Record growth for UK exporter specialist

In a tough market, Ostend operator Europa Road NV is bucking the trend reporting a record month for consignments in July 2024.

The European road freight operator, which is dedicated to full load, part load, and groupage services between Belgium and the UK, exceeded its previous best month with a 30 per cent increase in shipments for July – a record since the launch of its dedicated sales team in Ostend in January 2023.

In 2018, UK headquartered Europa Worldwide Group acquired the company which was previously known as Continental Cargo Carriers – a Belgian transport company with a long history of unaccompanied road freight to the UK. In late 2022, Continental Cargo Carriers was rebranded as Europa Road, boosting services and marking the start of a new era of transport between Belgium and the UK.

With an ambition to be the operator of choice in the region, since its relaunch Europa Road NV has also invested in the launch of new services to support customers with EU-UK shipments post Brexit. It’s DDP (delivery duty paid) export service, Europa Flow, is gaining traction, with increased demand from businesses across the region and now accounts for over half of its total groupage exports.

The challenges of additional customs checks, costs and the need to engage consignees in what is now a more complex customs process has been a problem for exporters since Brexit. This is why Europa Flow was launched and it is now making it easier for businesses based in the Benelux to serve the UK market.

Europa Road’s parent company developed and launched Europa Flow, investing 5.8m euros in the system which manages all customs formalities so that goods are not delayed by additional paperwork, and customers aren’t faced with unexpected additional fees.

The Ostend sales team is led by Regional Sales Manager for Benelux, Jack Baxter, who comments: “We’re delighted to have achieved such excellent results this summer which is testament to the hard work of our outstanding local team.

“We are successfully challenging a hugely competitive market but can demonstrate best value and service which is what customers demand.

“Across a broad range of industries from components to finished goods, our customers’ use of Europa Flow is also growing steadily month on month, which demonstrates that the frictionless movement of goods is essential. Our customers are generally mid-sized operations who need to regularly export to the UK but are not large enough to set up their own customs entity in the UK.

“More recently we have also onboarded several international brands, such as a leading manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, looking for a quality supplier to help them successfully export to the UK. Whatever the shape and size of customer needs we have the breadth of road freight products available to accommodate them.”

Other new service developments are currently in the pipeline for Europa Road to support its customers across Benelux.

Europa Road was previously known as Continental Cargo Carriers, changing its name in 2022. Subsequently the originally Ostend based firm expanded further by establishing a Dutch office in Rotterdam in February 2023.