Logistics and shipping operator Garland creates company to ease the headache of customs processes

One of Portugal’s oldest logistics, shipping and haulage companies, Garland, has set up a company that will allow it to cut costs and create extra revenues.

Founded in 1776, Garland has set up Garland Customs Solutions with the goal of untangling customs processes, a common headache for companies that import and export, particularly when dealing with challenges such as impounded goods or the requirement for extra documentation.

“We are historically one of the biggest players in the transport market to England and Brexit caused the volume of dispatches to increase a lot and we reached a point where, about two or three years ago, we started working on the idea of internalising the service,” explained Giles Dawson to business daily Negócios.

The investment will significantly reduce costs on external dispatchers by €600,000 per year while generating an additional source of revenue from the sale of the service.

And being an in-house service, it will enable the company to improve its service in terms of speed, efficiency and customer response times.

In 2023 Garland enjoyed sales of €117 million after a turnover of €135 million in 2022 and 2021.