Europa Road has demonstrated its ability to keep goods moving, whatever the challenge, with a huge manpower investment to tackle ongoing external customs software outages.
The business has been working proactively to minimise disruption for customers at one of the most commercially critical times of the year.
Changes to the EU’s Union Customs Code have prompted member states to upgrade their electronic customs systems, enhance supply-chain transparency, and modernise trade processes.
As part of this, and in a bid to continue to enhance its operations, a new French customs system, Delta I/E has been deployed. But, frequent outages of the new software system have caused huge delays, tripling transit times for many businesses, resulting in the most difficult conditions since Brexit.
Building on its reputation as the largest customs agent in Calais, Europa has taken responsibility for managing outages swiftly, investing 200+ man-hours, with its customs teams working around the clock to get anticipated declarations in place for cargo to clear.
Europa Road is the dedicated European road freight division of leading logistics provider, Europa Worldwide Group. In line with its solutions-focused approach, its team has worked tirelessly to limit disruption.
With 60 in-house customs specialists operating across the EU and UK, George Wrench, General Manager at Europa Worldwide Group and head of the customs team, explained: “The existing Delta G software has been replaced by a new, modern Delta I/E, which was rolled out permanently at the start of Q4.
“But the surge in transactions pushed through the platform resulted in repeated outages, effectively halting freight flows for hours at a time. This meant freight movement had to be halted, resulting in hours of costly downtime. For some customers, transit times to EU countries increased from two to six days – a huge delay with massive implications.”
Europa Road works with businesses in a wide range of sectors, many of which are key contributors to the British economy. The outages have particularly impacted full loads, and costs have mounted because trailers are not able to cross the Channel. Europa’s customs team is engaging daily with customs authorities to ensure the seamless movement of goods across the globe.
George continued: “The instability has coincided with the peak ‘golden quarter’, the busiest and most commercially important period for many of our customers. Our teams - including senior management and directors - have dedicated a substantial amount of time to planning, scenario-modelling and operational intervention to overcome the challenges of a system that was, at times, unable to function. Ensuring continuity for our customers is a fundamental part of our business model, which is why we’ve invested so heavily in mitigating the impact of recent outages.”
The Delta I/E outages follow a period of uncertainty for British businesses over changes to French fiscal regulation impacting Regime 42. In response to these changes, which effect companies exporting goods under Delivery Duty Paid (DDP) as of January 2026, Europa launched two simple solutions under its family of customs solutions, Europa Flow.
Initially launched in 2021 in response to Brexit, the family of Europa Flow products overcame the post-Brexit administrative burdens and guarantees a seamless and hassle-free customs clearance process. Europa Road was the first to market with its Money Back Guarantee in 2023, which ensures the company absorbs all costs associated with transit delays.
