"Chipping" Away at Customs Complexity: The Ecofrost Story

When Claire Hoflack, a member of the Executive team at Ecofrost, joined the family business in 2007, customs processes were entirely manual. “We wrote every customs document on paper. The customs officers came physically to check them,” she recalled. Over time, they moved to Belgium’s PLDA system, which still required manual entry, code by code. A single export could easily take 30 minutes or more, especially with complex shipments containing hundreds of tariff codes.

Later, Ecofrost adopted Intris, which provided basic but good automation linked to their ERP. But as the business grew, so did the complexity. The company expanded operations, started using external storage depots, and intensified trade with the UK. Intris, while helpful for Belgian flows, couldn’t handle cross-border complexities or external warehouse scenarios, which led to mounting inefficiencies and costly delays.

The customs team, consisting of Claire, Head Dispatcher Samuel Delitte, and his team, faced constant time pressure. Meanwhile, Ecofrost’s growing UK business introduced even more coordination challenges, relying on brokers and manual exchanges that created delays and stress for the organisation.

It became clear that the current setup wasn’t sustainable.

Our trucks are based close to the ports, so we only have a small window, about two hours, to load and get everything cleared. Filing UK declarations could take quite a long time, and if half of that time was spent just on paperwork, it didn’t leave us much room for delays. It made things really tight to resolve issues if any occurred. 

Ecofrost’s turning point came just as it began planning a new production facility in France. Customs complexity was only going to increase, and the team knew they needed a more modern, scalable solution.

That’s when Customs4trade reached out. After reading about Ecofrost’s expansion in the press, C4T sent an email asking if Ecofrost had considered managing their customs operations for three countries on one centralised platform.

The message resonated immediately.

Ecofrost had already experienced the benefits of ERP-linked customs automation, so the case for CAS, a fully automated, multi-country platform, was clear. Claire and Samuel aligned quickly on the decision. There was no lengthy approval process. No internal resistance. They did the financial analysis, understood the long-term value, and moved forward.

“Yes, CAS costs more. but we saw it as an investment, not just in time savings, but in accuracy, flexibility, and peace of mind.”

Ecofrost began implementing CAS in late 2024. The full rollout took approximately three months, because of the smooth coordination between C4T, Ecofrost’s ERP provider, and the internal team - with a special thanks to their faithful tester, Samuel, for his invaluable support during the process.

From the start, the collaboration was hands-on and responsive. Whether it was configuration questions or integration tweaks, the C4T support team responded quickly, often within 10 minutes of a ticket being raised.

Because Ecofrost had already been working with an ERP-linked system, much of the data structure was in place. C4T’s onboarding team helped fine-tune the integration and worked through a few differences in data handling between CAS and the previous provider. Overall, the switch was straightforward, and the benefits were immediate.

Ecofrost were very agile in their implementation approach: when there was a delay on technical resources, they quickly pivoted to using the Excel ingest method, but as soon as those resources became available, they were able to generate test files in a matter of days. This quick responsiveness allowed them to push their project forward rapidly and move to the AES version of BE Export software far ahead of the Customs due date and their original timeline

Becky Kabel, Project Manager at Customs4trade

Ecofrost uses CAS to manage export declarations from Belgium and import declarations into the UK, including automatic GVM (Goods Vehicle Movement) generation. CAS also supports declarations from external storage depots, allowing Ecofrost to complete customs clearance remotely, something that wasn’t possible with their previous solution.

The company is now preparing to go live with customs automation in France, in preparation for the opening of a new production facility. This will allow Ecofrost to manage all of its major customs flows, Belgium, UK, and France, within a single platform. Further down the line, the team is also considering bringing Entry Summary Declarations (ENS) in-house using CAS.

The move to CAS has resulted in measurable improvements across several areas. Declaration times have been cut by more than 50%, dropping from around 30 minutes per shipment to as little as 10 minutes. In some cases, declarations are completed in under five minutes.

Because all customs data is pulled directly from the ERP system, human error has decreased significantly. Logistics bottlenecks have been reduced, drivers spend less time waiting, and the team has been able to handle more volume without adding headcount. The result is a more agile, responsive, and less stressful operation across the board.

What started as a single email became a transformation in how Ecofrost handles customs. Today, the company is no longer reacting to customs challenges, they are ahead of them. With CAS, they’ve gained back time, reduced complexity, and created a foundation that will support international growth for years to come.