News & Insights

Our alerts, news and guides embrace all transport modes and explore global developments across all aspects of the supply chain, to keep you informed and guide decision making.

Brexit border controls eased

The government confirmed on Friday that it will not request or accept an extension to the Brexit transition period and is replacing full post-Brexit border controls, with new import easements that defer customs declarations and tariff payments until July 2021. Despite their protestations that ... Read more

The Metro team talk: Mike Quish

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and the desperate need for PPE, the air freight services delivered by Mike Quish and his team have never been more critical. The transport of PPE and essential medical products, primarily from China, began in late March, as airlines began grounding passeng... Read more

Brexit and Customs: Where we are

Whether or not a trade agreement is reached with the EU, there will be new customs processing, declarations and EUVAT/Duty payments from the 1st January 2021. The Brexit transition period ends on 31st December 2020, with major alterations to trade procedures, that you should be prepared for, t... Read more

Brexit and Customs: The New Process

Guaranteeing your cargo will be UK import ready from the 1st January 2021 takes preparation. Or prepare for delays and additional costs. In the build-up to the earliest Brexit deadlines in 2019, HMRC announced a series of easements designed to simplify the movement of good from the EU into the... Read more

Automating Brexit

Data and information will be the key to smooth 24 hour 7 day a week clearances, by sharing information now with Metro we can expedite arrivals and departures for your EU business Automating Brexit Data and information will be the key to smooth 24 hour 7 day a week clearances, by sharing inform... Read more

Terms of trade will trip you up

The two most popular terms of trade used for EU/UK movement currently, will have profoundly different outcomes when the transition period ends Incoterms rules determine who has fiscal and legal responsibility for security and customs declarations, which means the two most popular Incoterms use... Read more

Latest on USA Trade agreement post Brexit

The United States is Britain’s biggest trading partner after the EU, accounting for nearly 19% of all exports and 11% of imports and both sides hope a trade deal can be reached in 2020, but there are many hurdles. Trade talks with the US, started via video link on the 5th May, involving more... Read more

Shipping line CEO sees signs of June recovery

An increase in Chinese manufacturing in May, combined with seasonal demand for summer products, and a need to replenish inventories are the basis for optimism by container lines serving Asia exports markets, according to Jeremy Nixon, CEO of Ocean Network Express (ONE). The need for replenishm... Read more

Be more Oscar!

Metro colleague, Dani Jealous’ son has very sadly recently been diagnosed with Batten Disease, a rarely inherited condition that affects the nervous system and is a genetic life-limiting neurodegenerative disease. The genes causing Batten were only identified in 1995 and the only current med... Read more

The Metro team talk: Dave Jones

Metro has evolved continuously over the last four decades and Dave’s journey with us over the last two and a half, mirrors many of Metro’s evolutions, developments and innovations. Dave’s professional life began on the carrier side, with a container shipping line in Liverpool and Birming... Read more

Lines effectively write off 2020 peak season

It is clear that the container shipping lines are expecting weak demand to extend into the peak season, with the announcement of blank sailings for the third quarter global network schedule. In total 75 blank sailings have been announced for Q3. Maersk and MSC has announced the cancellation... Read more

Digital disruption is just noise

Digital disruptors will no more kill-off today’s forwarding sector than the advent of European rail did in the 1800s, according to director general of the British International Freight Association (BIFA), Robert Keen. This week Robert Keen (pictured) described comments from a ‘disrupter’... Read more