London, UK: Perishable food exporters could delay sending goods to the EU for the first two weeks of next year in case the government’s warning about huge traffic delays in Kent post-Brexit comes to pass, according to an article in the Grocer.
Last month a leaked government document suggested that in a “reasonable worse-case scenario” post-Brexit there could be queues of up to 7,000 lorries in Kent with drivers having to wait one or two hours to reach the front.
Fears about the possible delays and the risk of spoilage have prompted a number of British firms to consider pausing their perishable exports to the EU until any disruption is brought under control. The Grocer spoke to an organic dairy co-op that said it would wait to “see what the M20 looks like” at the end of the transition period before transporting goods to the EU.
A cautious approach is also being taken by European businesses sending goods to the UK with suggestions that exporters could send test trucks to the border to work out the route’s viability before transporting their normal loads.
