The story of Medispace: 1 month after Brexit
Our main business is the UK, and we were very anxious what would be happing with our business if we had to transport our mobile medical MRI and CT systems from EU to UK and back after Brexit. We are not selling units or parts, but we are renting our systems to customers in the UK directly and our entity, Medispace Diagnostics Ltd.
Below are some examples of how we have done this:
1. Unit to Ireland
We had a request from Bon Secour Hospital in Cork to provide a mobile MRI system for 12 weeks during the replacement of their MRI inside the hospital.
The delivery
Delivery, by A Boer transport, was planned 1st week of January 2021. Since the situation was very unclear with BREXIT, we decided to transport the unit from France, Dunkerque, directly to Rosslare in Ireland to avoid any customs documents. Departing on Saturday evening, arrival on Sunday evening to be installed on Monday at the Hospital. That was the plan. On Saturday however, due to stricter COVID regulations the ferry only allowed 50% of the trailer and drivers on board. The mobile MRI trailer was NOT one of them. We were put on a waiting list for Sunday. After many talks with the hospital Bon Secours in Cork and the ferry company DFDS we got a on the ferry on Sunday evening, arrival at Monday evening. Mobile MRI was installed on Tuesday to be ready for the customer to scan patients. We decided to avoid customs in the UK, but stricter COVID regulations on the ferry influenced our installation date. At the end we are happy with the help of everybody that we could the deliver the mobile MRI to Cork. Next time we maybe would choose the route Ireland – UK – the Netherlands.
2. Mobile MRI and CT to the UK
In January we delivered 1 mobile MRI and 1 Mobile CT system to the UK.
After gathering information at Evefededex and de Nederlandse Douane we got the information that, if we had to rent a unit to customers or an entity of the Medispace group in the UK, we had to export our systems temporary to the UK. We found a partner in European Custom Consult in Roosendaal. They prepared our export documents, T1 document. The documents were electronically checked by customs in the Netherlands and approved. Ferry was booked with Stena Line. Information of truck, trailer and a reference of customs export documents were uploaded in a system called Portbase. All went smooth and trailers arrived safely in the UK. On the UK site there was no customs check yet, according to information we have, this will be done as of 1 June 2021.
Did Brexit influence our business?
More administrative actions are required for export regulations/documents like;
proforma invoice, packing list and more. Extra costs are involved by preparing temporary export and import documents.
When temporary exporting mobile MRI and CT trailer, the unit needs to be physically within the Netherlands when documents are filled with the Customs of the douane Nederland. If customs want to check the system before approving the documents, we need to show them our goods, in this case the trailer with MRI and CT. This can become an obstacle in the future when units are used in Spain/France and needs to be transported to the UK.
What do we need to now: First, we need to bring the unit back to the Netherlands, organize the custom documents, before it can be temporary exported. Extra transport costs are involved in that. Before Brexit we could deliver systems directly from Spain to UK.
We are not facing long delays at ferry terminals yet, but we are wondering what will happen when documents are checked at UK customs. Is the UK ready for it?
We are not facing huge problems with Brexit at the moment, but extra transport costs are involved by the custom documents.
Direct contact
You can also always contact us by telephone during office hours. We would be happy to help!
