Traffic snarls feared at UK port with security checks

The European Union's plan to bolster border security will lead to intolerable tailbacks at entry points and logistical nightmares for shipping companies, warned the United Kingdom's main port authority.

The Port of Dover, which handles around one-third of the UK's trade with the EU, has teamed up with Getlink, the Paris-based operator of the Channel Tunnel, and Logistics UK, Britain's biggest trade association for transport companies, to call on London to immediately start talking to Brussels about the issue.

In an open letter to the UK government, they said EU post-Brexit travel rules set to go live in April will pose "an imminent and serious threat" to what had been "frictionless" trade routes through the Dover port and the Channel Tunnel.

"All effort must be devoted to maintaining these in the national economic interest," the groups said.

The new rules pertain to non-EU citizens entering the bloc's passport-free internal zone known as the Schengen Area.

It will also compel drivers to leave their vehicles for ID checks, including biometrics, which the letter said will lead to huge tailbacks. Currently, passport checks are carried out while people remain in their vehicles.

Lawmakers from the English county of Kent, where the Dover port and the Channel Tunnel are located, have supported the letter, which said the extra border checks will lead to "large scale traffic disruption in Kent … on a continual basis".

The Port of Dover and the Channel Tunnel, which together handle around 60 percent of the UK's trade with the EU, warned that the delays will exacerbate supply chain disruptions and pose problems for UK manufacturers.

The Telegraph reported that they also warned that the image of "Global Britain" will be tarnished, and that the nation's post-pandemic economic recovery could be delayed.

Knock-on effect

John Keefe, Getlink's director of public affairs, said during an appearance before the House of Lords Justice and Home Affairs Committee earlier this month that even small delays at the EU borders will quickly lead to major problems in Kent.

"Any disruption to the French inbound control has an immediate knock-on effect on traffic in minutes," he said, explaining that 1,700 passengers would need to pass through the new checks every hour during peak summer months.

"The risk of congestion is to our motorways," he was quoted by The Express newspaper as saying. "Once all of those areas are congested, Kent becomes impassable."

The BBC reported that the EU has insisted that the upgraded border checks are needed to "safeguard and increase the security of the Schengen Area".