Dover, UK: Traffic delays and disruption as a result of the new EU entry/exit system being introduced later this year could affect the shelf life of fresh produce and lead to a reduction in EU imports of perishable products, according to Logistics UK.
Nichola Mallon, head of trade and devolved policy at Logistics UK, told the government’s European scrutiny committee that traffic delays could affect the exports of fresh meat and shellfish along with perishable imports.
Logistics UK was also concerned about the effect on drivers in terms of access to toilets if long queues of traffic built up and Operation Brock had to be introduced. Mallon suggested that the government introduces a system to track waiting times in this kind of scenario.
Other possible knock-on effects were the increased risk of lorry thefts and falling foul of drivers’ hours regulations.
Driver recruitment and retention could also be affected if “there were scenes of long, large queues of lorries – how would that attract people into the industry,” she said.
The EU entry/exit system is an automated system for registering travellers from the UK and other non-EU countries each time they cross an EU external border. The European Commission says the system will register the person’s name, type of the travel document, biometric data (fingerprints and captured facial images) and the date and place of entry and exit. The system has been delayed but is now expected to be introduced in October this year.
P&O Ferries director of port operations, Jack Steer, said that the introduction of EES should be pushed back again.
“I genuinely believe that October 2024 is too early,” said Steer.
He argued that a legislative change would be needed to introduce a “digital solution”.
Mallon echoed his cry, saying that she understood that an app was under development within the European Union but it would probably not be introduced until summer 2025.
Meanwhile, members of Kent County Council’s environment and transport cabinet committee want lorries to be kept out of Kent in order to minimise the “cataclysmic car crash” expected when the new EU digital border controls are implemented.
The councillors voted last week (March 7) to seek ways to hold HGVs and non-domestic freight outside Kent and process them elsewhere.
They also agreed that unaccompanied freight could be shipped out of other ports in Kent and Essex to minimise pressure on the roads.
