The British Worldwide Freight Affiliation (BIFA) is urging the Chancellor to make use of this week’s Funds to ship focused measures that can strengthen the UK’s buying and selling surroundings, assist the logistics sector, and enhance the competitiveness of British companies in international markets.
Representing the UK’s freight forwarding and logistics trade, BIFA warns that ongoing value pressures, regulatory uncertainty, and infrastructure constraints threat undermining the UK’s post-pandemic and post-Brexit buying and selling potential. The Affiliation emphasises that freight forwarders, who handle the vast majority of the UK’s seen worldwide commerce, want a steady, fashionable, and environment friendly working surroundings if they’re to proceed supporting the nation’s exporters and importers.
BIFA Director Common, Steve Parker stated: “Freight forwarders sit on the coronary heart of the UK’s worldwide commerce. The trade has proven outstanding resilience lately, however margins are tight and working circumstances are more and more troublesome. This Funds is a chance for the Authorities to display that it understands the strategic significance of the logistics sector and is dedicated to constructing a buying and selling system that’s easy, environment friendly, and internationally aggressive.”
He added: “We urge the Chancellor to prioritise sensible, deliverable measures that lower pink tape, modernise border processes, and assist the workforce that retains UK commerce shifting.”
BIFA’s key Funds priorities embody funding in UK border modernisation to speed up supply of the one level of data and guarantee it’s absolutely built-in, genuinely interoperable, and simple for SMEs to make use of.
This requires correct funding to reinforce digital customs methods, scale back duplicate reporting and pointless forms.
BIFA can be on the lookout for elevated assist for Customs and logistics workforce growth, which may embody expanded and simplified entry to apprenticeships and funded coaching, together with customs compliance and digital expertise. Employers should be incentivised to recruit and prepare new expertise into the sector.
Aid from value pressures can be excessive on BIFA’s want record, which may very well be achieved by sustaining or increasing gas obligation freezes, and consideration of focused reliefs for important logistics operations. It may additionally embody a protracted overdue assessment and reform of enterprise charges for warehousing and logistics hubs, that are experiencing disproportionate will increase.
Ongoing and elevated infrastructure funding to enhance reliability and scale back congestion can be key, such because the prioritisation of long-term funding for strategic highway and rail freight corridors, particularly round key ports and airports. A dedication to making sure that future infrastructure planning recognises freight’s nationwide financial significance would even be welcomed.
BIFA would additionally wish to see an announcement of extra insurance policies that assist UK merchants and international competitiveness, corresponding to simplified Customs processes for SMEs to encourage exporting, which might assist supply steady, predictable post-Brexit regulatory frameworks enabling companies to plan forward.
Parker concludes: “BIFA stands able to work with the Authorities to make sure that any new measures launched within the Funds are possible, efficient, and aligned with the realities of worldwide provide chains.”
