In December 2023, AKM Group-CZ launched a programme for the development of its own logistics infrastructure, which resulted in the opening of the Customs Terminal in October 2024 as planned.
Photos: AKM Group-CZ
This customs and logistics facility is AKM Group-CZ’s response to the acute problem of lack of storage capacity for defence goods throughout Europe. Today, more than 50 wars are being fought in the world, involving more than 90 countries. This is a huge volume of defence cargo worldwide every year. Until 2022, the global arms shipment market was quite stable, but in 2022, with the outbreak of a full-scale war in Ukraine, the number of military and dual-use cargoes increased tenfold. In addition to shipments to Ukraine, a sharp militarisation of EU countries has begun. These are hundreds of thousands of tonnes of military equipment, millions of ammunition, thousands of artillery systems, air defence systems and much more.
European logistics and customs infrastructures have not been able to cope with such a huge flow of defence goods. As a result, supplier companies have nowhere to store their cargo and it is becoming increasingly difficult to build logistics chains. They have to pay duties and VAT on transit cargo, find themselves in situations where they have to pay high fines due to their inability to use customs warehouses, as well as transship expensive military products sometimes just in the fields. All this causes disruption of shipment schedules, threatens to disrupt fulfilment of contractual obligations to the end user and significantly increases financial costs.
‘As an international company, which has been on the market for over 23 years and is engaged in the shipment of military and dual-use goods, including for NATO countries, we know from our own experience how important it is to be able to store and transship cargo, especially in the case of defence goods. We are glad that thanks to our work many companies will now be able to solve this problem for themselves and move and store their own goods without unnecessary risks and overpayments,’ says the Head of the Logistics Department of AKM Group-CZ.
AKM Group-CZ’s private customs and logistics terminal in the heart of Europe is a convenient access to the European transport network. It enables supplying companies to transship and store cargo without customs clearance and further transit through the EU. This helps to significantly save both time and money.
‘In co-operation with our partners at our Customs and Logistics Terminal, we provide a full range of customs services, including customs documentary services. We provide an individual approach to complex cargoes, such as weapons and ammunition, and allow AKM Group-CZ customers to be sure that their goods are completely safe under the control of the Czech Republic customs authorities,’ emphasised the head of AKM Group-CZ’s logistics department.
Besides, our customers can conduct customs clearance of goods in the batch and quantity they need, and can also have the necessary time to store their goods.
Since the opening of our customs terminal, which provides storage and transshipment services for military and dual-use goods under EU customs control, we have already transshipped 50 trucks loaded with commodities.