CB Customs Broker offers transparency with automated T1 transit documentation
15 / 10 / 2024
Photo: Lufthansa Cargo
Kelsterbach, Frankfurt-headquartered CB Customs Broker, the wholly owned subsidiary of Lufthansa Cargo that operates as a specialist in offering digital Customs solutions, is widening its eCommerce product range to include the T1 duty-free transit procedure.
It is enabling the automated generation of T1 documents in which individual items are listed in detail.
The T1 procedure enables the duty and tax-free transportation of non-EU goods through the European Union. Customs clearance only takes place at the point of destination.
For large-volume eCommerce shipments, it was previously impossible to automatically transmit shipment details to Customs on an individual parcel level. This meant that T1 documents often only contained one single blanket item such as ‘eCommerce goods’, which is insufficient for Customs authorities.
However, CB Customs Broker’s new solution enables up to 999 individual items to be automatically listed at the required level of detail on a T1 document.
This means online traders from third countries now have much more flexibility, CB Customs Broker believes; they can, for example, now access additional flight capacities and are no longer dependent on direct flights to a specific EU country.
Meanwhile, Customs authorities gain the necessary transparency regarding the import of eCommerce goods that are transported to neighbouring EU countries.
Lufthansa Cargo is already live on the product improvement, now regularly transporting eCommerce goods arriving in Frankfurt to the Netherlands using the T1 upgrade.
Smart Freight
In other recent news from Lufthansa Cargo, the Frankfurt-based German freight carrier has become a member of the Smart Freight Centre (SFC) community.
SFC is an international non-profit organisation focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions created by freight transportation.
Bettina Jansen, part of the Environmental Management team at Lufthansa Cargo, commented: “As a leading international cargo airline, our mission is to enable global business and connect economies and markets in a more sustainable way.
“The collaboration with SFC’s industry-leading network will support us in pursuing our strategy for a more sustainable future.”
Lufthansa Cargo aims to achieve a neutral CO2 balance by 2050 and halve net CO2 emissions by 2030 compared to 2019. All targets include carbon reduction and offsetting measures.
Andrea Schoen, director of the Clean Air Transport programme at SFC, noted: “Lufthansa Cargo began this journey [to low-carbon aviation] decades ago and has since developed extensive expertise in green strategies and carbon accounting, providing robust and reliable evidence of their impact – a valuable asset that will strengthen our joint efforts towards decarbonising the aviation industry.”
Change in personnel
Plus, at the start of this year, it was confirmed by Lufthansa Cargo that its chief operations officer, Dietmar Focke, will leave the role on October 31.
The cargo carrier said that a decision on a successor will be announced shortly. Focke is leaving to take up the position of managing director at Lufthansa Industry Solutions.
In his current role, he has been responsible for global handling management, flight operations, security and most of Lufthansa Cargo’s equity investments.