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LAST UPDATE | 8 Jan 2021
PARCEL DELIVERY COMPANY DPD UK has said that it will be pausing all its road delivery services from the UK to Europe, including Ireland, as it deals with the customs changes caused by Brexit.
These services will be paused until at least Wednesday 13 January, the company said this morning.
In a statement, DPD said that it’s been a challenging few days for its teams as the UK leaving the Single Market and Customs Union has required “significant changes” to the way it takes parcels cross-border.
It said: “It has now become evident that we have an increased burden with the new, more complex processes, and additional customs data we require from you for your parcels destined to Europe. This has placed extra pressure on our turnaround and transit times.
“We are seeing up to 20% of parcels having incorrect or incomplete data attached, these will have to be returned to you so that the required data can be provided.
“In addition to this we are seeing delays and congestion at UK ports and more rigid requirements for channel crossings.”
DPD UK said the pausing of services until 13 January will give it a chance to “validate the data we have in our system, reduce the delay and give you the opportunity to give us the correct data we need in order that we can export, from next week, successfully”.
It said an update will be provided on Tuesday 12 January.
It added that in future parcels sent to DPD UK with incorrect or incomplete data will result in the parcel being returned to the sender.
“We are very keen to avoid this and ask that you give this matter immediate attention,” the company added.
A statement from An Post said is it “trading fully and smoothly with almost all of the UK online retailers for whom it delivers across Ireland”.
“An Post has put in place a digital solution for all its UK retailers which simplifies the process and enables seamless despatch and immediate delivery,” the statement said.
95% of An Post’s UK Retailer customers have opted to use this digital system.
It said some delays are to be expected but the “majority of items” dispatched through the digital system are released for delivery straight away when they arrive into Ireland.
Stena Lina
Meanwhile, twelve Stena Line ferries scheduled for between today and Tuesday 12 January have been cancelled, the Irish ferry operator said this morning.
The sailings, going from either Rosslare to Fishguard or Holyhead to Dublin, have been impacted by a combination of the Covid travel restrictions imposed recently, and new Brexit requirements.
This has lead to a decrease in both passenger and freight numbers, Trade Director for the Irish Sea Paul Grant said: “Stena Line is currently reviewing its sailings and schedules on Irish Sea routes as a result of Irish travel restrictions and the decline in freight volumes during the first week of Brexit. Problems in the supply chain have resulted in a significant fall off in freight volumes this week at our Holyhead and Fishguard ports.
“Our business model is based on a freight and passenger combination, so to have the two
parts severely restricted at the same time is putting severe pressure on our ability to
maintain our normal levels of frequency on certain routes. Volumes are expected to
remain light as we move towards the weekend, consequently we will reduce some
sailings on a temporary basis.
“Capacity can be reinstated quickly as demand picks up again but in the meantime we
need to be prudent and efficient in how we manage our sailing schedules.”
After 47 years as an EU member state, the UK left the bloc at 11pm on New Year’s Eve, becoming a third country for trade purposes and customs declarations.
New documentation and red tape is now required between EU member states and Britain, which is anticipated to cause massive delays at ports in the coming weeks.
Revenue this week urged all freight operators and drivers looking to travel to the UK or from the UK to ensure they had their PBNs ready ahead of check-in for the sailing.
A Pre-Boarding Notification (PBN) is needed before a lorry can get onto a ferry to cross the Irish Sea, as the UK is now considered a third country for trade purposes.
In a statement to TheJournal.ie, Revenue said that it’s aware that trucks have been denied boarding in Holyhead, but added that “a significant number of businesses” are submitting customs declarations and pre-boarding notifications “without any issues”.
It said that it was clear that many businesses “were not as prepared as they thought or significantly underestimated what was involved in being Brexit ready”.
Because of this, Revenue said it has implemented “a temporary easement measures” relating to the lodging of safety and security declarations that will help business to meet their obligations and get their goods moving.
“We expected challenges such as this to arise where trade and or business didn’t make the necessary advance planning arrangements that we have strongly advocated over at least the last two years.
“We made it very clear in our engagements with industry that real, permanent and immediate changes would arise. Those who are having difficulties is the outworking of that warning.”
With reporting from Gráinne Ní Aodha
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Will I ever get my overly large SportsDirect mug? :(
@Madra: I’ll send you mine, I don’t want it and it’s too big to fit in the wheelie bin
@Madra: sports direct are delivered by fastway I think…. so… probably no…
@thomas patrick: The Government is using Fastway for the vaccines. That’s why January’s “roll out” will be in March or April or May.
