Tigers Expands Virtual Warehouse Offering to Avoid Brexit Disruptions

December 14, 2020

The new service complements its Virtual Warehouse offering enabling customers to physically split inventory between the UK and Europe, whilst providing control and visibility in one place online

Tigers has added to its Virtual Warehouse offering by developing a new linehaul solution to help customers minimise supply chain disruption post Brexit.

The Virtual Logistics Facility means that goods can be physically located between the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK) for ease of last mile delivery, with the online solution providing full visibility, inventory control, and a single tariff in a single place.

“From January 2021 we will operate a linehaul between the UK and EU for goods which have been consolidated at customers’ sites, for either B2B or B2C business to serve their end customer in the EU as usual from the UK,” said Shahar Ayash, Tigers Regional Managing Director, Europe.

The facility in Thurrock is conveniently located off the M25 with proximity to the Port of Felixstowe, central London, and all main road routes to the Midlands, Wales, northern England, and Scotland.

“Moving from a ‘one box’ supply chain concept serving the EU and UK to a ‘two boxes’ supply chain brings benefits, such as simplistic VAT for B2C, speed to market, and last mile cost reduction in a post Brexit environment.

“On the other hand, there are other complications, such as cost, and control of the split inventory.

“Some businesses are just not ready yet to open a second location and for them we developed our transportation solution so they can continue to serve the EU from the UK and vice versa while adopting their supply chain to the new terms and conditions post-Brexit.”

The linehaul solution is a further addition to the Tigers Virtual Warehouse, powered by its SmartHub:Connect (SHC) freight and e-commerce portal, to bring together the entire supply chain from shipping to warehousing and last mile.

Tigers is offering customers either limited fiscal representation if they have a European entity that sells their goods locally, or general fiscal representation to avoid the need to have a European entity to continue selling and meeting all local regulations.

Tigers’ facilities in Thurrock, UK, and Rotterdam, the Netherlands, have been designed for omnichannel fulfilment, offering sustainable e-commerce products and low-cost last mile B2B and B2C solutions across Europe.

“We will prepare an Export Declaration and Transit Document for the goods to be exported to the EU, which we will then transport to Rotterdam where we facilitate the import clearance process to Customs-clear the goods into the EU,” said Sharon Page, Director Freight Forwarding at Tigers.

“Once import clearance is released, we will perform a cross-docking function to ensure safe final mile delivery throughout Europe.”

Tigers has Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) and Authorised Consignor and Consignee status, meaning customers benefit from a lower rate of compliance inspections, a reduction in the number of Customs control checks, and simplified documentation for imports and exports.