Descartes Blog

As the EU puts pressure on the UK Government to put proposals for a new deal in writing within the next two weeks and the Commons leader reported as saying that the Prime Minister was on course to deliver a "fundamentally different" Brexit deal to ensure the UK leaves on October 31st, how closer are we now to a no deal or even if an agreement is reached how different will it be to that presented to Parliament previously and what if any transitional measures will be included for a government who does not want to be tied to the EU Customs Union or Single Market. 

Anyone listening to the radio or driving on the motorways will have heard and seen the constant reminders that the UK will leave the EU on the 31st October and that on the 1st November Freight may change and to check documents.

It was reported in a UK newspaper last week that one UK proposal to avoid the contentious Backstop would be for Ireland to temporarily leave the EU Single Market and align itself with UK standards to avoid a hard border. Not surprising this does not seem to have gained much traction in Ireland or the EU especially considering Ireland appears to export more to the EU in total than to the UK*.

*https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/er/gei/goodsexportsandimportsdecember2018/

It has been some time since the UK and EU agreed to an extension of Article 50 and the possibility of a no-deal Brexit hangs over UK and EU businesses once again. The new UK Prime Minister and his cabinet are seemingly intent on leaving the EU on the 31^st October regardless. The UK Parliament has various factions planning ways to a try and stop a no deal exit from the EU and the EU seem equally unwilling to budge on the integrity of the single market even if that means a no-deal Brexit.

The Brexit uncertainty continues

Although the UK Government has tried to inject some certainty, conflicting statements such as the chances of a no-deal Brexit are ‘a million to one’ when also “turbo charging” no-deal preparations does little to help companies decide when to commit to no-deal solutions. 

As the transportation landscape continues to change, it is creating expanded opportunities for 3PLs to grow their transportation business, provide a better customer experience, and create innovative new services. To capitalize on these opportunities, 3PLs need to balance agility, staff costs, and freight margin to ensure their growth is scalable. With new capabilities for the Descartes Transportation Manager™ solution, our customers have new tools and capabilities to take advantage of these types of growth opportunities.

While last year the transportation sector contended with the great capacity crunch, this year, with dropping rates, 3PLs are focused on ensuring network fit and differentiating through value-added services. Descartes has significantly expanded its transportation capabilities to better serve 3PLs. These capabilities include: