Alberti e Santi closed out 2022 with the news of the acquisition in the A&S group of SKM & SON Haulage.

This is good news for A&S, which is able to bring into its group a transport company such as SKM & SON Haulage LTD, based in Grays (West Thurrock, Essex – United Kingdom), specializing in containers and swap bodies, nonetheless the first supplier until 2022 of Alberti e Santi for towing in the UK.

Steve Magney founded SKM in the 1990s, starting with 2 trucks and 3 trailers transporting construction materials such as bricks and sand across the country.

Business was steadily growing, with Steve continuing to increase the volume of his traffic by adding trucks and trailers whenever possible; this was compounded by the fact that Danny (his son) was entering the working world after his school career, and because he loved trucks and logistics, he joined the company in 1994.

SKM continued growing by making domestic deliveries with UK customers, while Danny, learning from his father, took a management role in the company.

With the advent of Covid, SKM & SON Haulage experienced a challenging period; with a workforce of 10 drivers and 4 employees, Danny sought to open the company’s horizons to work with Ports and on International Traffic as well.

Neil Emery (UK General Manager of Alberti e Santi) contacted Danny during that year and asked him to take care of the pulls for some of Alberti e Santi’s multi-drop swap bodies, thus starting a partnership with 2 drivers from SKM & SON who worked weekly for the A&S UK office in Maidstone.

To date, all SKM drivers make deliveries for Alberti and Santi, covering about one-third of all incoming volume at the Port of Purfleet.

In 2022, Danny Magney, Neil Emery, and Stefano Alberti began talking about the possibility of joining forces, as both companies saw potential in the other half to add that something that was missing in order to continue growing in the UK as well.

Both companies are family-owned and share the same values, above all of them the value of human relationships; this played an important role in creating an immediate feeling between Danny and Stefano.

On December 31, 2022, the final agreement was signed: SKM became part of the Alberti and Santi Family, with the first re-branded trucks officially hitting the road in the past few weeks.

Alberti e Santi has presented its 2020 Sustainability Report, choosing to make a concrete and important commitment to CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility).

A renewed look for this document dedicated to the stakeholders of the territory – customers, institutions, employees, citizens – to offer a unified and transparent vision of the actions carried out in 2020 by Alberti e Santi, which like the rest of the world has had to face with the Covid-19 Pandemic.

The company, with its international presence, is constantly committed to creating an efficient range of services that respect the environment, help the communities in which it operates and share a socially responsible business philosophy.

The 2020 Sustainability Report is a report of activities and results with relevant information on the economic, environmental and social impacts that Alberti e Santi’s work generates on the territory and the community.

Download Social Report 2020

Busy week in Brexitland….  Some of the new processes mentioned below concern only the english importer.  We have given our assessment and will forward more detail as and when received.

TRANSITION EXTENSION

Whilst the deadline for requesting an extension is officially 30th June, the real date was 12th June (at least from the UK’s side). That has passed and UK have formally confirmed [to the EU] that they will NOT be requesting an extension and will not agree to one should the EU request.  So, that’s it. 31st December is set in stone.  If any part of your Brexit preparations relied on some form of extension, you need to re-visit immediately.

SOFT LAUNCH for UK Import

UK have announced a phased approach. This phased approach relates to UK imports only (whether that be from mainland EU or IRL). The headline details of which are:

–     From 1st January 2021 standard UK imports will have access to a process known as CFSP EIDR (Customs Freight Simplified Procedures, Entry In Declarants Records). To all intents and purposes this will look like TSP. Certain goods are excluded and WILL require frontier declarations (excise goods for example). The full list will probably resemble the TSP controlled goods list by launch. Under CFSP EIDR you have up to six months to present the import entry, but you MUST keep records of arrivals. We understand that this easement will be available to all without the need to apply for it.

–     From 1st April 2021 SPS* will require health certification and pre-notification (IPAFFS), but very few physical checks will take place.
SPS controls will be relaxed initially, except for example live animals and high risk plants (probably those covered by the plant passport scheme). This was the case with TSP.

–     S&S (Safety and Security) declarations will NOT be required on UK imports until 1st July 2021

–     From 1st July 2021 CFSP EIDR will be turned off, unless you have applied for full ongoing approval. Frontier declarations will be required in all cases from 1st July.

–    full SPS checks will be in place. Documents, TRACES NT, IPAFFS and goods will need to enter via a BCP (Border Control Post, formerly known as a BIP). It is not clear yet whether all SPS will need to visit a BCP, equally we do not yet know where the BCP’s will be. Some will be inland.

*SPS = Sanitary and phyto-sanitary (products of animal origin, plants, vegetables, fruit and produce). Fish could also require additional control in the form of catch certificates although we have recently received details of a process called APEO and will be in touch with seafood shippers shortly.

DUTY JUST GOT EASIER (INITIALLY)

One of the invisible benefits of TSP was that duty (if any) became a transaction between HMRC and the importer directly.  The logistics provider, freight forwarder or broker did not need to secure payment.  This would be particularly useful when incoterms are DAP or similar. CFSP EIDR appears to do the same. Remember it has an end date (30th June 2021) but at least for the first six months, UK imports can be handled by consignor (the logistics provider) having to worry about the duty liability.