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Businesses in the UK have had to deal with a new reality since they stepped away from the EU single market in January 2021. Trade that once flowed freely across the EU is now complex with customs forms, clearance steps, and delays at the border.
These delays pile on paperwork. The National Audit Office (NAO) says traders filed 39 million customs declarations in 2022 just for goods moving between the UK and the EU. This is a challenge that lands squarely on warehouse managers and operations directors.
Understanding customs rules after Brexit is an operational test that requires smart tools and clear plans. Dock scheduling with Opendock offers an easy way to keep logistics moving.
In this article, we will dig into recent UK customs compliance, how it’s hitting warehouse facilities, and how Opendock is providing solutions. Keep reading to discover how to learn more and stay on top.
The Customs Compliance Challenge Post-Brexit
After Brexit, the EU immediately imposed full customs controls on UK exports, requiring checks to ensure tariffs, VAT, and safety standards were met. In contrast, the UK took a phased approach delaying full checks on EU imports five times before setting out its Border Target Operating Model (BTOM).
Under the UK’s new BTOM, full import controls are being introduced in phases. From April 30, 2024, medium- and high-risk goods such as livestock, chilled meat, and certain plants must arrive with export health certificates and undergo physical inspections at border control posts.
But paperwork alone isn’t enough. These changes coincide with a broader shift in the UK’s customs infrastructure. The transition from the CHIEF system to the Customs Declaration Service (CDS) has changed how import declarations are filed. At the same time, Ro-Ro shipments now require hauliers to pre-lodge Goods Movement References (GMRs) through the Goods Vehicle Movement Service (GVMS). If a single piece of this puzzle—whether a health certificate, a declaration, or a valid EORI number—is missing or incorrect, goods may be delayed at the border.
Additionally, rules of origin documentation is now critical for tariff-free trade under UK-EU agreements; errors or omissions can stall shipments entirely. And when Incoterms (International Commercial Terms) aren’t clearly defined between trading partners, disputes over who is responsible for customs clearance can lead to missed delivery slots or dock congestion. On paper, the system is digital but in practice, customs compliance has become a daily challenge for warehouse teams managing live, fast-moving operations.
The impact is cumulative: without software like Opendock, warehouse teams are left in the dark about when or if goods will arrive, forced to manage missed appointments, reschedule labour, and absorb the cost of uncertainty. As compliance requirements grow more complex, so too does the challenge of keeping dock operations smooth.
How Customs Delays Impact Warehouses & Distribution Centres
New checks and paperwork slow docks, disrupt schedules, and raise costs. Below, we examine three ways customs delays impact managers focused on maintaining operational flow at distribution centres.
Longer Wait Times at Docks
Extended documentation verification increases processing time, meaning lorries wait longer at docks while paperwork is checked before unloading. These checks create a reception backlog and cause workers to lose track of delivery times. Opendock helps by pre-scheduling arrivals to shorten lorry waits and improve visibility across other lorries at the dock.
Missed Delivery Windows
Poor coordination between customs clearance and warehouse operations leads to missed delivery windows, disrupting supply chains. Delays tied to documentation hold-ups often force warehouses to reschedule loads at the last minute, leaving staff underutilised or scrambling. Late shipments also require reactive storage adjustments to fit goods into the existing workflow.
Rising Detention and Demurrage Charges
Delays mean hauliers burn through free waiting time and incur costly detention fees. To avoid incurring disapproval or profit erosion, warehouses must reduce dwell times. Opendock supports this by adjusting dock slots in real time to limit avoidable delays.
Global Proof: SSA Marine reduced manual scheduling by 90% with Opendock—freeing teams to focus on customs exceptions.
How Opendock Helps Businesses Stay Compliant & Efficient
Opendock isn't built to handle customs clearance directly, but its impact on warehouse booking, cost control, and operational flow makes it an essential part of the post-Brexit logistics toolkit.
A 2024 survey by Logistics UK found that border delays were responsible for increased transportation costs, affecting 66% of respondents. For warehouse teams already operating on tight margins, every idle lorry or missed dock slot becomes even more costly.
Reducing Scheduling Admin and Labour Costs: Before Opendock, most warehouses relied on emails and phone calls to schedule appointments. That process is slow, hard to track, and expensive. With Opendock, carriers use a self-serve portal to book slots directly, removing the burden from warehouse staff and giving them more time to manage higher-value tasks. It also improves the carrier experience, which can boost long-term partner reliability.
Improving Visibility and Labour Planning: Once an appointment is booked, it appears on the warehouse's live calendar, alongside product type, carrier contact, and custom notes. This gives managers the visibility to plan labour accurately: if 10 full lorryloads are arriving on Tuesday, you’ll know to schedule extra staff. This helps reduce overtime and prevents last-minute scrambles due to surprise arrivals.
Lowering Detention Fees and Avoidable Delays: When documentation issues or customs checks delay a load, facilities without dock visibility often let lorries idle, which accumulates detention fees. With Opendock, warehouse teams can reassign slots in real time, freeing bays, adjusting labour, and rescheduling other loads to reduce cascading delays.
Carrier Performance & Reporting: Opendock logs timestamps for each arrival, loading, and departure event. These can be used to track dwell times and create carrier scorecards—flagging which partners frequently arrive late or no-show. That accountability supports better conversations around contracts and service levels and helps make a case for renegotiating with underperforming hauliers.
A Foundation for Compliance Support: Opendock’s document upload feature allows carriers to submit key files, such as GMRs or Export Health Certificates, alongside appointment bookings. While Opendock doesn’t integrate directly with CDS or GVMS, it helps centralise readiness for customs checks by ensuring all required paperwork is in place before the lorry arrives.
Quick to Implement, Easy to Scale: Warehouses can get up and running with Opendock in under 90 minutes. For multi-site operations, the system creates a consistent scheduling standard and provides operational data that can be used for ROI tracking and benchmarking. While it doesn’t replace a WMS or customs software, it integrates well with both and fills a critical visibility and coordination gap.
In short, Opendock helps warehouses turn scheduling into a strategic advantage by reducing labour strain, shrinking delays, and ensuring compliance requirements don't catch teams off guard.
Reduce Delays and Run Smoother Docks
UK warehouses face difficulties due to customs regulations that result in slower HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) movements and high operational expenses. Dock scheduling enables businesses to monitor product progress while upholding all required regulations.
Opendock simplifies the process by planning arrivals, reducing detention fees, and helping your customers be more compliant. By reducing dwell time and improving the driver experience, you become more attractive to carriers and improve service levels across the board.
Ready to reduce delays and run smoother docks? Request a demo to see how the system fits your business operations.
