With the holiday season over, the new school term underway, a resurgence of traffic jams, the premature arrival of autumn leaving a distinct chill in the air, more flooding across the UK and the relentless credit crunch negativity from the media, one is left scratching around for good news.
Conversely, we congratulate Team GB along with the rest of the UK and watch with the greatest admiration our Paralympic team notching up the gold medals with comparative ease. The run up to 2012 should provide a myriad of opportunities for our industry in the UK, which can only be positive.
Congratulations to our vice-president, Henri Lambriex - we were delighted to hear that Greencell had recently become part of the Westfalia group. We wish Henri and his team every success for the future.
Along with a number of our members we have been working with Business Link on the International Trade Single Window (ITSW) and we need your input again. Business Link is currently working with HMT and BERR to identify burdens on international traders and we have been asked for information. HMT will focus on the food sector to identify the regulatory and administration burdens that face importers and exporters in this area.
There is potential at the very least to substantially reduce or even remove this burden with a possible change in legislation and the implementation of assisting IT solutions. Your consideration of government-controlled burdens in your business, including EU legislation, would be greatly valued.
We continue to work closely with DEFRA Plant Health and we are consistently lobbying to achieve a realistic outcome from this ongoing saga. We will keep you advised of updated information in the coming weeks.
We have arranged two port visits before the end of the year, which have proven immensely popular. We are fully booked for a tour of Tilbury Container Services (TCS) fresh produce terminal next week. I look forward to seeing you and thank TCS in advance for kindly hosting this visit. In November, we have arranged a visit to the Port of Liverpool’s new terminal courtesy of Go-Associates, as well as a visit to our friends at the city’s wholesale market.