UK – The cancellation of the Multimodal exhibition and conference 2020 last week has left a big hole in the diary for many of the thousands of freight forwarders, shippers etc. who use the event as a highlight of their networking year. Many also attend to stay abreast of current and pending affairs in logistics, and the organisers have found a way to bridge that gap between now and the 2021 event in Birmingham next March.

Clarion Events has launched Multimodal Connect, an online logistics forum with the first event, 'Accelerating eCommerce fulfilment: capacity, compliance and profitability' to be held on July 15th in partnership with the organisers of the eDelivery Expo. Multimodal Events Director, Robert Jervis says the event will also allow participants to connect and network prior to the live webinar, ask questions, chat and one-to-one video network during the live session.

Expert speakers will investigate such issues as peak delivery at all times; customer expectations; boosting capacity and achieving efficiencies; as well as making fulfilment safe, and will include a case study on managing a double digit increase in deliveries. More information HERE. To join the session click HERE.

UK – Road haulage outfit Suttons Tankers has won a three year contract with Ryse Hydrogen for the exclusive provision of logistics services to transport bulk hydrogen gas from the North West to the capital for Transport for London (TfL). As part of the city's commitment to become a zero-carbon emitter by 2050, TfL have purchased 20 new hydrogen fuelled buses.

The deal was a double win for JCB heir Jo Bamford as he is CEO of Ryse and also owns Wrightbus, the company building the buses in its Northern Irish plant. TfL is investing ￡12 million in the new buses and the fuelling infrastructure with over ￡5 million of funding being provided by European bodies and a further ￡1 million from the Office of Low Emission Vehicles.

UK – Currie European Transport Ltd, the logistics group made up of 7 trading companies across the UK and Europe, has refinanced which it says is to support an ambitious acquisition led growth strategy. A ￡9 million Group funding facility has been obtained from Bibby Financial Services (BFS) and the Dumfries headquartered outfit has used ￡1.5 million of the money to support the acquisition of Laser Transport International Ltd, a haulage company based in Kent with a turnover of ￡18 million, bringing the Group’s total turnover to ￡75 million.

UK – Some of the leading players in the UK parcel industry have pooled their resources and expertise to manage the nationwide collection and delivery of Covid-19 home testing kits into testing laboratories. The test collection programme feeds into a study coordinated by Ipsos MORI in partnership with Imperial College London for The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to assist in understanding the prevalence of the virus across England.

Created by Warrington-based The Delivery Group, The Carrier Consortium includes Yodel, Menzies Distribution, DX, Diamond and UPS Healthcare - major names in what is typically a highly competitive parcel industry. Now, in an industry first, these businesses are working together to provide access to over 10,000 vehicles, 200 facilities and a combined workforce in excess of 16,000 employees.

The Carrier Consortium is operating seven days per week on a massive scale across England, delivering a strictly controlled cool chain solution which ensures the temperature of the tests remains constant from pick-up to delivery.

SAUDI ARABIA – The VAT rate for the country went up this week under royal order number A/638, enforcing the application of the VAT rate increase in the Kingdom effective from July 1, 2020 onwards. No small increase this, Article 2 of the VAT law has been amended to reflect the VAT rate increase from 5% to 15%.

Supplies made on or before 30 June 2020 shall be subject to 5% VAT those made from 1 July 2020 onward shall be subject to 15% VAT except where a contract to supply was signed prior to May 11, 2020 when 5% will continue to be liable until either the expiry date of the contract, the renewal contract date, or the expiry date of the contract, or June 30, 2021. (Source GAC Saudi Arabia).

GERMANY – By way of contrast Deutsche Post and DHL are to pass on the temporary VAT reduction that forms part of the German government's stimulus package to its customers, whereby value-added tax (VAT) in Germany will be reduced from 19% to 16% for the regular rate and from 7% to 5% for the reduced rate for the period July 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020. The Group says the price of numerous domestic and international products and services will fall accordingly.

CANADA – WORLDWIDE – Supply chain software BluJay Solutions says it now has expanded capabilities for Microsoft Dynamics users with off-the-shelf integration through the new BluJay Gateway for D365. Offered in partnership with NMB Solutions this aims to provide secure, real-time, easy-to-manage integration to BluJay’s Transportation Management, Parcel, Forwarding, and Compliance solutions.

BluJay Gateway for D365 is a Microsoft Certified Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations Module available through Microsoft AppSource. NMB is a Microsoft Gold Partner, and a BluJay Solutions strategic partner.

SPAIN – APM Terminals Barcelona has obtained the Authorised Economic Operator (OEA) certificate for customs procedures, a declaration issued by the Spanish Tax Agency which guarantees the security of the goods produced, stored, shipped and/or transported by order of the operator in question. The terminal achieved AEO in protection and security five years ago and this latest phase completes the AEO status and enables the facility to guarantee that the goods it handles are produced, stored, prepared and loaded in secure facilities and secure loading or shipping areas.

In addition goods are protected from unauthorised access or manipulation during production, storage, preparation, loading and transport. It further guarantees that trusted personnel are in charge of the production, storage, preparation, loading and transport of the goods and that the commercial partners acting on behalf of APM Terminals Barcelona are duly informed that they must also ensure supply chain security.

Source:handyshippingguide