Daily UK services
Europa Worldwide finds a new partner in Switzerland. Brexit started affecting the exchange of goods between the UK and Switzerland at the beginning of 2021. Now an initially slow upswing is visibly intensifying. This is where a new partnership between Europa Worldwide and Magsped comes in.
Europa Road, the pan-continental road transport division of the Europa Worldwide Group, has launched a new service for customers in the United Kingdom who want to shift goods to and from Switzerland in 2024. The overall prospects are rather favourable.
In November 2023 the department for business and trade, a UK ministry, reported that the exchange of goods between the United Kingdom and Switzerland had increased by approximately 40% from Q2 / 2022 to Q2 / 2023. In these twelve months, the UK’s trade with Switzerland recorded a surplus of GBP 13.9 billion (CHF 15 billion).
On 1 January the Swiss freight forwarder Magsped and Europa Road commenced a partnership agreement for activities in Switzerland. The Rhenus Group was the British company’s previous partner in the Central European country.
The launch on 1 March of daily groupage services in both directions was one of the key elements of the agreement. Europa banks on Magsped’s network coverage in Switzerland, with foci on Basel, Zurich, Lucerne, Bern, Lausanne, Geneva.
Dan Cook, operations manager at the Europa Worldwide Group, said that the main plank of the collaboration is “the shared ambition of our two companies for a truly daily structured service. We’re prepared to invest for this.” Another Europa Road goal is to shorten export and import times for UK clients to and from Switzerland.
Magsped managing director Beat Schweighauser also has high expectations of the partnership, having ascertained a gap in the market for traffic between Switzerland and the UK since Brexit. “It’s important to have direct transit solutions that don’t stop in Dover.”
All imports in the express service will be handled in Europa Road’s inland terminal. For this service, the partners work together as a team to ensure that transports departing from Liestal, near Basel, in the evening cover the distance overnight and the freight is handled in London the following morning. Two drivers are deployed on one truck on these tours. The Eurotunnel used on this route brings the intermodal advantage to the table too.
The view from Switzerland
Schweighauser cited “the top level of distribution services” that is guaranteed by the fact that the partner network in the UK and Ireland serves no less than 17 local depots, amongst other factors. His message to his clientele is clear. “We can guarantee prompt deliveries for our customers in the UK.”
The freight forwarder Magsped grew significantly in 2023; it augmented its transport services to and from the British Isles by adding links to and from the Benelux countries, Italy, Spain and Turkey (see page 15 of ITJ 45-46 / 2022). 14 company employees handle about 2,500 shipments a month.