SOLAS Container Weighing Regulations - VGM - Full Container Ocean Shipments - just 7 days to go - are you ready?

Good afternoon All

Many UK importers and exporters are hopefully aware of the new SOLAS (Safety Of Life At Sea) regulations coming into effect from July 1st 2016 to ensure that container vessels are not overloaded and don't in turn, place lives and vessels at risk.

The new law insists that shippers take legal responsibility for the declaration of a Verified Gross Mass (VGM) either involving them weighing the complete container (Method 1) or their cargo and the empty container weight (Method 2).

Although these changes have been publicized for at least 6 months, it is fair to say that the industry stakeholders in this change (freight forwarders, shipping lines, port operators) have struggled to communicate / collaborate effectively and in some regions such as Asia and the USA, it is very concerning that the industry is either down to the wire or just plain "not ready" and more importantly, freight forwarders seem to have been slow to advise their customers/shippers how to comply with the law and what they need to do from July 1st.

The region of most concern seems to be Asia, where the industry seems only to have woken up to the regulation change in the last 15-30 day, having said that, the USA is also lagging behind.

So why should you as a UK exporter or importer be concerned? Well, if you or your freight forwarder are not ready to comply from July 1st, your containers will be delayed and in turn, your end customers will be affected with missed deadlines or stock shortages..

Here in the UK, the area we see the biggest area of concern is for UK importers, who may think they won't be affected as they don't load containers however they will be affected, as their overseas suppliers will need to comply and what we've seen ourselves is that this really important area has been missed

From our side, we've been monitoring the situation very closely for 3-4 months and have ensured that all of our customers' overseas suppliers have been contacted and are ready to play their part in ensuring a smooth transition.

If you are a UK exporter or importer and you're not aware or don't feel that your freight forwarder is on top of this regulation change, we suggest you get in touch with them urgently and ask for an update on how they intend to ensure that the flow of containers from overseas suppliers or to your international customers will not be disrupted.

If you need any help to ensure either you or your overseas suppliers are ready for the big chamge, please do contact us. We'll also probably find that you're actually paying too much for your freight costs and given that the USD is very strong at the moment, most companies want to try and reduce their landed costs to ensure they preserve their profit margins. We operate gain share / shared savings fee models which are very appealing to customers as they're results based and the customer doesn't have to spend days of their valuable time carrying out this complicated exercise.

Just take a look at our website if you're interested, it may be the best decision you've made in 2016.

Andy Cliff is an industry professional who launched his own logistics consultancy, Straightforward Consultancy Ltd (SCL) after a 30 year career in international logistics, working for companies such as DB Schenker, Kuehne & Nagel and DHL Global Forwarding in operational, sales and management roles.

Andy is part of the  judging panel for the 2016 Global Freight Awards, his second year in this prestigious role. The awards recognize quality, innovation and performance in the field of international logistics.  

Andy felt that in an increasingly complex and confusing world of logistics, UK importers and exporters needed a company alongside them which could help them to reduce costs, lessen their workload and provide expert advice and support day-to-day. 

Straightforward Consultancy - the story in a nutshell...

Good evening All

It's hard to believe that Straightforward Consultancy came to life 6 years ago, following my departure from DHL and a desire to do something very different.

I decided to use my industry experience to help UK importers & exporters to reduce their freight and related costs and with our market knowledge and our network of industry contacts, we could also improve service levels and monitor and manage the freight and Customs side of their business for them and it's been a big success, with some great customer feedback and loyalty.

Even now,  years after the recession first hit, many companies are nervous about the economic outlook for 2016 and their margins are still under, as their costs have risen but their own selling prices have remained flat or have been driven down. The USD has also been very strong for around 6 months (below USD 1.50) which hurts importers in particular.

Many companies would like to review their logistics spend and carrier performance however freight and Customs is justifiably regarded as a complex area and most don't have the time or expertise in house.. To add to that, the sheer number of freight forwarders, services and rate options add to their dilemma, and afraid of making things worse, they stay with their existing freight model, wasting money and missing out on a better service. 

