Grant gives €9k for every full-time staff member employed to handle customs

For Emerald Freight Express it’s likely to be a busy day, moving goods for client companies all around the globe, including into and out of the UK, says Anna Barden, financial director.

Securing the grant from Enterprise Ireland helped bring the company to this position of strength.

“We’re a one-stop-shop for air, sea and road, import and export, including warehouse and 3PL or ‘third party logistics’,” explains Barden.

The company has a highly trained team of 28 and has been a certified authorised economic operator (AEO) since 2011.

As a trusted provider of freight forwarding services, it helps its clients to ship their goods around the globe.

Right now, however, all eyes are on the UK and what 1st of January will mean for goods being shipped to, from and through the UK.

Keeping focused

Not alone is Emerald Freight Express set to provide new customs services to new customers, it has expanded the customs services it offers existing ones too, she points out.

To ensure it could continue to provide a premium service to all customers, Emerald Freight Express had to invest heavily in personnel, office space, and IT systems.

“When the Brexit vote happened, we had a huge volume of enquiries from people panicking about what they were going to do,” says Anna Barden.

The team worked with each caller, helping them to determine the decisions they needed to make about things like who was going to handle customs clearances and the need to get an EORI (economic operators’ registration and identification) number or register for UK VAT.

Challenging year

All in all, it has been a hugely challenging year. “With recruitment costs, IT costs and training costs, we have had an enormous outlay in terms of getting ready for Brexit. But it was really important to ensure we continued to service our existing clients, and new ones, to the highest standards,” says Anna Barden.

This was an investment we had to make. The Ready for Customs grant allowed us that cushion we needed to get it done.

While there will be a steep learning curve for everyone in January, as well as, most likely, delays, the management team at Emerald Freight is already looking beyond the challenges to the new opportunities Brexit will give rise to.

For a start, clients for whom it previously looked after only Far East or US freight are now coming to it to handle their UK business as well.

“With every challenge comes opportunity,” says Anna Barden. “At the same time, you have to be able to stand over what you promise and be able to deliver on what you say. We now have the talent, the systems and the tools in place to do just that.”

She recommends other businesses looking to get ready for customs should check out Enterprise Ireland’s new Ready for Customs grant, which provides up to €9,000 for every new full-time staff member employed to handle customs or half that amount for a new part-timer.

“The application process for the grant was very straight forward and we got confirmation of approval within two weeks,” says Barden.

“We have the skills and the systems in place now to deal with anything that is going to happen on 1st January.”

Learn more about the Ready for Customs grants here