The External Temporary Storage Facility (ETSF), based at Worminghall, Buckinghamshire, was opened in early December and offers a simplified in-house customs clearance service which is said to make “significant savings” for customers who operate internationally, both importing and exporting, from the UK.
UKPW said its customers will benefit from having just the one point of contact for customs clearance. The entire customs process is also said to be quicker as all the paperwork, duty payments and compliance is completed away from the UK border, avoiding the delays, disruption and additional cost caused by bottlenecks at the border that have been exacerbated by the challenges of Brexit and Covid-19.
From 1 January exports between Great Britain and the EU have been subject to full customs controls.
Goods will reach their final destination in a fast, smooth and customs compliant way, UKPW added, and in some cases the paperwork can be completed in advance, making the delivery process even quicker.
As an HMRC accredited Authorised Economic Operator (AEO), UKPW said it is one of only a few delivery companies approved to offer customs clearance services.
The process sees customers send a pre-alert and upload their shipping manifest to UKPW’s parcel system, Savvy. A customs record is then created, and the tax is calculated. Goods arrive and UKPW will collect the tax from the customer and pay HMRC on their behalf.
UKPW then scans the goods and validates against the manifest before releasing them to the final mile carrier. Savvy continues to provide 24/7 tracking of the goods until they reach their final destination, providing complete visibility and transparency to the customer. UKPW retains all customs records as proof for the customer, if later requested by HMRC.
UKP Worldwide chief executive Lee Bucktrout said: “It’s a very exciting time for us as our e-commerce business is growing substantially and we are investing resources into our customs clearance services to fulfil that demand.
“We offer our customers a simplified one-stop solution removing the hurdles that can come from moving goods through UK customs, particularly in these uncertain times for cross-border supply chains. Our new hub in Buckinghamshire will deliver significant savings for our customers and keep their supply chain moving, and most importantly, their customers satisfied.
“We look forward to welcoming new business to UKPW in the weeks and months ahead.”
UKPW has been shipping goods internationally for over 20 years and today ships tens of thousands of items every week to destinations across the world.
