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German Case Study


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IFL has established itself as a major freight forwarding provider to Switzerland. Extra Logistics in Basle was selected as the Swiss Partner for the project because of their "express mentality" and their track record of establishing main road shuttle services to and from other European countries. We were able to persuade them to have confidence in our organization, and therefore invest in the equipment, staffing and IT resources in Switzerland to fund the infrastructure there to support the project.

After a great deal of research, including actual trial running, it was decided to operate the UK leg with an IFL tractor unit and driver departing with the loaded export shuttle truck at 0200hrs and transiting via The Tunnel to arrive at Calais at 0800hrs French time.

For the Swiss leg a Belgian haulier was appointed to supply a tractor unit with two drivers to depart Basle at 1930hrs and to reach Calais by 0800hrs the following morning to achieve the trailer swap with the IFL driver. The latter arrives back in Birmingham at 1300hrs and the Belgian drivers are back in Basle at 1830hrs.

The whole operation is supported by contracts with 24hr support services to deal with mechanical breakdown, tyre changes etc., and even, if necessary, the supply of a replacement tractor unit.

To achieve the express operation the question of Customs clearance had to be addressed in great detail. In Switzerland the situation was much easier to deal with as there are several post clearance regimes available to facilitate express traffic. In the UK, however, the regulations are much tighter. After detailed discussion with and very positive support from HM Customs it was agreed that the clearance of import shuttles would be done at Dartford Inland Clearance Depot which is en-route from the Tunnel to Birmingham. A fellow BIFA member and freight clearing agent, was selected to handle clearances at Dartford. The entries are prepared electronically in advance and as soon as the trailer departs from Ashford they are lodged as arrived and the driver hands in the document bag at the Dartford ICD. Normally most consignments are cleared without Customs examination and, if an exam is called for, the driver has a detailed load plan so that the goods can be immediately located. If there is no exam the process takes no more than 20 minutes and with an exam the dwell time rarely exceeds 45 minutes.

Because of the tight running schedules the shuttle truck does not have time for collections and deliveries on wheels. Other tractor units at either end perform this function after the express groupage shipments have been unloaded at the depots.

The final part of the jigsaw was to implement a door to door track and trace system. Each piece of freight is bar coded and scanned at every stage of the transit. When either the Extra or IFL driver effects the delivery the POD is scanned by him in his cab and the image is downloaded by satellite GPS to the office with the result that the actual POD can be transmitted electronically within minutes of the actual delivery. Forward Computer Systems in Nottingham, an existing software supplier to the company, was selected to write and implement the software programme.

After the project team was satisfied that all operational aspects of the service were in place an intensive staff training programme was embarked upon during the month prior to commencement of the service. This included staff exchange visits UK/Switzerland/UK and a very innovative four party training meeting between IFL, Extra, HMRC and Freight Clearance staff on site at the port.






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