LONDON – At the ports and terminals on the southeast coast of Britain, a new era began on Friday morning without much fuss. Ferries and trains transporting goods from Dover and Folkestone to France traveled on time, and drivers dragged their trucks unhindered by the congestion in the harbor.
In all respects, little has changed on 1 January, the first day outside the European market and the customs union. After all, it was a public holiday and there were not many issues.
But for the first time in more than 25 years, goods traveling between Britain and the European Union will no longer move freely and customs controls will be enforced on goods entering the bloc.
A trade agreement signed in Britain in the early hours of Thursday, less than 24 hours before it went into effect, means the country and the European Union will trade goods without tariffs. However, businesses will still experience significant changes that they are encouraged to prepare for, even during the closures, closures and other social constraints that the government has imposed to contain a rising coronavirus pandemic.
The changes are likely to bring “bumpy moments”, a cabinet minister predicted this week. The government expects that new paperwork alone will cost British businesses 7 billion pounds (about $ 9.6 billion) a year. The European Union is Britain’s largest trading partner, with £ 670 billion in imports and exports, and Britain imports far more goods from the bloc than it exports. (It has a trade surplus of services not covered by the trade transaction.)
According to data from the country’s tax agency, Britain has at least 150,000 exporters who have never shipped their goods outside the block and will therefore have to make customs declarations for the first time. Border surveys within the European Union were scrapped in 1993.
This is a change that will be felt immediately in the ports of Britain, especially the busy Port of Dover and the Eurotunnel terminus at Folkestone, which connects the country with France. But on Friday, with the shutdown of most matters for New Year’s Day, it is reported that trains and ferries are running smoothly. Eurotunnel reported that 200 trucks had used its commuter train by 8 a.m., with all the correct documents.
“It looks pretty calm,” Elizabeth De Jong, the policy director of Logistics UK, a trading group, told Sky News on Friday morning.
But she added that businesses now have a new, different language of arrangements for habits to be understood. She describes the next few weeks as a direct experiment, as companies need to make sure they have the right paperwork for themselves and the goods on board, and that traffic to the area needs to be managed.
Away from the Dover-Calais intersection there were early hurdles.
Six trucks traveling to Ireland, a member of the European Union, were turned away from aboard a ferry at Holyhead, a port in Wales, according to Stena Line, a ferry dealer. The drivers did not have the necessary authorization for trucks traveling from Britain to Ireland – in this case a digital ‘notice on board’ from the Irish tax office.
The ferry company, which sees a chance in Brexit’s possible headache, has increased the number of direct flights between Ireland and France, bypassing Britain and the need for customs control.
In what the British government described as a worst-case scenario, 40 to 70 per cent of the trucks heading to the European Union may not be ready for the new border controls. According to a government report, this could lead to up to 7,000 trucks at the border and up to two days of delays.
Britain recently removed a large backlog of trucks from the border. Late on December 20, the French government suddenly closed its border for 48 hours to stop the spread of a new coronavirus variant from England. Thousands of trucks and their drivers were stranded for days. After the border was reopened, the drivers had to show a negative coronavirus test result before they were allowed to enter France.
The delays at the normally fast-moving port also raise concerns about Britain’s supply of fresh food, many of which is imported from the rest of Europe in the winter. One fruit supplier urgently arranged for goods to fly to the country, and British fish and shellfish exporters scrambled to send their goods to France before spoiling.
The spectacle reinforces concerns about trade after 31 December, the end of the Brexit transition period. Although goods are moving more slowly because drivers’ coronavirus tests can take about 40 minutes to deliver results, it is unlikely that thousands of trucks will wait to enter France thanks to the quieter holiday season.
In fact, some ferry crossings between Dover and Calais has been canceled Friday afternoon because demand was so low.
“We would expect persistent disruption to worsen during the first two weeks as demand for cargo increases,” the government report said. This can take about three months.
Frictionless trade has been replaced by a myriad of electronic and paper declarations for exporters, importers and logistics companies. Goods entering the European Union from England, Scotland and Wales now require customs controls, including safety certificates, and truck drivers need a permit to enter Kent, the country with Dover and Folkestone to confirm that they have the necessary documents. .
Truck drivers coming to the other side have fewer requirements for the time being. Britain has relaxed the rules for goods arriving in the country from the European Union for six months.
In Calais, the first vehicle to depart for Britain by Eurotunnel commuter train on Friday morning was mail and parcels. The mayor of the French coastal city, Natacha Bouchart, pressed a button so that the truck can leave.
It was a ‘historic moment,’ she said, ‘that it would have consequences we do not yet know.’
Antonella Francini reported from Paris.