@Madra: I’ve got two
@thomas patrick: Lol. absolutely, they’re truly awful
@thomas patrick: Fastway, *shudder*, I got an onset of PTSD reading that
@Madra: haha. I thought i am the only one who doesn’t like it.
I ordered a spare part for my oven from a company in Offaly at 3.30pm on Wednesday. It was delivered yesterday at 9.30 am. Buy Irish!
@Sean O’Doherty: what company?, i need a part for my old ancient oven
@Sean O’Doherty: the company in Offaly is probably getting the parts from the UK. Go easy on those parts and leave some for the rest of us.
@Sean O’Doherty: Was the part made in Ireland? Or stored here?
@michael macken: Quinnspares Banaher, Offaly
@Sean O’Doherty: Buying a spare part for your oven has to be the most January purchase I’ve ever heard
British arrogance again.
Very few British companies prepared for the new reality.
@Pius Flynn: except DPD are French……
@Steve McCarthy: I’m sure Pius was referring to companies who use the likes of DPD for delivering their products…. and not DPD themselves.
@Pius Flynn: love it when the kids come on here you get some hilarious posts
@Pius Flynn: Racism comes in many forms.
@Liz O’Neill: there is no race called British. Britain is a physical geographic feature known as an island.
@Gert McNulty: I’m sure she meant xenophobic, many people do when they use the term racist and it doesn’t take a genius to understand the implied meaning. Although I don’t think the original comment was a xenophobic, open to correction.
@Steve McCarthy: Maybe they should move their business back to France. England is no place to run a business with all this crap that they’ve brought upon themselves.
Some people just don’t realize we don’t need British goods. All European goods can come via LeHarve to Rosslare anyway. We can if needs be self sufficient regarding meat, dairy, veg as we’re an agri Country that is small enough. The UK being much bigger can never produce enough to feed themselves.
Fellas, is it racist now to exchange goods through the UK??? Asking for a friend…
@Pius Flynn:
You’re some anti-British tool.
Please god I never hope you never breed.
@HonestGrump: He is actually spot on Forest Grump, its pure and simple British arrogance on behalf of many UK traders. In their mind I have little doubt they think ”its only Ireland, why would we need to treat them like Europe and fill out forms”. Whether you like it or not there is an ingrained indifference amongst a huge swath of the British populace regarding Ireland. They still think they have some sort of quasi hold or ownership over Ireland and it sickens me to my core!
@Steve McCarthy: The article states that “DPD UK” have suspended deliveries from the UK to Europe.
Only had about 4 years to prepare for this
@Dannys Dentures: the brits hadn’t a clue what they wanted nor did they decide to the last minute and this affected everyone. Having said that a lot of work had been done and delays and hiccups were expected.
Extra delivery charges coming our way
@hellsbells: probably. But at the moment I think it’s a bit of hit and miss. I bought runners for €145 from an English store on January 1st. When I put in my Irish address I was expecting to see extra charges appear on the bill, but none did. The postman arrived this morning and I was expecting him to ask me for duty charges etc, but he didn’t. All in all I only paid the online store price of the €145.
@hellsbells: £25 for an attachment I wanted for a drone, £8 postage, fine, £8 import charge, not so fine……
@Jason Ebbs: I bought a bicycle a couple of days ago in a sale across the water (more than 50% less than rrp) and was assured by the seller that it would be exempt from customs duties due to it being a health/exercise product. Maybe your purchase was in the same exemption
@Jason Ebbs: they might have an Irish vat number so the price could have included vat already and some goods have a 0% customs rate
@Jason Ebbs: Last year I bought books from the USA valued at €650, I got an invoice for the duty from the Courier company a month later, if I failed to pay they advised they would have to pass the case to revenue and I could deal with them directly and pay the duty plus a fine so don’t be surprised if an invoice arrives in the future
@hellsbells: already a import duty from amazon UK
Time for Amazon.ie to be formed.
@Divad Nayr: I suspect we are way to small a market for that otherwise they would already have it
@ed w: Wouldn’t have made business sense before but certainly a case for it now
@Divad Nayr: redirect to amazon Germany no import duty
Buy from Amazon France no problems
@James Mccartan: do dpd use the UK as the cheapest route to Ireland from France? There’s limited capacity on the rosslare and Cherbourg ferries.
