Cross-channel trade continues to grow despite Brexit fears

by Martin Banks

There have been some fears expressed recently that in the event of a "no deal" scenario and a hard trade border the UK would have to invest in 20 square kilometres of lorry parking at each major UK port. But the president and CEO of DFDS, Niels Smedegaard, says he is confident all efforts will be made by both sides to protect trading links between the UK and Europe. He said: "This is in line with our expectations that all parties will be interested in protecting trade for the benefit of growth and jobs in the countries involved, and we hope the proposal will pave the way for a positive agreement."

In spite of the ongoing Brexit negotiations between the UK and EU, DFDS continued to increase its volumes on the North Sea freight routes to and from the UK. It says that continued growth in the UK and EU economies is "good news for all." DFDS' recently published Q2 results were the best ever recorded in the company and this was, among other things, "due to a very positive development in trade across the North Sea." During this period, DFDS' routes carried 6% more trailers between ports in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium and ports in the UK.

Smedegaard said, "The UK is our largest freight market, and we are encouraged by the positive development which we have seen year-on-year in spite of the discussion about possible Brexit effects." The Bank of England said it expects the UK economy to grow by 1.6% in 2017, and UK export volumes have picked up since the British pound depreciated after the Brexit vote in June 2016.

Smedegaard added,"As we are also seeing positive developments in the EU economies as a whole, we are confident about the future. This is good news and supports our plan of deploying larger and more environmentally friendly ships on our North Sea routes in 2019 and 2020. "It is also good news for the customers, manufacturers, exporters and transport companies we serve. Continued growth in trade will enable them to grow or maintain their activities and the many jobs they create," he says.

Meanwhile, DFDS says that digitisation of its business is gaining momentum and has just unveiled a new !"Freight Ferry Alerts" app that it says will provide customers with "easy and immediate access to information they need." Sean Potter, Freight Shipping Digital Officer, said, "The new app supports our freight shipping digital strategy and are our concrete responses to feedback from the Customer Focus Surveys in which our freight clients said that they would like us to be even easier to work with, that we come up with solutions and communicate fast. This is exactly what our app does, even though it is still at an initial stage and will be further developed quickly."

With the new app for freight drivers and planners on the Dover - Dunkirk & Calais routes, customers can follow the sailings they are interested in and get push notifications when check-in is open, when it closes, whether the sailing is delayed and if there is any other information relevant to their crossing. The app was completed last week in 10 languages and released into Google Play and the Apple Store for download. Further comment comes from Wayne Bullen, Freight Sales Director, said, "This app was developed to give an immediate market advantage on the Channel with regard to communications with drivers, and we see many advantages in being able to communicate directly with them. We have high expectations of the app and we are confident that it will add value to our freight business."