Europa Road has mobilised significant manpower to keep goods moving, stepping in to protect customers from severe delays caused by ongoing external customs software outages.
The company has been working proactively to minimise disruption for customers following widespread delays caused by the rollout of a new French customs system.
Changes to the EU’s Union Customs Code have prompted member states to upgrade electronic customs systems to improve transparency and modernise trade processes. As part of this transition, France has deployed a new customs platform, Delta I/E. However, frequent outages of the system have resulted in severe delays, tripling transit times for many businesses and creating the most challenging trading conditions since Brexit.
As the largest customs agent in Calais, Europa has taken responsibility for managing the disruption, investing more than 200 man-hours to ensure anticipated declarations were in place and cargo could clear as quickly as possible. Customs teams have worked around the clock to keep freight moving.
Europa Road is the dedicated European road freight division of Europa Worldwide Group. In line with the Group’s solutions-focused approach, teams across the business have worked tirelessly to limit disruption and maintain service levels.
With 60 in-house customs specialists operating across the UK and EU, George Wrench, general manager at Europa Worldwide Group and head of the customs team, said:
“The existing Delta G software has been replaced by the new Delta I/E system, which was rolled out permanently at the start of Q4. However, 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 stop completely, leading to hours of costly downtime. For some customers, transit times to EU destinations increased from two days to as many as six – a huge delay with significant commercial implications.”
Europa Road supports businesses across a wide range of sectors, many of which are key contributors to the British economy. The outages have particularly affected full-load movements, with costs escalating as trailers were unable to cross the Channel. Europa’s customs teams are engaging daily with customs authorities to support the seamless movement of goods.
Wrench added: “The instability 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 – 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 fundamental to our business model, which is why we have invested so heavily in mitigating the impact of these outages.”
The Delta I/E issues follow a period of uncertainty for British exporters surrounding changes to French fiscal regulations affecting Regime 42. These changes will impact businesses exporting goods under Delivery Duty Paid (DDP) terms from January 2026.
In response, Europa launched two simplified solutions under its customs solutions portfolio, Europa Flow. Initially introduced in 2021 following Brexit, Europa Flow was designed to remove post-Brexit administrative burdens and guarantee a seamless customs clearance process. In 2023, Europa Road became the first to market with a Money Back Guarantee, absorbing all costs associated with transit delays.
