Södra prepares for Brexit

Since the transportation of goods into the country and the import customs clearance process is likely to take longer temporarily, inventory levels are being increased at all three UK distribution terminals - Dundee, New Holland and Sheerness. At the same time, an Irish company, Södra Wood (Ireland) Ltd, will start trading on 1 January 2019 in Dublin to handle sales to Ireland and help to mitigate Brexit uncertainties. The established port and distribution centre in Ireland is at Wicklow.

Södra Wood Ltd managing director Simon Henry said: “Our multiple-port distribution network in the UK and Ireland helps keep our logistics flexible and simple and provides options not open to our competitors if things do prove to be difficult with the incoming supply chains. 

“Added to this, in Sweden we have our own port at Mönsterås and are one of the largest users of the Varberg facility. This minimizes the loading and delivery operations for each ship and keeps paperwork to a minimum. Our ships carry up to 6,000m3, which would still only require a single customs entry, the same as a single lorry load from another supplier using door-to-door trailers to get their goods to the UK. Per m3 our model is significantly more streamlined.

“As a UK business we have sourced specific products from outside the EU since 1993, so customers can have confidence in our ability to manage the changes on the horizon.”