@James Mccartan: or Spain or Germany.
@James Mccartan: Yeah but they don’t do free delivery & they deliver with a poxy French plug & when you cut it off & put our 3pin on it you invalidate your warranty :-(
@Joe Thorpe: use an adapter then?
@Joe Thorpe: Poxy French Plugs ? Do you mean normal European plugs ? Not many countries use the 3 pronged Plugs we use here only because we inherited that practice from being once ruled the British. Proxy Roads over there too … they drive on the wrong side !
@Terry Cahill:
Very silly to comment without researching don’t you think.
Countries which use the same 3 pin plug as the UK…
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Belize
Bhutan
Botswana
Brunei Darussalam
Cambodia
Cyprus
Dominica
Falkland Islands
Gambia
Ghana
Hong Kong
Iraq
Ireland
Isle of Man
Jordan
Kenya
Kuwait
Lebanon
Macau
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Malta
Mauritius
Myanmar
Nigeria
Oman
Pakistan
Qatar
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Saudi Arabia
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Solomon Islands
Sri Lanka
Tanzania
Uganda
United Arab Emirates
Vanuatu
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe
48 in total. Approximately 25% of all world countries.
You’re an embarrassment.
@HonestGrump: A few that you’ve listed aren’t countries (~8%). No need to call others an embarrassment for making mistakes, stones and glass houses and all that.
Falkland Islands
Hong Kong
Isle of Man
Macau
@Terry Cahill:
And here’s further information for you
Countries which drive on the left, the same as the UK…
Anguilla
Antigua & Barbuda
Australia
Bahamas
Bangladesh
Barbados
Bermuda
Bhutan
Botswana
British Virgin Islands
Brunei
Cayman Islands
Channel Islands
China (Hong Kong, Macau)
Cook Islands
Cyprus
Dominica
Fiji
Grenada
Guyana
India
Indonesia
Ireland
Jamaica
Japan
Kenya
Losotho
Macau
Malawi
Malaysia
Malta
Mauritius
Montserrat
Mozambique
Namibia
Nepal
New Zealand
Pakistan
Papua New Guinea
St. Vincent & Grenadines
Seychelles
Singapore
Solomon Islands
Somalia
South Africa
St Kitts & Nevis
St. Helena
St. Lucia
Suriname
Swaziland
Tanzania
Thailand
Tonga
Trinidad & Tobago
Uganda
US Virgin Islands
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Hope that’ll keep you mildly happy too @Diarmuid Hunt
@HonestGrump: Ah jesus, shur I can’t be pointing out your mistakes again. Where are you getting this info?
@HonestGrump: look how many eu countries on that list.
I travell eu twice a year sometimes more, how offten you are in zimbabwe?
@Terry Cahill: The three pin we use is safer ;-)
@HonestGrump: Different Specs even things like the air conditioning units that are used in say South African cars aren’t acceptable for the EU market. The Germans tried to thwart the EU standards years ago & ended up being told they wouldn’t be allowed to sell their cars if they had their preferred Air Con unit installed, Japanese made cars too have completely different specs as anyone who has ever tried to replace something on an imported car will tell you.
Did anyone think the transition would be easy? Give it a few months and it will settle down and trade will return to pre Brexit levels.
@Malcolm Smith: it won’t because if custom charges
@richard fennessy: and customs delays.
@Malcolm Smith: You obviously h
Plz people small bit of advice if I may dont buy nothing online for fews weeks keep your few euros in your pockets messit causing havoc online sales waiting on pair trainers since november never again only ones getting my cssh is tescos or supervalu,,,,
@Mark Murphy: all your punctuation seems to have dropped to the end of the sentence
@Mark Murphy: what???
@thomas patrick: I’ll help. He says to only buy trainers (runners) in Tesco or SuperValue.
You should known this already as they are in the section between pasta and sauces.
@David Geraghty: well sorry dave did leave school at 10 haha
@Fozz: wrong there in the frozen section haha
@thomas patrick: food pat just food haha
@Mark Murphy: 10:00 on the 1st day?
@Mark Murphy: but the only way alot of companies will stay in business is if people shop online.
@Mark Murphy: And tescos is an Irish company, oh wait, sorry, no, tescos is an ? company…
@Clare Anna Mee: I wonder if DPD use a hub in the UK and that’s the issue.. Heard on the radio this morning some food stuffs from Holland destined for IRL are suffering customers duty since they are coming thought a UK Hub.
