It is the brief moments of interpersonal encounter that make long-lasting partnerships in logistics possible. In 2013 European Customs Clearance BV was looking for a reliable and cost-effective software solution for their customers’ Customs declarations in the Netherlands. After a visit to the Riege headquarter in Meerbusch and a brief talk with Johannes Riege in front of the building, Ton Lagerweij decided Scope would be the perfect match. Almost ten years later, Scope has become an important part of the full European Customs Clearance package.
Scope as a reliable end-to-end solution
Since the beginning of 2014, European Customs Clearance (ECC) offers not only Customs knowledge, but also Scope as a software solution for Customs declarations in the Netherlands. In addition, the offer includes Customs services for companies that have an employer shortage, as well as regular training for Customs agents. With Customs in focus and Scope at its side, ECC is able to offer its customers an end-to-end solution. With the AGS import and export module, ECC can offer its customers a quick and easy declaration system for importing and exporting goods in the Netherlands. Scope enables the rapid creation of digital transit declarations for the movement of goods that are placed under the transit Customs procedure. In the event of a Customs disruption, all relevant emergency procedures are available in the system. All important information can be accessed at any time via a direct link to the Customs status page. Scope also makes it easy to send ECS messages. Once the export declaration has been prepared, the ECS message can be created and all relevant data about the export shipment subsequently added.
“Scope is not expensive, easy to implement, very user-friendly and compatible with 95% of other programs, which enables our customers to make Customs procedures as efficient and time saving as possible.”
When the human factor is decisive
Unique to the ECC online concept are the support options. Apart from technical questions, applicants can also ask the support team functional questions. The combination of a comprehensive software with Scope, Customs consulting and the dispatch of declarants enables their customers to fully outsource their Customs administration. ECC has worked with other Software as a Service providers in the past and therefore gained some primer experience with other transport management and Customs software. What they particularly like about Riege is the consistently good and intensive personal exchange that the family-owned company has always cultivated with its customers and which is firmly anchored in the corporate culture.
Outlook: joint progress thanks to automation
In the future, it will no longer be sufficient to work with conventional Customs software - ECC has also acknowledged this. Due to increasing requirements from governments within the European Community, declaration procedures are becoming more and more complex. And the increasing number of e-commerce goods crossing the borders every day since the start of the pandemic is not making it any easier for Customs officials. This calls for a versatile solution that can do more than just Customs clearance. With Scope, ECC customers can look to the future with confidence, as the Customs module can be used as a standalone module or in combination with the modules for air and sea freight. Scope is an integrated multimodal logistics and Customs software, which provides the freight forwarder or Customs broker with a comprehensive system for logistics processes, enabling its partners to grow steadily. European Customs Clearance has experienced steady growth over the past two years and is looking forward to expanding into other European countries, starting with a new office in Belgium this year. It also plans to automate many of its filing processes, allowing its agents to work on many projects simultaneously. Here, too, Scope ECC can provide support. The modules for air freight, ocean freight and Customs not only speed up all order handling processes, they also enable seamless data exchange and thus reduce the effort involved in recording and processing shipments in European border traffic.
“We would very much welcome Scope being used in all European countries in the future. Our customers are convinced of the applicability of Scope and clearly see the benefits for their daily work. It would be fantastic if we could offer them software that enables them to clear Customs in more European countries.”