We offer free consultations to interested companies and often uncover potential +30% savings which surprises customers but we know what to look for and the best solution for their needs.

We operate a results-based gain share fee model, leaving clients with nett savings of over 60% so really they have nothing to lose!

We also have a great deal of Customs knowledge, which we've used to great effect, be that supporting a company through a Customs investigation or helping them to recover overpaid duties. We also help customers to dramatically improve their Customs Compliance, so any future Customs visits are no longer something to fear.

When I was asked to judge at the Global Freight Awards last year (and again in 2016) I was surprised and flattered, but I suppose we had been in the media, writing articles and blogs for a couple of years and we had become well known and respected, not just by our customers, but also importantly by the logistics providers that we had worked with and so that was clearly noticed by Lloyds Loading List who run the awards.

If you want to read more about my background, please review my LinkedIn profile or our blog.
Straightforward Consultancy Blog

LinkedIn Profile

Please follow me on Twitter @AndyCliffSCL, visit our website www.straightforwardconsultancy.co.uk  and our blog http://straightforwardconsultancy.blogspot.co.uk/

Andy Cliff is an industry professional who launched his own logistics consultancy, Straightforward Consultancy Ltd (SCL) after a 30 year career in international logistics, working for companies such as DB Schenker, Kuehne & Nagel and DHL Global Forwarding in operational, sales and management roles.

Andy is part of the  judging panel for the 2016 Global Freight Awards, his second year in this prestigious role. The awards recognize quality, innovation and performance in the field of international logistics.  

Andy felt that in an increasingly complex and confusing world of logistics, UK importers and exporters needed a company alongside them which could help them to reduce costs, lessen their workload and provide expert advice and support day-to-day. 

Sterling is under pressure due to BREXIT concerns - or is it?

As we watched the evening news yesterday, we were told that the pound fell, apparently linked to the concerns that Britain will leave the EU, so alarm bells were ringing across the City - and people should be worried.

In the spirit of balance and objectivity, can we just hang on a minute here?

We monitor the pound against key currencies each day as we verify freight costs as part of the freight management service for our import and export clients (most freight costs are charged in USD) and frankly I find that headline alarmist and designed to frighten people about what may happen if we leave the EU, regardless of your views.

Please let me provide some facts on Sterling over the last 6 months which you can clearly see below in the concise report we've compiled this morning, logging the exchange rate at 1 month intervals against major currencies, using the Bank Of England database as our source. 

Sterling has been far weaker than it is today, particularly in April 2016, when you can see it was weaker against the USD and the EURO which put this into a more balanced context and it also shows that Sterling is pretty resilient. On 26-Feb it actually fell to USD 1.38, 6 cents below yesterday's level.

The government also tells us that if the pound falls, we will see inflation however despite 6 months of a weak pound, there's no evidence of that in UK inflation figures, and of course a weaker pound gives our UK exporters a vital edge in a really competitive global economy. Again, our government is keen to push exports via the Exporting Is Great initiative via UKTI so can the media and government please stop pushing the Project Fear agenda and report in a much more balanced way.

Please follow me on Twitter @AndyCliffSCL, visit our website www.straightforwardconsultancy.co.uk  and our blog http://straightforwardconsultancy.blogspot.co.uk/

Andy Cliff is an industry professional who launched his own logistics consultancy, Straightforward Consultancy Ltd (SCL) after a 30 year career in international logistics, working for companies such as DB Schenker, Kuehne & Nagel and DHL Global Forwarding in operational, sales and management roles.

Andy is part of the  judging panel for the 2016 Global Freight Awards, his second year in this prestigious role. The awards recognize quality, innovation and performance in the field of international logistics.  

Andy felt that in an increasingly complex and confusing world of logistics, UK importers and exporters needed a company alongside them which could help them to reduce costs, lessen their workload and provide expert advice and support day-to-day.