Challenge
New barriers to EU seafood exports
The Scottish seafood industry faced major challenges trading with the EU after Brexit, as every consignment sent from the UK to the EU now requires an Export Health Certificate. This certificate must be issued by a veterinarian or environmental health officer, who must inspect the goods. Before Brexit, this service was only available locally and typically cost £80–£100 per consignment.
The challenge for the industry was to continue trading in a cost-effective way. As part of a group initiative, DFDS sought a solution that simplified the process and offered a manageable price for all customers, regardless of size.
Solution
Simplifying seafood export procedures
DFDS worked with the Scottish Government to push for Larkhall to become a health certification hub for salmon and seafood.
"We wanted to centralise, simplify and streamline the certification process for our customers. Not only are these certificates difficult to get hold of, due to the lack of environmental health officers. The cost for our small customers can make the export process extremely costly. DFDS want a solution that supports all of the salmon and seafood industry." - David Cranston, Export Operations Manager, DFDS Logistics Scotland
Results
Sustainable and streamlined exporting
Larkhall is the first depot with this status, allowing customers to continue sending small consignments while paying a rate per kilo. The reduced number of Export Health Certificates also simplifies procedures for customs officials, with less paperwork to process. We now have an optimal setup to keep moving all our customers' goods from Larkhall post-Brexit, at a competitive rate.
“We can now finally offer our customers a one-stop shop for health certification. There are two benefits for customers choosing this option. One is that we have environmental health officials onsite who perform the health certification process at the point of departure as of 1 January 2021. The second is that we have managed to come to an agreement with government regarding shipping multiple consignments. This means, rather than producing one certificate per consignment which can be extremely costly, we can now group multiple consignments onto the one certificate which allows DFDS to split the cost of certification across our customers, providing a saving to our customers and a cost-effective way to export." - David Cranston, Export Operations Manager, DFDS Logistics Scotland
