Comment: Mike Parr of PML Seafrigo lays bare the continuing complications and disruption experienced by hauliers at the UK border as 2025 looks set to be another challenging year for supply chains
The UK logistics sector has been hit hard by the added cost, complexity and uncertainty of trading since Brexit. And the government continues to make life difficult. The Safety & Security (S&S) declarations due to come into force at the end of January will affect hauliers handling imported goods if they are not suitably prepared.
To be fully compliant, regulated products coming into the UK must have the correct Phytosanitary or Health (Sanitary) documentation raised by the exporter, and the documentation needs to be sent to the importer or their intermediary prior to the shipment’s arrival in the UK.
Such goods must be pre-notified on the Import of Products, Animals, Food and Feed System (IPAFFS) and documents need to be sent to the importer or their intermediary prior to the shipment’s arrival in Britain. If selected for a physical examination, then goods need to be presented to an Inland Border Facility or a Control Point, as selected in IPAFFS.
As has been widely debated, this is likely to cause severe disruption to the importer, the retailer and ultimately the consumer. PML Seafrigo has raised the question with customs of why the S&S declarations cannot be consolidated within the pre-lodged import declarations, which hauliers are already expected to submit. To date, we’ve received no response to this logical suggestion.
Looking at the S&S declarations from the exporter’s perspective, we are aware that phytosanitary certificates (PCs) can take anything up to five days to raise, dependent on the availability of an Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) official.
For certain crops, such as berries, this five-day window is inconsistent with the exporter being able to assess whether or not the product is ready for export on that specific date. We know that countries such as The Netherlands have embraced technology to overcome these issues, allowing the producer to send a video to the Defra equivalent. If there is no response within two hours, this is interpreted as immediate approval. Why can the same approach not be adopted in the UK?
The voluntary Plant Health Exports Audited Trader Scheme (PHEATS) enabled authorised persons to perform certain phytosanitary actions and carry out their own inspections, thereby raising PCs in house post-inspection by staff wo have been trained by Defra.
The scheme was launched as a pilot, but at this juncture there is no firm indication of it being rolled out to exporters or their agents. In addition, the cost of entry to the scheme in terms of both hours and fees is cost-prohibitive to some growers, impacting on their ability to profit from the valuable export market.
Add to the above the regular government U-turns, which I’ve vocalised on numerous occasions, and you have the perfect storm. Not only are these frustrating, they also represent a considerable waste of time as forwarders and businesses dedicate costly resource to ensuring they remain up to date with the latest import and export protocols.
I commented last year that hauliers are already showing a resistance to transporting goods to the UK due to the increased checks and associated disruption. The net result will be less fruit and vegetables on the shelves and higher prices, caused by less hauliers moving goods, the reduced shelf life and even destruction of consignments following delays, and more producers simply being unable to deal with the rising costs associated with exporting to the UK.
Without wishing to sound like a broken record, this is once again an example of the government failing to pay heed to those working at the coalface. 2025 is destined to be a very challenging year for all those involved in the perishable food supply chain.
