Andrew Grainger

University of Nottingham | Notts · Nottingham University Business School

With considerable turmoil in international trade and logistics it is more important than ever to understand trade and customs issues and their impact on logistics operations. At every port and border international freight operations are exposed to trade and customs procedures. Cross-Border Logistics Operations serves as a comprehensive guide and c...

Over the last few decades, businesses have developed sophisticated information systems that allow the capture of vast amounts of data. Such data can be potentially useful for enabling government authorities to improve their processes and services. For example, access to business documents and track and trace information associated with supply chain...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to disentangle the interactions between logistics operators and government stakeholders in cross-border logistics operations with a specific focus on the UK and Brazil. Design/methodology/approach The research builds on supporting literature. The comparative cases of the UK and Brazil are examined by reference...

Motivated by concerns about the impact of trade and customs procedures upon humanitarian logistic operations, this paper seeks to open a new chapter in the relevant literature. It builds on three case studies, each of which is a household name within the humanitarian space and has been developed with the support of key informants in those organisat...

Government departments have limited resources but they are responsible for the healthy functioning of whole markets. This tension is amplified by the opportunities to generate, share and use information from new data sources and digital technologies. Huge increases in volumes and types of data produced by sensors and firms' IT systems can potential...

This conceptual discussion paper examines the costs of customs and borders across the supply chain. It does that by considering relevant literature and looking back at the authors’ respective contributions in the subject (of almost one and a half decades) with subsequent reflections. A key component of this paper is a cost model that seeks to descr...

This conceptual discussion paper examines the costs of customs and borders across the supply chain. It does that by considering relevant literature and looking back at the author’s respective contributions in the subject (of almost one and a half decades) with subsequent reflections. A key component of this paper is a cost model that seeks to descr...

Sea transport dominates international trade. Access to a working port infrastructure is thus critical for any national economy and its citizens. Drawing on explorative research conducted in the UK and the Port of London in particular, and analysing recent disruptions and risks to port infrastructure, this paper argues that the existing literature f...

Ports are important to us. In our interdependent world the bulk of goods and the comforts that define modern life are reliant on maritime supply chains – be it the plants we grow, the food we eat, the electronics that we use, or the energy that keeps us warm. In 2015, world seaborne trade volumes are estimated to have accounted for over 80 per cent...

At every port and border international freight operations are exposed to trade and customs procedures. In a typical international freight movement exposure to trade and customs controls appear at least twice – once in the country of export and once in the country of import. Further procedures and controls may apply along the way when in transit. Wi...

Port resilience planning is a subset of the wider disaster resilience literature and it is concerned with how port stakeholders work together to make port systems more resilience. Port stakeholders include government departments, the port operator, ship operators, importers, agents and logistics firms. Ports are vital for the operation of cities an...

What do senior customs managers within multinational companies do? By answering this seemingly simple question this paper sheds light on an overlooked but significant business function with immediate relevance to logistics and supply chain management practice. The paper draws on a series of long interviews with key informants at nine multinational...

This article provides a review of the costs associated with trade and customs procedures at sea ports (trade and customs compliance costs). As such, the article draws on an ongoing body of research, including interviews with over 50 individuals within the UK port sector and the UK’s trade policy and customs community. Demand for good research in th...

Trade facilitation concerns itself with the operational quality of the international trade environment; and has its roots in the frustations experienced by businesses when moving goods across borders especially with regard to inefficient border management practices and trade and customs procedures. On 7 December 2013 the WTO reached an agreement on...

The aim of this conceptual paper is to help stimulate further research and enquiry into UK Port Resilience and is a product of the EPSRC funded Knowledge Transfer Collaboration between the University of Nottingham and the Department for Transport (DfT). The paper draws on collaborative work between the authors and senior policy makers within the Df...

Governments throughout the world have for many years been developing and implementing initiatives that are designed to secure international supply chains from terrorist and other threats while facilitating legitimate trade. A number of these initiatives involve the accreditation of members of the international trading community that meet security a...

The study was funded by the Nottingham University Business School with the support of the International Meat Trade Association (IMTA) and the Association of Port Health Authorities (APHA), amongst others. It involved: a detailed review of current import procedures applicable to importing meat into the United Kingdom (UK) from outside of the Europea...

Trade facilitation is the simplification, harmonisation, standardisation and modernisation of trade procedures. It seeks to reduce trade transaction costs at the interface between business and government and is an agenda item within many customs related activities. These include WTO trade round negotiations, supply chain security initiatives, devel...

The paper aims to introduce the operational implications of regulatory controls to the supply chain management debate. Supply chain efficiencies may be frustrated through requirements set by organisations like Customs authorities, revenue authorities, immigration services, security forces, health and safety legislators, food and environment legisla...

With falling tariff levels, it is probably not surprising that the non-tariff area and trade facilitation, in particular, are receiving growing attention. Apart from the World Trade Organization (WTO), trade facilitation is a subject of substance within a wide range of international organizations including several United Nations (UN)-type bodies, t...

While the rationale for trade facilitation, at least to the practitioner, is self-evident, building the case for trade facilitation is seldom straightforward. Policymakers often rely on the persuasive recommendations of international organisations and are likely to include reference to macroeconomic models. Though helpful, these lack operational de...

International trade is an activity largely conducted by private sector businesses. Consequently, private sector concerns are a key feature in any border management reform initiative. An important role of border agencies—especially where trade is important to a country’s economy—should be to ensure that trade controls and procedures are applied in s...

Over the last few years we have witnessed an avalanche of new policy initiatives that explicitly target supply chain security, trade facilitation and customs modernisation. Common to these programmes is the growing role of government actors in international supply chain operations. This paper builds on an extensive interview series conducted at UK...

There has been a recent avalanche in new supply chain security focused controls. Their aim is to seek cooperative arrangements between regulatory agencies and businesses and draw on these to identify security risks before goods move. These new control regimes add to what is already a complex operational and institutional environment. This paper set...

The UK, like many other modern-day economies, has recently witnessed an avalanche of new, security-focused control regimes in international supply chain operations. SITPRO and Grainger (2008) count 37 different, often overlapping, security driven procedures and controls. The resulting regulatory burden on supply chain operations can be described as...