New ocean consolidation to support GCC traders

PRESS RELEASE

Ocean freight shipping specialist Europa Air & Sea has launched a new weekly consolidated ocean freight service between the UK to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), giving customers a more cost-effective, efficient and reliable choice for transporting less than container loads (LCL).

The service will operate from London Gateway Port to Jebel Ali port in Dubai, using Europa’s own consolidation containers to guarantee a seamless door-to-port and door-to-door movement of goods. From Dubai, the service delivers to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait.

With customs support available at the start and end of a consignment’s journey from Europa’s Dubai and UK teams, the scheduled and secure service will ensure manufacturers, distributors and retailers exporting and importing within the GCC are better connected to their UK markets. The service, which will operate on a weekly basis controlled by Europa’s inhouse teams, guarantees customers an efficient, seamless movement of goods at a competitive price.

Europa Air & Sea launched in Dubai in June 2022, following a growth in opportunities for Europa in the region, particularly in sectors like retail, mission-critical aerospace, and aircraft on ground. Since then, the company has further expanded into Delhi, India, and has most recently established a second Chinese office in Shenzhen.

Nathan Lynn, General Manager – UAE & India for Europa Air & Sea, said: “According to the British Government, trade between the GCC and UK is worth approximately £61.5 billion. If negotiations over a Free Trade Agreement continue at pace, trade could increase by an additional 16 per cent.

“To facilitate for growing trade demands, it’s important that freight providers have the infrastructure in place to guarantee a frictionless movement of goods. This infrastructure can be broken down to five key areas: customer service, customs solutions, investment in IT, transit times and freight costs. Europa’s new weekly LCL consolidated ocean freight service is a significant step, as it covers off these areas providing customers with total peace of mind.

“For example, we have full control over our customers’ cargo from start to finish, which customers can track via our leading visibility platform LeoWeb. We also have our dedicated customer service teams and in-house customs support teams, who are at hand to provide an efficient, high-quality service at both ends of the journey at a competitive price.

The new weekly consolidated service is the latest in a series of investments made by Europa Air & Sea, a specialist division of Europa Worldwide Group. These investments include the roll-out of LeoWeb, a customer-facing platform for the real-time tracking of data, order management and online quote request features, as well as a document archive. Availability of this tracking data has proven to be invaluable in the ongoing Red Sea Crisis, providing accurate ETAs and vital communication updates.

Angus Hind, Director of Europa Air & Sea, said: “Despite facing difficult market conditions, Europa continues to innovate and adapt – looking for new ways to streamline our customers’ supply chains. This weekly consolidated service will help achieve this, offering manufacturers, distributors and retailers both in the UK and the GCC greater accessibility into previously untapped markets.

“This, coupled with the expertise of our UK and UAE teams puts us in great stead for the future of trade between these two nations.”

Europa Worldwide Group is an ambitious independent logistics operator with three divisions, Europa Road, Europa Air & Sea, and Europa Warehouse, and has been featured in The Sunday Times Top Track 250 for three years.