An Apprentice Perspective: BREXIT

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON BREXIT?

I think there’s a lot of uncertainty and Brexit could either have a positive or negative effect on the UK. The immediacy of that effect will largely depend on the deal that gets put into action come March 29th, but with such a significant change that has never happened before its hard to say what could happen once we actually leave the EU.

WITH THAT BEING SAID, WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL HAPPEN COME MARCH 29TH?

I don’t think there will be a big change in regards to peoples day to day lives. I think the biggest difference we’ll see will be with travel, will we need visas to travel to parts of Europe? Foreign currency too, could the pound weaken and will it become more expensive to travel abroad. We are also seeing a number of factories planning on reducing manufacturing in the UK and set up in different countries, so perhaps jobs could be impacted and the amount of manufacturing and exports as a result.

HOW DO YOU THINK THE FREIGHT FORWARDING INDUSTRY WILL BE IMPACTED BY BREXIT?

I think that if a deal is reached between the UK and the EU our industry could continue to grow and flourish. However, if a no deal is reached I could see many suppliers move their companies out of the UK into a different EU countries as it could be more beneficial to them in the short term, with potential cost savings and perhaps it wold be easier to get their goods moved with the EU.

WHAT DOES A ’NO DEAL’ MEAN TO YOU?

If we have a no deal Brexit, this would mean that Brexit would take immediate effect and we wouldn’t benefit from any potential transition period, meaning that for businesses like ourselves we would have to learn how each trade lane will be affected whilst going through the change itself. It could create difficulties but also opportunity. As well as this, it could also affect the freight industry – a no deal, would mean no deal on trade agreements and tariffs could be impacted. It could become more difficult to trade with the rets of the EU, particularly in the short term.

HOW DO YOU THINK TARIFFS BE IMPACTED?

Tariffs will no doubt be impacted if there is a no deal Brexit. I think we will have to revert to the World Trade Organisations Most Favoured Nations tariff (WTO MTN) initially until we can agree new trade deals with other countries. If the UK and the EU come to an agreement, it would be better for our tariffs than a no deal and give us some stability and we can benefit from the agreements already in place between the UK and the EU.

WHAT WOULD BE YOUR THOUGHTS TO OUR CUSTOMERS/PARTNERS?

My thoughts to our customers would be to have Maltacourt as your freight forwarder as we will know and understand the needs of your business and will be able to establish a way in which we can improve your supply chain whilst going through a difficult period. Maltacourt is here and is ready to tackle any problems our customers may face during either a deal or no deal Brexit.