Tel: +44 (0)1606 272 880
Email: sales@klfreight.com
We deal with clients from across the globe, many of whom import from the USA. Our team has vast experience in dealing with shipping services coming into the UK and are happy advise on the best way based on your budget and time constraints.
Transit time from can vary depending on the locations of the port you are exporting from and also the UK location but transit times tend to be between 10 and 12 days.
The main media outlets have comprehensively covered the ‘Trump 25 % duty rate’ and for companies in the trade it is worth going into more detail.
Firstly, the 25% rate applied from 10 May 2019 but for shipments that left from China before that date and are already in transit the previous 10% duty rate will apply.
The higher duty rate of 25% ONLY applies for imports from China to the USA.
Terms Of Sale
Terms of sale are almost universally used when trading internationally.
When importing from China or importing from India, by air or by sea freight, terms of sale, whilst not incorporated in law do provide clear lines regarding responsibilities and who pay what costs in international freight.
Incoterms
There are some anomalies, not surprising really as Incoterms where first introduced in 1936 and they always seem to struggle to keep up with international trade despite numerous re-writes.
Whether it’s due to Brexit fears or maybe just a lack of business confidence, freight volumes from China and the Far East are in the doldrums. The consortiums of shipping lines have tried to push rates up by restricting capacity so in the process 115000 TEU (20ft equivalent units) of container slots have been removed from circulation by cancelling sailings and either mooring up ships or slower steaming.
This has had the effect of some erratic scheduling as services have been combined with lots of containers being transferred from one ship to another on route.
Just when we thought US duty rates had settled down we hear of a new proposed set of surcharges for 2019.
US Surchage Changes
These are being proposed on ‘national security grounds’ the target being the automotive sector, both finished cars and car parts.
The proposal was submitted to President Trump on the 17 February 2019 and he has 90 days starting from the date he received the report to decide to accept the recommendations in part,
30 years ago a new transport company opened for business in Northwich. K&L Freight’s business at the time was based around UK deliveries using the company’s trucks from its base in Northwich. The owners soon realised that K&L Freight’s key customers had started to sell their products into Europe. In response to this demand the company started to send its trucks into Europe fully loaded with customer deliveries.
Nothing in the world of transport stands still and after several years of trading owners Martin Kidd &
We have been asked this question many times over in the last few months.
The answer is there’s no need to panic as the UK’s biggest port for container traffic is Felixstowe and it handles a small amount of EU origin cargo so the effect should be minimal, furthermore there are no planned changes to the import customs processes and procedures for non EU goods entering the UK through the whole Brexit process.
Air Freight From China
K&L Freight deal with many industries where flying goods from China is neccessary in the short term. The obvious advantage of air freight is that it arrives much faster than it would if shipped on a boat.
The negative aspect is that the cost is higher depending on the weight of the goods that are needed to be sent. A common scenario that we encounter is goods need to be delivered quickly,
Now that Liverpool port can handle the biggest ships after its recent expansion at Liverpool 2 terminal it is making increasing sense to import through the Port of Liverpool. It’s not just the congestion at Felixstowe, and Southampton but also container haulage prices. These are increasing each year well ahead of inflation as the shortage of drivers continues to bite and there is not sign of them reducing any time soon.
Big Importers such as B&M Bargains with their 600 shops are at the forefront of this change to importing into the North of England directly and they have given themselves a target of 80% of their imports through the Port of Liverpool for 2019.
Many of our customer are asking what will be the effects of Brexit on non EU imports and exports, China, or India for example?
The main point to consider is how or if this business will be caught up in the near certain short-term chaos that may drastically trade with the UK and EU countries.
Our view is that this will be limited – ports used for deep sea trade have only small amounts of EU business.
