit. 

Initiatives include: 

  • Achieved the critical Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) status
  • Maintained ISO 9000, GDP (Good Distribution Practice), IATA, and IIFF standards
  • Increased Customs Clearance experts & facilities by 200%
  • Increased Bonded Warehousing capacity by 200%
  • Increased our Customs Deferred Payment Account by 100%
  • Commissioned a new IT System with full customs and customer integration
  • Set up a dedicated Customer Support Team to support our customers 
  • Recruited new staff and opened a new office in Northern Ireland
  • Ensure UK & European partners have required customs clearance and warehousing 
  • Grow our network of European Road Freight partners to open up new routes
  • Further develop our partnership with Hellmann Worldwide, operating in 173 countries
  • Expand our Irish agency for va-Q-tec temperature controlled Air Freight 

Our investment in Brexit preparedness will give us a key strategic advantage over other Freight Forwarding companies in Ireland, helping us to retain and recruit new Irish and International customers, and securing and growing our annum turnover. 

Brexit Initiatives 

The key obstacle facing Ace Express in recent years has been the uncertainty around the impact of Brexit on our Irish and International customer base. In order to retain existing customers and recruit new international clients and partners, it was essential to prove our capability to provide a seamless post Brexit freight service to and from the UK, and to showcase our capacity to serve European and Global markets via Road, Air and Ocean. 

To achieve this we had to undertake a complete review of our services and initiate a number of significant operational changes and strategic investments to prepare for Brexit. These included: 

New IT Infrastructure
We have commissioned a best in class Transport Management System which will ensure our customers can enjoy a seamless export / import service between their markets in the UK, Ireland, Europe and Internationally, no matter what the outcome of Brexit. The new system will streamline all areas of the business, connect us with our UK and European Customers, Agents and Partners; while fully integrating with both Revenue and HMRC to facilitate efficient and timely customs clearance with minimal manual intervention. This new IT infrastructure will be a seven figure investment in our Brexit preparedness.  

Increased Customs Clearance Capabilities by 200% 
Ace Express Freight are set up to become the market leaders in Customs Clearance due to our investment in IT and staff training in preparedness for Brexit. We have a customs clearance team onsite and we have retrained and doubled our customs clearance capacity to meet the increased demand post Brexit. In addition to these changes, Ace Express Freight have substantially expanded our facilities in regards to our customs deferred account, increasing it by 100%.

Bonded Warehousing Space Increased by 200%
We have also invested heavily in bonded warehousing space to increase our capacity by 200%. We have set up a new pop up warehouse extension and covered cross docking space, allowing us to store more freight for customers, load and unload lorries quickly and safely, and provide additional space to drop trailers in the event of port congestion. 

Achieving Excellence in Compliance 
We continue to operate to ISO 9000, GDP (Good Distribution Practice), IATA, and IIFF standards, and most importantly we have qualified and retained our Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) status. AEO status gives Ace Express Freight special preferences in the areas of custom clearances and the transit of goods under bond across Europe or third countries. 

Improved Customer Service 
In preparation for Brexit we have established a new cross functional customer service team to provide an excellent customer experience and one point of contact for our customers. The objective of the team is to take more time out to focus on addressing customer needs and building relationships, while providing a dedicated point of contact to give advice and support to customers in a more complex import and export environment post Brexit. 

Brexit Preparations

We have made a number of strategic investments to prepare for Brexit.

200%

Increase in Customs Clearance and Bonded Warehousing capacity

AEO

Qualified and retained our critical Authorised Economic Operator status.

Seven

Figure investment in new IT infrastructure and systems integration.

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