Ireland will need some direct supply lines to Europe to avoid these charges.
Dpd are always good when it comes to delivering parcels
@Ross: not for me. If its DPD thats the company I cancel the order. They are dreadful.
@Ross: They had a fair glitch over the Christmas period, many packages undelivered and returned to sender, or just plain delivered to the wrong address.
Took 7 hours yesterday in work to get the green channel for 2 trucks to get through customs
@Sue❤: no one except you talking about the drivers and office people who are being stressed out by the whole rigmarole !
Amazon.de if you want your online orders. The way to go. Keep it EU.
@Brian Kelly: they don’t have free shipping and electronics come with an EU plug. It’s not the best solution.
@A d d y o u r n a m e: Boo boo!!
@A d d y o u r n a m e: Most items you can just acquire a cable with a UK plug.
@Brian Kelly: almost 8 euro for shipping! Nah…
@Shengjie Xu: amazon UK has a 10 euro import duty now
It really annoys me that the UK appears to be the middle man for most international-Irish delivery routes. They shouldn’t have this sort of agency over Irish imports. I’ve been buying from EU suppliers in the hope of avoiding some delays (via UK delivery routes) but it doesn’t seem to help.
@John: They don’t have any say unless it goes through the UK. We have had nearly 5 years to build our own tunnel or buy our own ferry’s. Ireland is one of the richest countries per capita in the world lord only knows what we do with it :-(
@John: Time for the Irish Government to sort this out. We are in the EU so no more middle man in the UK or we will continue to have problems.
@Joe Thorpe: Per Capita… we’ve a tiny population. Also our capacity for freight through ferries has increased thanks to DFDS creating a new Rosslare-Dunkirk route (6 crossings a week) skipping the land bridge entirely, Amazon tried to book the entirety of the capacity nut were refused and allocated 10%, with that kind of demand I wouldn’t be surprised if more crossings are in the pipeline.
@Anita OGalligan: I wouldn’t be holding my breath
All this shower can sort is pay raises for themselves
@Diarmuid Hunt: Exactly. The Stena decline is because all the freight going to the continent can just jump on the new DFDS Ferry and go direct to Dunkirk, bypassing all the UK nonsense. It will be the new norm now.
They already stopped Ireland to UK it seems. Tried to send present a few days ago and website says Country not recognised after selecting GB (only option)
Mr Bezos won’t be happy
@Patrico Floodaldinio: it’s ok the vast majority of parcels from Amazon are delivered by An Post
@Tom Harpur Photography: Actually since oct they are delivered mostly by Amazon themselves in dublin.
@Tom Harpur Photography: as has been said that is no longer the case. Amazon are buying up airplanes to take on the the UPS and DHLs. Anything delivered next day comes from Amazon delivery.
@Gareth Murran: no such thing as next day delivery in donegal. lucky to get anything in a week
@Patrico Floodaldinio: I don’t honestly think he would give a toss
@ed w: we can’t blame the Brits on that one. The postman there spend at least an hour at each house having a chat.
@James Ward: looking out for his vulnerable clients.
@Gareth Murran: likewise no such thing as next day in Wexford either. :-(
@Tom Harpur Photography: Donegal, Wexford and many other counties just don’t have the large population centres (demand) or infrastructure for next day delivery to be viable.
Leave UK, a pro-Brexit campaign bankrolled by UKIP backer Arron Banks, has migrated its registered office for its website to Waterford so that it can retain its ‘.eu’ internet address. Does he believe in Brexit or not..
They also seem to have stopped delivering from Europe to Ireland because of Brexit. We had to cancel an order from Spain because Dpd wouldn’t deliver to Ireland because of Brexit, DPD just stopped communicating about it with us.
@Clare Anna Mee: I wonder if DPD use a hub in the UK and that’s the issue..
@John Joseph Barry: yes, the indicated that it’s because the transit through the uk. Didn’t mention anything about looking into alternative routings though.
Just use amazon.nl or amazon.fr for goods that can’t be got in ireland, tip: search in google.ie and in tools change country to ireland, shop local where possible
Our leaders only took us into the EEC because the UK had joined and now we are isolated, tied to a bloc with our shortest route cut off.
@Bramley Hawthorne: Not isolated, and the EU had Ireland’s back in the negotiations (but obviously couldn’t stop Brexit itself). If Ireland hadn’t been in the EU we’d now be Britain’s back yard. This will need time to all be sorted out, but I actually think in time the British will relax their attitude towards the EU, at least in practical terms. What we’re seeing now is the effects of the hardest Brexit they could manage. It’ll soften over time.
