No deal Brexit: Trade fears Irish border and logistics delays

Delays with cross-border movement of stock and extra expenses have emerged as concerns for some Irish trade figures in the event of no deal Brexit, with the president of Publishing Ireland saying the EU split will slow down the industry. However others suggest Britain leaving the EU will have little impact on the industry. 

Ruth Gill, m.d. of publisher Gill Books, said Brexit will affect the Irish publishing industry “negatively, without a doubt” and added publishers are investigating ways to bypass the UK to avoid border delays. WH Smith Ireland buying manager Heidi Murphy stressed the trade will continue to operate but will find a new way of working post-Brexit. 

Gill said" “Key areas that we foresee Brexit impacting are consumer confidence and cross-border movement of stock. We must remember that the majority of books sold in Ireland cross multiple borders so delays in supply are inevitable and publishing and production schedules will need to adjust accordingly. The distribution arm of our business (Gill Distribution) is in conversation with a number of UK publishers about stock warehousing and distribution from our ROI base. Supply and rights agreements will of course require review once we’ve clarity over the parameters of an exit.

“The impact on selling through to Europe will come in the form of border delays if the UK is used as a through-route. This will be increasingly unlikely and all publishers are investigating transport options whereby the UK is bypassed.”

Wordwell m.d. Ronan Colgan said "nobody in the industry can be fully prepared for no deal” as he warned border restrictions will be disruptive. He added: "In practical terms, a dip in sterling may make UK printers more attractive, but cross-border trade now brings the prospect of delays at best, tariffs at worst; the net result of the debate so far means we will likely have to look more at printing within the EU. Trade relations between Irish and UK publishers have, however, never been better, with a significantly higher number of rights deals happening of late, particularly in literary fiction. This may potentially increase through necessity, though the value of any deal would be necessarily tied to the state of the market.”

Despite fears over cross-border delays, some trade figures suggest Brexit to have little impact on Ireland’s publishing industry in the short term. 

Publishing Ireland president and The O’Brien Press m.d. Ivan O’Brien told The Bookseller: “It’s unlikely that anything publishing-specific will impact, at least in the short term. The impacts will be those that the whole country will feel: unpredictable delays at ports, extra customs costs and red tape, general supply-chain problems, suppression of demand. Much of our printing is done on continental Europe, so our stock crosses an EU/UK border twice to get here. The majority of Irish publishers warehouse books on the island and sell most of our books in Ireland, so most of our trading will remain unchanged. Thankfully we are able to supply all Waterstones and WH Smith shops in Ireland (north and south) directly, so delays in the Waterstones Hub won’t impact us.”

Asked what impact no-deal Brexit will have on how Ireland sells books to Europe, O’Brien said: “It will make things slower and more expensive across the board. As export is already low margin it might mean it’s simply not worthwhile doing some business that currently makes sense.” 

O’Brien’s comments come after export and printing logistics in the event of a no deal Brexit emerged as key concerns for the UK trade with indie publishers and printers warning shipping and customs delays could bring the book trade “to a halt” if Britain leaves the European Union without an agreement. 

WH Smith Ireland buying manager Murphy said although she expects to see a change in how the book trade operates, she believes delays at the border will be minimal and Brexit will not affect market growth. 

“I don’t think it will jeopardise growth. We are prepared as we can possibly be and we’ve been planning for months in terms of key titles what we need and we are working further in advance than we normally would. Like everybody in the Irish market we will just have to work with it and it will take slightly longer”, said Murphy. “Publication dates could move and we have a title a week rather than two weeks ahead, I don’t think there will be a revolutionary change in how we operate. I think once the reality of Brexit hits then that becomes how we will work. I think Brexit will see a different way of working and we are a resilient industry.” 

As a member of the Bookselling Ireland Committee, Murphy added: “Post Brexit, Irish booksellers will face some unique challenges so we’re working hard to gather as much information as we can for our members and also provide as much support as possible over the coming months.”

PRH Ireland m.d. Michael McLoughlin told The Bookseller he is confident the "status quo will remain", saying: “We are confident and hopeful that the team in London are all over this. We’ve got a team working on different scenarios from logistics to printing. It’s very hard to know the impact of no deal and we like to think we are prepared for every eventuality. Our books are stored in distribution centres in the UK and we hope the status quo will remain. I’m confident the production team in London is prepared for any eventuality.”  

Aside from publishers' concerns, Children’s Books Ireland director Elaina Ryan said Brexit has had “unexpected consequences” on the Children’s Books Ireland’s Book of the Year Awards with an expected increase in Irish passport applications. 

“The awards have been running for almost 30 years to recognise excellence in books created by Irish authors and illustrators. Our criteria deem any artist who holds an Irish passport eligible, and with the widely reported upsurge in Irish passport applications from those with Irish family connections, we are anticipating that our level of submissions may rise significantly. Already we’ve seen new names in the mix who wouldn’t previously have been considered,” said Ryan. “This, of course, has an impact on the number of books we ask our judges to read and the commitment they must make in judging the awards, so we are looking at our processes and policies to make sure we are prepared. We don’t yet know if Brexit will have any effect on how we programme our events, such as our international conference, or how we pay international artists for work done in Ireland.”

Theresa May underlined the UK’s commitment to ensuring there will be no hard border in a speech on Brexit policy in Northern Ireland on Tuesday 5th February. The Prime Minister is attempting to renegotiate the deal with the EU after parliament repeatedly rejected her original withdrawal bill which featured a backstop designed to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.