Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe / Bloomberg
Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe / Bloomberg
On the day that the UK makes its last break with the European Union, the ports are not safe for trucks, well move smoothly and the store shelves are well stocked.
Nevertheless, British businesses that rely on about $ 1.6 billion ($ 1.6 billion) of products every day risk no chance. Thursday at 23:00 the Brexit becomes real.
Companies were already gathering alternatives to the congested truck route across the English Channel when France unexpectedly closed its two-day border last week, citing a fast-moving Covid-19 outbreak in the UK. backup in the Port of Dover – a warning shot for possible chaos as the Brexit transition period ends.
A police officer stands on December 31 at the entrance to the Port of Dover.
Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe / Bloomberg
In response, logistics companies have doubled efforts to alleviate pressure on truck traffic, thus increasing air freight, trucks and air freight shipments. With the new year’s dawn over a long weekend, concerns about the immediate repeat of the spectacle waned last week. The port and its users will have the opportunity to shed light on the new reality of a customs regime at the previously open border.
“It should be quiet for at least the first few days,” said Richard Ballantyne, head of the British Ports Association. “If there are people who show up without the correct documentation, it might be better if it’s going to happen at any time.”
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Dover remains the UK’s most important link with the EU, the country’s largest trading partner. The amount of tonnage still has since the Brexit vote gradually declined – by 14% lower from 2016 to 2019, The Department of Transport’s data shows. Other ports have meanwhile gained business: Liverpool’s traffic grew by 7.6% and London Medway rose by 43%.
Avoid Dover
The unanswered question is what will happen in the coming weeks and months. With Britain’s departure from the internal market a host of regulations and customs paperwork that threaten to increase the free flow of trade and add costs for importers and exporters on both sides of the rift.
According to port officials and logistics companies, the trend towards other ports and unaccompanied freight transport by train or ferry, along with additional air cargo shipments of vital goods, will continue into the new year.
Container volumes moving between the port of Tilbury, on the River Thames east of London, and Zeebrugge, Belgium, increased by a fifth in December as businesses sought alternatives to the short strait. P&O Ferries Ltd. added an extra ship to the route to handle the demand.
A military member checks on December 31 paperwork for trucks in the port of Dover.
Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe / Bloomberg
Charles Hammond, CEO of Tilbury Owner Forth Ports Ltd., acknowledges the coronavirus pandemic due to changing dynamics in the logistics industry. Unaccompanied cargo is “the answer to a number of questions of our time,” he said.
Container rows
Kuehne + Nagel International AG, one of Europe’s largest freight forwarding companies, has switched goods from trucks to freight transport. It drops off and picks up the goods on either side by truck, something some smaller businesses cannot do.
The company is still moving goods through the English Channel via initial trucks, after implementing software that makes it easier to clear customs. The amount of paperwork has increased fivefold due to the new procedures, said Dominique Nadelhofer, spokesperson for Kuehne + Nagel.
Companies that rely on frictionless movement of parts prefer to maintain their inventory for the time being.
Jet engine manufacturer According to a spokesperson, Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc is holding 100 million pounds of extra stock as it monitors the flow of goods over the coming weeks. It is not clear when this will be normal again.
Grocery Route
Products that cannot be stored for long remain a cause for concern, and planes are being called in to clear up the remnants of the standstill last week. The cargo unit of Deutsche Lufthansa AG will launch another Boeing Co. 777F full of much-needed goods – fruit, vegetables, clothing, oilfield equipment, medical equipment and jet engine parts – will fly from Frankfurt to Doncaster Sheffield Airport in England on Thursday.
Photographer: Ralph Orlowski / Bloomberg
This is followed by a load of 100 tons of fruit and vegetables on January 2 intended for supermarkets such as J Sainsbury Plc, Tesco Plc, Co-op Food and Aldi Stores Bpk.
Lufthansa Cargo is investigating ways to send cargo from France to Ireland by ferry instead of transporting it through the UK, which ‘currently makes little sense’, spokesperson Jacqueline Casini said.
A potential shortage of truck drivers is a continuing concern due to the disruption last week, which shipped and shipped fresh seafood in trucks to Europe fish prices hay wire. Some executives may ‘wait and see’ before returning to the UK, and others will demand more money, says Shane Brennan, chief executive of the Cold Chain Federation, which represents carriers of frozen and refrigerated goods.
The British government on Wednesday expanded a trade credit insurance program that protects sellers from default, a measure that will support the supply chain.
The acid test for British infrastructure will take place next week, when traffic is back to normal, said Jimmy Buchan, chief executive of the Scottish Seafood Association. “At that point, buyers will buy to export and replenish empty shelves,” he said. “The demand will be pretty high.”
Ireland, which relies on truck traffic from the UK and hence from continental Europe, has hired 1,500 extra staff to deal with issues such as taxes and customs, as well as animal checks.
Irish officials have warned that possible significant disruption will come as Brexit becomes a reality, although delays will only take effect next week. Two new ferries will start on Saturday from Rosslare to Dunkirk, France, enlarging the one already added.
In Rotterdam, officials set aside the parking lot the port expects for trucks arriving with the wrong paperwork. Ninety percentage of the ferry users signed to its digital system, they said.
Despite the planning, some disruption is inevitable, said Tim Morris, chief executive of the UK Major Ports Group.
“The ports and shipping companies are as prepared as they can be,” Morris said. “Out of our control is how prepared British businesses are and how pragmatic European countries will be about border arrangements.”
– With the help of Charlotte Ryan, Ellen Proper and Dara Doyle
(Updates with Irish Ferries in the 21st Paragraph)