Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe / Bloomberg
Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe / Bloomberg
On the day the UK last breaks with the European Union, the ports are free of truck backups, the goods go smoothly and the supermarket shelves are well stocked.
Still, British companies that export about 1.2 billion pounds ($ 1.6 billion) in products every day are taking no risk. Thursday at 11 p.m. Brexit will become reality.
Companies were already stockpiling and exploring alternatives to the busy truck-ferry route across the English Channel when France unexpectedly closed its border for two days last week, citing a fast-moving Covid-19 outbreak in the UK . Backups at Dover Port – a warning shot of possible chaos at the end of Brexit’s transition period.
A police officer is standing at the entrance to Dover harbor on December 31.
Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe / Bloomberg
In response, logistics companies have redoubled their efforts to reduce the pressure on freight traffic by increasing air freight, container ferries and air freight shipments. With the New Year coming on a long weekend, concerns about an immediate replay of last week’s spectacle have subsided. The port and its users will have the opportunity to enter 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 blips of people showing up without proper documentation, if it is going to happen at any point, it better be that then.”
Read more:
Brexit Border Chaos is forcing truckers to shun UK deliveries
The complex post-Brexit path from Pecorino to London restaurants
Brexit Deal gives things a mix of relief and unwanted change
Not so fast! What Brexit means for cross-border visitors: QuickTake
Dover remains the UK’s main link with the EU, the country’s largest trading partner. However, the amount of tonnage has steadily declined since the year of the Brexit vote – a 14% drop between 2016 and 2019, Data from Department for Transport. Other ports have since won: Liverpool traffic grew by 7.6% and London Medway was up 43%.
Avoid Dover
The unanswered question is what will happen in the coming weeks and months. With Britain’s departure from the single market comes a host of regulations and customs documents that threaten to disrupt the free flow of trade and cause additional costs for importers and exporters on both sides of the split.
The trend towards other ports and unaccompanied freight carried by train or ferry, along with additional air freight shipments of vital goods, is expected to continue into the new year, port officials and logistics companies said.
Container volume between the port of Tilbury, on the River Thames, east of London, and Zeebrugge, Belgium, increased by a fifth in December as companies looked for alternatives to the short straits. P&O Ferries Ltd. added an extra ship to the route to meet the demand.
A soldier checks the paperwork for trucks in the port of Dover on December 31.
Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe / Bloomberg
Charles Hammond, CEO of the owner of Tilbury Forth Ports Ltd. calls the coronavirus pandemic the change in the dynamics of the logistics sector. Unaccompanied cargo is “the answer to some of the questions of our time,” he said.
Container ferries
Kuehne + Nagel International AG, one of Europe’s largest forwarding companies, has switched some goods from trucks to container ferries. He drops the goods off and collects the goods from both sides by truck, something some smaller companies cannot do.
The company continues to transport goods across the English Channel via roll-on roll-off truck ferries, after implementing software that makes it easier to clear customs. The amount of paperwork has increased fivefold due to the new procedures, said Kuehne + Nagel spokesman Dominique Nadelhofer.
Companies that rely on frictionless movement of parts choose to hold their stocks for the time being.
Jet engine maker Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc will hold £ 100 million in additional inventory while monitoring the flow of goods for the next several weeks, according to a spokesman. It is not clear when it will return to normal levels.
Grocery Route
Products that cannot be stored for long remain a concern, with planes being called in to clean up the remnants of last week’s shutdown. The loading unit of Deutsche Lufthansa AG will launch another Boeing Co. 777F packed with urgently needed goods – fruits, vegetables, clothing, oilfield equipment, medical equipment and jet engine parts – flying from Frankfurt to Doncaster Sheffield Airport in England.
Photographer: Ralph Orlowski / Bloomberg
This is followed by a shipment of 100 tons of fruit and vegetables intended for supermarkets such as J Sainsbury Plc, Tesco Plc, Co-op Food and Aldi Stores Ltd.
Lufthansa Cargo is exploring ways to ship cargo from France to Ireland via a ferry rather than transporting it via the UK, which “makes little sense at the moment,” said spokeswoman Jacqueline Casini.
A potential shortage of truckers is an ongoing concern after last week’s disruption, with fresh seafood in trucks en route to Europe fish prices haywire. Some drivers will “wait and see” before returning to the UK and others will charge more money, said Shane Brennan, CEO of the Cold Chain Federation, which represents the movers of frozen and chilled goods.
The UK government on Wednesday expanded a trade credit insurance program that protects sellers from non-payment, a measure that will provide additional support to the supply chain.
The UK infrastructure acid test will take place next week, when traffic returns to normal levels, said Jimmy Buchan, Chief Executive Officer of the Scottish Seafood Association. “At that point, buyers will buy to export and replenish empty shelves,” he said. “Demand will be quite high.”
Ireland, which depends on truck traffic from the UK and through mainland Europe, has hired 1,500 additional staff for things like tax and customs, and animal controls.
Irish officials warned of a potential significant disruption should Brexit become a reality, although delays may not occur until next week. Two new ferries starts on Saturday with service from Rosslare to Dunkirk, France, in addition to one already added.
In Rotterdam, officials have reserved three times as much parking space that the port expects to need for trucks that show up with the wrong papers. Ninety per cent of ferry users until the digital system, they said.
Despite the schedule, some disruption is inevitable, said Tim Morris, CEO of the UK Major Ports Group.
“The ports and shipping companies are as prepared as possible,” said Morris. “Beyond our control is how prepared British companies are and how pragmatic European countries will be about border regulations.”
– With help from Charlotte Ryan, Ellen Proper and Dara Doyle
(Updates with added Irish ferries in the 21st paragraph)