First trucks enter France as Britain and Europe wake up to new Brexit reality Brexit

Moments after the UK left the EU with an 11-hour agreement, the first trucks transporting goods across the new customs border submitted their clearance documents to French agents before loading into a train to pass through the Eurotunnel row.

As Britain finally ended the EU internal market and customs union, in the first hour of January 1, 2021, there were no early signs of dreaded chaos on the border.

Ivanov Shumeykov was the first manager to be processed by officials late on New Year’s Eve. He smiled and waved as his HGV went through the Eurotunnel controls in Folkestone, Kent, just after 11pm. The first arrival by shuttle from France after the end of the Brexit transition period would be expected around 12.23am.

The scenes in Dover were quiet as many carriers stayed away to avoid being the first to test new border controls.

Cargo flow through the Eurotunnel’s Calais terminal was extremely light in the early morning hours. Yan Leriche, CEO of Getlink, which operates the Eurotunnel, told Reuters tweaks to make customs procedures possible, but that there will be no chaos in the coming weeks.

But Matt Smith, managing director of HSF Logistics, which mainly ships fresh meat and chilled goods between Britain and Europe, said the new customs systems and paperwork after the Brexit were largely untested.

“We are not sure to be honest, it seems like it’s a bit of a headache,” he told AFP. “There will be delays at some point.”

British and European companies have warned against carnage as they learn to navigate a wall of red tape and paperwork that threatens the smooth flow of nearly € 1 tonne in annual trade.

At the end of the Brexit transition period, Northern Ireland remains in the EU single market for goods.

Northern Ireland will also apply the customs rules of the bloc in its ports, although the region is still part of the British customs territory, to prevent the return of a hard border with the Republic of Ireland.

To disrupt cross-border trade and the return of checkpoints along the politically sensitive Irish border, the EU and the UK have agreed to move new regulatory and customs processes to the Irish Sea.

This means that checks focus on trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Many Northern Ireland carriers are holding volumes up for the first few days of 2021, while waiting to see what the impact will be, the industry figures said.

While the UK formally left the EU at the end of January 2020, a transition period has meant that almost all tangible changes have been postponed – until now.

As of Friday morning, individuals and businesses in the UK and beyond are facing a dizzying new red tape, much of which has yet to be confirmed, covering everything from travel, accommodation, work and tourism to the supply of goods and services .

The government’s fears remain focused on the situation in the Channel ports in Kent, especially after Covid delays backed thousands of trucks at an unused airport earlier in December – one of ten sites prepared for possible disruption by the Brexit.

Officials hope the new era will start smoothly, but they will delay next week with possible delays, with government estimates suggesting that more than half of smaller businesses are not yet prepared for the end of free movement of goods and services.

Boris Johnson largely ignored Brexit in his New Year’s message to focus instead on the Covid-19 pandemic and usher in the end of a year “in which the government is forced to tell people how to live, how long to keep their hands how many households could come together ”.

But he did say that the UK has ‘freedom in our hands’ and the ability to do things ‘differently and better’, now the long Brexit process is over.

On Thursday night, French President Emmanuel Macron said the UK remained a ‘friend and ally’.

When the clock struck midnight in the United Kingdom, Scotland’s Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon tweeted: ‘Scotland is back soon, Europe. Keep the light on. ”