At Frankfurt Airport, CB Customs Broker digitally clears tens of thousands of shipments every day. This success story is now set to continue at Schiphol Airport (AMS), the first station outside of its German home turf. More locations are to follow as the Lufthansa Cargo subsidiary has plans to establish offices at those European airports reporting a high throughput of eCommerce.
Customs Broker was incepted in 2006 and started clearing eTail shipments in 2018 by automating and digitalizing the processes. “We are following the global eCommerce flows. The opening of the new office in the Netherlands at Schiphol Airport was a logical first step, as the location is a strategically important hub for eCommerce imports in Europe,” explains Uwe Glunz, Managing Director CB Customs Broker. The executive adds to this that “further European locations are planned.”
Eyeing the Belgian market next
The management further emphasizes that it has already established a robust network of local partners at Schiphol Airport, and its team will be accommodated in the premises of sister company time:matters, allowing it full access to the airport infrastructure. However, a spokesperson stresses that eCommerce flows were not the sole factor for its pro Amsterdam decision. A comparison of the total import clearance volumes (not only eCommerce shipments) at AMS and LGG, has revealed that the two airports are similarly attractive for offering brokerage services. This said, Liège (LGG) stands next on the expansion list come 2025, when CB intends to penetrate the Belgian market.
One EU but different customs schemes
The top priority currently is to integrate CB Customs Broker’s software with the Dutch DECO system. In Germany, the software is already certified for the equivalent of DECO, ATLAS IMPOST. Both systems are designed for customs clearance of shipments valued at less than 150 EUR, but they are not entirely identical despite EU regulations. However, the customs requirements for eCommerce imports in both countries are very similar, emphasizing the need for transparent, secure, and efficient transfer of shipment data to customs authorities before the imports arrive. CB Customs Broker’s software can digitally clear up to 20,000 shipments per hour, provided that the data is properly structured. CB Customs Broker emphasizes in a statement that onboarding teams offer support in structuring the avalanche of data.
Targeting Munich
Asked what volumes CB expects to customs clear in AMS, either daily, weekly or monthly, the company says that it hopes to replicate the Leipzig (LEJ) figures (50 million digitally processed shipments in 3 years) or even the current Frankfurt (FRA) figures, where 70,000 shipments are cleared on average every single day.
Next to Amsterdam and Liège, CB is targeting Munich Airport (MUC). “This aligns with our strategy of focusing on locations where our customers require our services and where we have established partner networks,” illustrated a spokesperson.
Asked how the company earns money, she said that “we are a customs agency, which means we sell brokerage services. We earn money from every declaration we carry out on behalf of our customers.” Currently, 80 employees are listed on CB’s payroll, with two of them based in AMS. However, the Schiphol office is set to grow to 4+ employees.
Customer-centric solutions
Why should a customer switch from his current customs agency partner to CB Customs Broker? Here comes the management’s answer: “In Germany, we are leading in automating, digitizing and providing customized customs solutions. We aim to be Europe’s leading digital customs broker. Innovation is very important to us. For example, with our software, we were the first customs broker in Germany to be certified for the ATLAS IMPOST scheme. We are investing heavily in the automation of processes. This reduces costs and error rates for our customers. Additionally, we prioritize a customer-centric approach. Our competitive advantage lies in our unique combination of deep customs expertise, innovation, and exceptional customer service.”
Missing a specific vocational education
Given the above figures for customs clearing low-value eCommerce shipments, more and more companies seem to be willing to rely on CB Customs Broker’s services. However, despite the highly differentiated and demanding nature of customs brokerage,a dedicated Customs Agent vocational training program does not exist in Germany. Therefore, service providers such as CB Customs Brokers have no choice but to coach candidates themselves and finance the training courses out of their own pockets in order to have enough in-house experts who understand their demanding tasks from A to Z.
