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Export Health Certification Hub

Challenge

The Scottish Seafood Industry faced a significant challenge to trade with the EU bloc post-Brexit. The Seafood Industry required an Export Health Certificate for every consignment sent from the UK to the EU. To receive an Export Health Certificate, it must be produced by a veterinarian or environmental health officer who would be required to inspect the goods. At the time prior to Brexit this service could only be produced locally and would cost approximately 80-100 pounds per one consignment.

The challenge for the Industry was to continue to trade in a cost-effective manner. As part of a group Initiative, DFDS pursued a solution that simplified this process, at a price that was manageable for all customers, regardless of size.

Solution

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." Says Scotland’s Export Operations Manager David Cranston

Results

“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." says Scotland’s Export Operations Manager David Cranston

Larkhall is the first depot with this status. It means that customers can continue to send small consignments and everyone pays a rate per kilo. The reduced number of Export Health Certificates also simplifies procedures on the receiving end, as there will be less paperwork for customs officials to process. We now have an optimal setup in place to keep moving all our customers goods out of Larkhall post-Brexit, at a competitive rate.

UK border control after December 31st 2020

As of 1 January 2021, cargo moving between the UK and the EU will have to undergo Customs formalities and border control. Here is an overview of people, systems and processes we have in place to help customers with their Customs needs.

Customs services

Logistics solutions for your industry

Our personalised supply chain solutions are designed not only to meet the demands of your own sector, but the needs of your particular business. Learn why a diverse range of industries – from automotive and chemicals to forest products and seafood – rely on DFDS every day.

See industry overview