Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic have proved to be a recipe for disaster for a gin and botanical bitters firm experiencing a 10-week delay.
Adam Elan-Elmegirab has spent the past 10 years building up his botanical bitters and gin firm, The House of Botanicals, to watch one of its main routes to market crumble within the space of weeks.
Exporting a large number of his products, which are made at his distillery in Aberdeen, hidden at The Arches near one of the city’s biggest shopping centres, Union Square, Adam has been left feeling more and more frustrated by Brexit and the ongoing issues the coronavirus pandemic has caused on getting his products to his suppliers.
Having spent the past 10 weeks trying to get a pallet of gin and botanical bitters to his partners in Finland, he is at a loss as to how long the aftermath of both Covid and Brexit will have on businesses trying to export, with minimal goods moving through European borders just now.
While the seafood industry has been experiencing more issues due to the perishable nature of the products, Adam, who exports to EU countries including Italy, Germany, France, Netherlands, Finland, Greece and Cyprus, fears this may just be the beginning of more issues to follow for Scottish drinks firms.
The problem/s with exporting from Scotland at the moment.
A thread…
— The House of Botanicals (@DrAdamsHoB) January 14, 2021
Frustration
“I’m frustrated by it all, but what can you do? You just have to carry on as best as you can,” Adam said.
“Our biggest problems aren’t just from Brexit but is from Covid-19, too. People aren’t in offices right now and are working from home. There’s reduced people working in the haulier firms we deal with which is difficult. Other countries are getting back into some sort of normality and are now getting in touch trying to place orders or chasing orders and they are asking when their goods will arrive but I just don’t know.
“A lot of stuff like the botanicals we ordered in October/November last year didn’t arrive until the first week of January this year. They were all held up in the ports. There’s a big backlog at the ports already because of Covid. Then you add in the Brexit side of things and that makes a recipe for disaster.”
Red tape
A family-owned business, Adam and his wife Steffie are grateful for operating as a small team as they have always been the individuals who have dealt with exporting, which can’t be said for some of the larger companies who are struggling to piece everything together.
He added: “Luckily we’re a small team and have worked our way through all of the red tape that was there and have all the documentation we need, but for other companies who have a lot of their admin teams on furlough who look after all of this, company directors are having to balance the day-to-day running of the firms and figure out what is going on at the same time.
“We didn’t get half of the details until Christmas Eve and I spent most of it looking into everything. I wanted to try and get a head start and we didn’t even get the full details until Hogmanay.
“Because we’ve exported outwith the EU for years we’ve always had an idea of what was coming. The whole supply chain has been affected. From the producers right through to the end consumer. The worst thing is that consumers have now got into this Amazon delivery kind of way, that they expect next day delivery or for products to be with them in 24 hours.”
10 weeks and counting…
On week 10 of waiting to send a pallet of products to their Finnish partner wholesaler, Adam says the struggle of getting produce to countries within the EU was already bubbling away as a result of Covid and was something that needed to be addressed long before Brexit happened.
A delivery order which should take no more than a week to arrive has now sat in his distillery warehouse for more than two months.
“The Brexit red tape isn’t so much an issue for us, and the hold-ups, well we’ve been experiencing them since October/November,” Adam continued.
“Our partners in Finland placed an order in November and it would previously take us less than two days to get the pallet packed up, a quote from the courier/haulier and get it on its way which would maybe take a maximum of a week to get there.
Consumers have now got into this Amazon delivery kind of way, that they expect next day delivery or for products to be with them in 24 hours.
Adam Elan-Elmegirab
“It has now been 10 weeks and we’ve still had no movement on the pallet and the quotes keep having to change as the couriers and hauliers pricing keeps changing. There are problems with some companies refusing to take mixed goods in containers, too, but there’s nothing we can do. Our Finnish partners keep emailing us and thankfully they are understanding, but they’re a small family business, too, and may end up having to go elsewhere for our products.
“The hauliers and couriers are going through hell right now, so I don’t blame them at all. The knock-on effect of everything is really taking its toll.”
This has been building up for weeks, finding it near impossible to get pallets sent to Europe at the moment. Before this nonsense we’d have an order processed and en route within 48 hours; we’ve been trying to send a pallet to Finland for around 8 weeks now. https://t.co/AWLPI9Fsj9
— The House of Botanicals (@DrAdamsHoB) January 10, 2021
Road vs air freight
And as if getting products to the EU wasn’t hard enough by road, air freight is limited and prices and quotes are coming in nearly 10 times what they were this time last year says Adam after being quoted £1,800 to send a pallet of products to Italy.
He continued: “We would usually have the opportunity to send via road or air freight and the costs between them wouldn’t be a hugely different. Air freight is usually a bit more expensive but until Covid happened it wasn’t that bad as they can use commercial and business flights.
“Now there’s reduced flights to send anything by air is just astronomical. The last pallet we sent to Italy in October was £1,800 and this time two years ago we sent the same pallet and it was £240. That’s almost nine times what it was. You’d pay that money for 10 containers full, not just one.
“Road freight to Finland was £230 instead of £1,800 by air, but it is trying to get the hauliers to get the product there which is proving challenging. It is just completely backlogged.
“In September last year I contacted all of my partners in Europe and mentioned to them that Brexit was on the horizon and would be happy to send over products until we get through the rough period.
“Most placed orders earlier in the year which was great, but we’ve not had to send elsewhere apart from Finland yet so I’m not sure what that will look like. I hope come February/March the supply chain won’t be as heavily affected but just now it is proving really difficult to get things moving.”
“Feel lost”
Disappointed and frustrated with how a promising 2020 was turned upside down as a result of the pandemic and now Brexit, Adam is unsure what lies ahead for the industry. However, he remains positive about what the future may hold for his business.
“I think this is the first time in my life regarding business that I genuinely feel lost. Our routes to markets, apart from consumers buying, has pretty much gone, and there’s no bars open here. There are in other countries, but they are still trying to get back to what normal is and it is just difficult,” he continued.
“The government should have extended Brexit until 2022 after everything that has happened with Covid.
“We’re very grateful we’re still operating but we just feel lost and everyone is experiencing the same thing.
“We’re lucky that our products aren’t anywhere near as perishable as seafood, but there’s so much going on that you just don’t know what is going to happen one day to the next.
“I think every drinks company I have spoken to took the same approach as us, but I think we’ll start to see more people having more issues if things don’t pick up unless you’re a massive company like Diageo.”
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