For British businesses shipping full loads to Europe, customs clearance has become a costly nightmare of detours, delays and cash flow disruption for their customer’s, hindering the appeal of buying from the UK.
Europa Road's revolutionary DAP Flow service changes everything – clearing customs directly in Calais so goods travel straight to their European destinations without the bureaucratic maze that has disrupted UK trade.
Europa Road is the specialist road freight division of pioneering, UK-headquartered, independent operator Europa Worldwide Group.
The innovative service transforms how full trailer loads move from the UK to Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, France and Germany, eliminating the expensive inland customs stops that add days to delivery schedules and thousands to transport costs.
Jack Baxter, General Manager for Haulage at Europa Road, observes: "British businesses are still struggling with the extra red tape surrounding customs clearance when shipping using DAP incoterms. We work with materials suppliers, manufacturers and retailers who must pay for T-forms and transport their goods via third-party clearance facilities before delivery. This means appointing brokers, longer transit times and delays to time-critical consignments."
The launch addresses a critical challenge facing UK exporters. Under traditional processes, trucks must take lengthy detours to inland customs points, adding hours or even days to delivery times while drivers wait in queues for paperwork processing. Businesses face additional transit form costs and importers face upfront VAT payments - all contributing to supply chain disruption and cash flow problems, ultimately making it less appealing for EU businesses to buy from the UK and creating a significant disadvantage for British exporters.
DAP Flow transforms this experience entirely.
By clearing customs in Calais, the service eliminates T-forms, removes the need for inland customs stops, and crucially, removes upfront VAT requirements - delivering faster transit times and improved cash flow for EU buyers of British goods.
Europa's position as one of the largest commercial users of Eurotunnel's Le Shuttle Freight service provides the foundation for this seamless operation. The company's customs clearance site, strategically located in Calais, is fully integrated with advanced technology that enables real-time processing.
Since Brexit, Europa has successfully integrated its Leonardo software to transfer customs data directly into the Le Shuttle Freight IT infrastructure and border-related service offering to Border Control in France.
This means that as shipments travel through the tunnel, customs clearance processes simultaneously, creating an unparalleled level of efficiency.
"We want to streamline the process, cutting down on unnecessary deviations, costs and delays in transit so that businesses can focus on growth in new markets," explains Baxter.
Adrian Redmile, Branch & Sales Director for Europa Worldwide Group, adds: "With most of our full load shipments being transported using DAP incoterms, we felt it was time to invest further to reduce the cost of deliveries and processing customs, while maintaining our market-leading transit times."
The service represents another innovation milestone for Europa Road, building on the success of their DDP Europa Flow service launched in 2021, which now accounts for 50 per cent of all groupage transport leaving the UK. Earlier this year, the company also launched FCA Flow for full loads entering Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg from the UK.
Operating from their 27,000 sq ft transit hub in Dartford and serving more than 42 continental hubs with over 30,000 annual Channel crossings, Europa Road is positioned as one of the largest commercial users of Eurotunnel's Le Shuttle Freight service.
As the first UK logistics provider to offer this streamlined DAP customs clearance process, Europa Road continues its pioneering approach to European road transport that began when the company was founded in 1966.
"This is why we created DAP Flow," concludes the team. "No inland stops. No T-forms. No unexpected delays. Just a smoother, faster journey that saves time and money, so shipments arrive when they should - and businesses keep moving."
