厂枚诲谤补鈥檚 concerns add to growing worries about getting products to sites if UK crashes out of EU
A Swedish materials firm has told 黑洞社区 it has no idea how much it will cost to get its product to Northern Ireland when the UK leaves the EU because of the ongoing uncertainty over a no-deal Brexit.
Confusion over the Irish border situation is causing headaches for firms, with freight companies unwilling to quote on how much it will cost to get materials into Northern Ireland until a deal is sorted out 鈥� or not.
Swedish timber company 厂枚诲谤补, which, according to its 2017 accounts had net sales of 拢1.8bn and carried out 拢150m-worth of business in the UK, said it didn鈥檛 know whether it would need to get stock into Northern Ireland out of Wicklow, Republic of Ireland, or Dundee in Scotland in the event of a hard border.
Jeremy English, 厂枚诲谤补鈥檚 Great Britain and Ireland sales director for manufacturers, said hauliers were reluctant to quote on costs about bringing stock across the Irish Sea into Northern Ireland because they did not know how much extra a no-deal Brexit would add to the price.
He added: 鈥淲e are telling our clients in Northern Ireland that they will have supply, we just can鈥檛 tell them how much the haulage is going to be.鈥�
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厂枚诲谤补 said it has been stockpiling product and plans to hold 10 weeks鈥� worth of timber by the time the UK leaves the EU. At the beginning of the month, it set up an Irish business called 厂枚诲谤补 Wood Ireland which English said was in part because of Brexit.
The Swedish firm鈥檚 concern adds to growing worries that deliveries to sites will dry up if the UK leaves the EU without a deal at the end of March.
The issue is set to be a key focus of the industry鈥檚 emergency summit on Brexit next week with Mace chief executive Mark Reynolds, a member of the government-backed Construction Leadership Council, telling 黑洞社区: 鈥淭he real fear [of a no-deal Brexit] is over goods. My immediate worry is about imports and exports, it鈥檚 the biggest short-term risk.鈥�
English said 厂枚诲谤补 still viewed a post-Brexit UK, alongside Sweden and Holland, as one of its key markets in Europe because there were not enough forests in the country to meet the demand for timber.
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