It's over 3 years since the people of Britain voted to leave the European Union. Since then, we've all had enough time to get used to the idea of leaving the EU, as well as having to listen to politicians and Boris Johnson going on and on about the numerous deals they would cut when Britain leaves. While that lot in Parliament spend most of their time arguing about Brexit, things have started to change businesses already. For some sectors, we have already passed the point of no return despite the fact that Britain has not yet left the EU.

Courier, Logistics & Haulage Disruptions

One of the major disruptions that have formed as a result of the Brexit situation is the major uncertainty regarding the country’s future. This is the situation for the majority of industries, but it is being seen especially in the courier, logistics and haulage industry. As we don't actually know what the Brexit deal will be, or if there will even be a deal, courier companies are unable to provide customers with prices for the period following March 2020. In fact, we aren't even able to answer the most basic of questions from potential clients. As leaving the EU will impact trade routes, customs fees, taxes, and other types of haulage elements such as HGV refresher training, there is no way to determine how much prices and timescales will be influenced.

Freight Concerns

Early in the process of Brexit, certain concerns regarding Britain’s chance to continue trading in the EU. The FTA presented the government with various means of making customs borders operate after Brexit calling it the ‘Keep Britain Trading’ initiative. This detailed the various solutions and resources available to handle any problems Brexit would bring.

However, a list of the eight demands presented in the list to ‘Keep Britain Trading’ not a single essential has progressed.

Employment

There is particular concern for many van drivers, HGV drivers & other people employed in the industry. Already, there is a shortage of professional HGV drivers in Britain. Each year, 20,000 drivers leave the haulage industry and this leaves transport companies with a deficit in excess of 50,000 skilled drivers. The shortage of skills has been evident for a long time now and despite efforts to bring drivers into the profession, the haulage industry continues to face an employee shortage. If Brexit predicts a loss of approximately 40,000 haulage drivers, the driver shortage will increase by at least fifty per cent; therefore, resulting in a potential collapse of Britain’s business and trade infrastructure.

Brexit means various flaws in the country’s infrastructure are coming to light, resulting in many unpopular alterations. In the haulage industry, the changes are only in the beginning phases. Post-Brexit could see Britain’s roads being clogged with HGV’s attempting to cross EU borders since the new paperwork for lorries would mean a twenty minute delay of each vehicle at the Dover crossing. Thousands of qualified HGV driving professionals would have to re-do their qualifications or turn down other work in the European Union as the EU would no longer recognise driving licenses from the UK.

Brexit has already begun to cause problems in the haulage industry, and the issues mentioned above will continue to worsen as time goes on. Our hope is that the UK government come up with a suitable deal to maintain Britain’s trading, so we don't see a collapse of the UK Haulage industry.