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Reducing the volume of parcels held by customs from 30% to less than 0.5%

By utilising Hurricane’s world-leading data enhancement solution, Pro Carrier was able to transform the volume of parcels being held at customs.

During peak 2021, over 30% of parcels were being held, but following the integration with Hurricane, this figure reduced dramatically to less than 0.5% in peak 2022.

The impact of Hurricane’s solution means that Pro Carrier has the confidence that deliveries will arrive with the end consumer on time and in full.

Pro Carrier’s partnership with Hurricane is already creating huge advantages for clients sending products into the EU. Going from 30% of parcels held in Peak 2021 to sub 1% in Peak 2022 is testament to the clean, accurate data vetted by Hurricane. At Pro Carrier, we’re performing above the market standard for customs clearances – something other providers struggle to offer.

Guy Fischer, Managing Director, Pro Carrier

Postal operator transforms data accuracy

An Post was one of the earliest adopters of Hurricane’s Zephyr API and data accuracy on its shipments has since increased to over 90%.

We are investing heavily in our cross-border eCommerce capability and Hurricane plays an important part in this. “By utilising Hurricane’s Zephyr API, An Post has been able to improve data accuracy on cross-border shipments to well over 90%. This has been a game-changer in terms of meeting the requirements of customs authorities as well as enhancing operational efficiency and customer experience.

Cyril McGrane, An Post’s Director of Pricing, International and QOS

More recently, Hurricane has been supporting An Post with meeting its data requirements in line with the enforcement of ICS2 second release for all shipments coming to or via the EU by air.

SEKO meets requirement for denied parties screening

SEKO was seeking to win a contract with a major global marketplace but one of the key requirements was to be able to provide a Denied Parties Screening solution on all parcel traffic coming into Australia. Ensuring that you are not selling to the wrong people is becoming increasingly important for eCommerce retailers and marketplaces. The penalties, both financial and reputational for getting it wrong, are substantial. Hurricane was selected as the data partner to provide SEKO with our Denied Parties Screening solution.

In today’s global eCommerce, nothing moves without the right data. Increasing rules and regulations mean that shipments have to have accurate data sets otherwise they are going to run into severe problems.

For SEKO, it is an imperative that we keep our customers’ goods moving and Hurricane is a key partner in enabling us to achieve this.

SEKO’s David Emerson

Supporting data enhancement in preparation for ICS2

This global forwarder is implementing data enhancement in relation to ICS2 for all its streams that are originating in different countries and have the EU or UK as a destination.

Our data enhancement solution is validating and completing the required customs code and is screening for prohibited and restricted goods and denied parties. Our customer is now planning to use Hurricane to ensure that the tax and duty calculation provided by their customer is correct, enabling it to meet the requirements of the EU’s IOSS and Delivered Duty Paid (DDP) streams.

Reduce time to lodge an accurate customs declaration from 1-2 hours to 3-4 minutes

Preparing customs declarations is complex and requires experienced customs brokers to approve lodgement after considerable data entry into the many and varied fields of an online declaration system. Typically, a customs declaration will take at least 1-2 hours to create. Often, there is no ability to monitor duty changes in real time. Hence, duty is often overpaid.

By utilising Hurricane, integrated to a leading freight forwarding, automated customs solution with accurate data, the declaration lodgement process is less than 5 minutes, with minimal data entry required. Potential resource savings are more than US$500,000 annually.

By submitting accurate declarations, freight forwarders & customs brokers will avoid hefty penalties and fines. In addition, duty savings are greater than US$200,000 annually for an SME trader and over US$1 million for a larger enterprise.

A leading cross-border shoe retailer had a serious issue with cart abandonment which was impacting its cross-border sales strategy

By integrating Hurricane’s Duty & Tax calculator, providing online customers with full visibility of payable duties and taxes, our customer improved its sales conversion rate by 32%.

Implementing Hurricane has been a success story for this company. A/B testing after implementation showed that accurate estimates provided in the basket with the option to pay in advance improved conversion rates by as much as 32%. The information acts as a re-assuring factor and encourages overseas customers to purchase. Without question this has improved our international business in our key markets.

The retailer says

The streamlining and upgrading of international retail offer

A leading postal operator has made use of Hurricane’s data services to upgrade the international parcel offer in its retail network. This includes supporting the consumer with the provision/validation of the correct product description and HS6 code and the screening for prohibited and restricted items. All of this is delivered via a customised and highly consumer friendly solution. The upgrade of this retail service has resulted in volume growth and during 2023 is being made available for export to 110 countries.

Validation and completion of datasets that are handled via major customer platforms

A leading global postal operator has integrated Hurricane’s data solutions in its 2 major customer platforms and in its first year is already covering 65% of all exported small parcel volume.

The data received from customers, via pre-advises, is validated and where necessary completed. Screening for prohibited and restricted goods and denied parties is also part of the process that has been developed by this operator.

This process is successfully smoothing the import and export cross-border operations and is avoiding liability for regulatory non-compliance.

The ROI for the postal operator includes operational cost savings, shorter transit times and fewer returns.

Hurricane helps TDG’s ETrak grow by over 240%

The Delivery Group’s ETrak service is a true multi carrier platform which prides itself on high speed, straightforward deliveries and fulfilment services carried out at an affordable rate.

Hurricane was initially selected by TDG in 2021 to integrate within TDGs proprietary ETrak system to provide a landed cost engine for duty and tax calculation.

Additional data services including prohibited and restricted goods screening and denied parties screening were then also made available to ETrak customers.

Hurricane is the perfect partner for us. From the very outset three years ago through to today, we have enjoyed a highly professional partnership. Our respective teams understand each other and have a very smooth working relationship.”

In the last year, ETrak has experienced growth of over 240%. Since the product launched three years ago, turnover has increased to more than £10million annually.

Mark said: “Utilising Hurricane’s services within ETrak has been a crucial part of this success story and allows TDG to provide a full range of services through one simple integration.

Mark Calladine, TDG’s Group eCommerce & International Director

An Post praises Hurricane “product quality”

An Post and Hurricane have now been working together for almost five years.

The partnership initially focused on improving data on imports, but now extends to export and An Post’s retail network.

Hurricane had the knowledge and expertise to deliver on time a product that a post could never have built and that has continued to provide further capabilities over time.

Another key attribute of Hurricane’s product is its scalability. We started with a focus on import and then expanded to export.

More recently, we have started to deploy the Hurricane solution across our retail network, initially into our 50 or so owned post offices and with the intention of rolling out across our wider post office estate.

This is another significant innovation by An Post, placing Hurricane’s tech at the front end to fix the data at the start of a parcel’s journey.

The changes the postal sector has been through have been seismic and An Post is widely regarded as having been an early adopter of the systems, processes and technology required to succeed in the modern world of cross-border eCommerce.

Hurricane stands out as a partner because of the quality of its product and the deep knowledge of their team.

Cyril McGrane, An Post’s Director of Pricing, International and QOS

David Spottiswood, Hurricane Co-Founder, said: “An Post is a fantastic example of a post that recognised the requirement to invest in the kind of solutions that were going to be business critical in a changing world with ever more stringent requirements governing cross-border data flows.