@Bramley Hawthorne: UK makes poor decision… apportion blame to Ireland. Brexit logic at its finest.
Terrible courier service. No text, note, email to tell you which neighbour has your parcel or if its delivered al all.
They have always had a terrible service. Use a better company.
Have a look at the new charges on Amazon. It equates to nearly 20 % of the price
@Sean Dempsey: yeah, off the wall those new charges….what would normally cost for two shipped items- usually 60e – has not gone up to 90 something…..
And the wonderful “benefits” of brexit just keep on coming.
4 years to prepare.
Countless ads / advice and support
Still not ready.
Global Britain off to a good start…….
I bought a laptop on curry’s irish website and it us now stuck in the Dpd hub in the UK. This is ridiculous!!!!
@Liam Preston: The UK has bonded warehousing near many of its airports & docks where goods that arrive are placed into if they are not for the UK market & just awaiting transshipment to a customer in another state. Technically the goods in bonded warehouses haven’t entered the country in is like transiting through Singapore on the way to Australia, if you don’t leave the airport you don’t have to check in again. The bonded warehouse I saw neat East Midlands airport is colossal & if Curry’s ship to these places it is the same as the item coming straight from Korea or China direct.
oh ffs
@ed w: why would you want to buy goods made in the far East from England rather than from mainland Europe?
@John Kinsella: three pin plug for a start
@ed w: cables are easily accuired for most electrical items
@Stephen Devlin: what planet do you live on if you think cutting cables and wiring plugs on is safer or paying extra for a cable to fit your plug. and dont start me on 2 to 3 pin adapters most are junk
Took 7 hours yesterday in work to get the green channel for 2 trucks to get through customs
Any one else find it hypocritical that the site for the uk leaving the EU, leave.eu, is registered in Ireland?
@Joe_X: and also Jacob Rees mogg investment company Somerset capital has moved some of its funds to Dublin
Noooooo, my lightsaber!!!!!
Brexit is Britain giving two fingers to all its neighbours. Always has been.
@Mad Worldman: So True
Ah, don’t worry lads, the eu has our backs, haha, don’t hold your breath…
DPD usually take an eternity anyways
@Jake Kelly: clearly you’ve had a bad experience as any time I received parcels I get a time for delivery 13.10 to 14.10 and it arrives on time unlike Fastway or Slow-way they’re brutal
Is this “BREXIT” new
@nero: The concept isnt, just the implications of Brexit have only come to fruition. The get Brexit done party only got it done 8 days ago so we’re still learning all the consequences.
@Diarmuid Hunt: i understand. Oh my. Its not the only country to have customs and having to declare goods. Spare me my friend.
@nero: No but other countries haven’t suddenly changed their customs arrangements have they? I will spare you when you make sense, deal?
Huge markup already on products sold by amazon and coming from the the UK….
Took 7 hours yesterday in work to get the green channel for 2 trucks to get through customs
@Sue❤: how many times did you semd the documents
Ha Ha! This is only the beginning.
Sure the drivers just rob everything and say we there was no one in and we lost your parcel ..
@James Harbourne: You can’t paint them all with the same brush (dpd or not) you ars€h@L€
Looks like An Post have stopped also as many people have yet to see their packages get to Europe……many packages sent early December have yet to get to their destination…..when is the journal going to investigate this scandal?
@D.B: Or early September in some cases. At least with tracking you know they’re safely in Ireland and will arrive sometime.
They’ll be fun now with tracking no’s.
Had to email DPD a few weeks back because i spotted my orders from amazon with correct address and eircode were not being recorded with correct eircode in their system.
I would get a message from dpd and when I clicked link my eircode was some generic one for ireland. The driver kept giving me guff about not including my eircode in orders.
Anyway, I am not surprised that DPD don’t seem to be ready for brexit.
Sighs loudly …. Ordered a new gpu on 22nd of sept from a UK site ,last part to build my new computer, after 4 months of covid/stock shortages it shipped yesterday to my excitememt, …..via dpd
@Ivan Ó Sirideáin: so, youre looking at maybe two weeks for it to ship…..
Yes but at the same time the hurdled all uk companies to sigh up with them for delivery services after Brexit and now they just couldn’t handle the massive backlog. It’s called greed. Its not like you have a few options at check out , only dpd or nothing….
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