France has closed its ports to UK accompanied freight and passengers as the rise of the variant Covid-19 virus has taken hold in the southeast UK , prompting the meeting of the UK government’s emergency security COBRA planning meeting to meet today to discuss the crisis.
European Council meetings are also in place as, the BBC reports, that alarm is spreading across Europe at the rate of the spread of the new viral variant which UK health secretary Matt Hancock said was out of control. Flights to a number of countries have already been suspended, including Germany, France and Italy, and the expectation is that freight and transport links will be cut further.
In a move to try and resolve the situation at the border, France has said is working to develop a protocol that will allow the movement of freight to restart across The Channel.
Lorries carrying exports from the UK will no be unable to use the ferry crossings and Eurotunnel for 48 hours from Sunday evening, causing the UK to close the motorway into the region to stack trucks unable to move out of the country.
Richard Burnett, head of the Road Haulage Association, told the BBC that the ban could deter EU hauliers from coming to the UK as they could be unable to leave the country.
“The retailers have done a good job of stocking up on ambient products [for Christmas] – there will be plenty of stock,” said Burnett, adding “But the fresh food supply, where it’s short shelf life and there will be product on its way now, that’s where the challenge comes from.”
The UK Department for Transport has advised hauliers to avoid the region for at least 48 hours from 11pm on Sunday evening, and the Port of Dover has advised that Operation Stack, which aims to minimise disruption when the freight crossings are interrupted, phase two has been implemented.
Delays are expected to last beyond the 48-hour period of the travel ban as the backlog could take many days to clear with up to 10,000 trucks per day transiting the region during peak traffic periods.
A Government spokesperson told Container News, “We are continuing to prepare for significant disruption in Kent following the French Government’s decision to not accept any passengers from the UK, starting at 23.00 yesterday evening for 48hrs.
“To control the flow of hauliers to the continent Operation Stack has been implemented and the lorry holding facility at Manston is being readied. We remain in close contact with Kent Resilience Forum and are working with local stakeholders to manage the situation.
“While traffic heading towards the continent has initially been low today, we must continue to urge everybody – including all hauliers – to avoid travelling to Kent ports until further notice.”
Background:
- The site at Manston is being readied this morning and welfare provisions will be provided as required.
- While we are planning for severe disruption in the Kent area, other ports facing France will also be impacted.
- All hauliers should avoid any roll-on-roll-off routes to France.
- Hauliers and their customers should delay shipments or seek other routes – unaccompanied freight to France and roll-on-roll-off services to other EU countries are not affected.
- We will also work hard to support those businesses impacted.
Chairman of haulier Baxter Freight, Ian Baxter, said there is an “impending disaster” with trucks stuck in major queues in Kent and imports not coming in, shops will not be stocked and with Brexit occurring in just 10 days those plans “are in disarray”.
He went on to castigate government, arguing that, “We shouldn’t be having the end of the transition period in the middle of a pandemic, we need to delay the end of the transition period.”
According to Baxter the company is looking to divert trucks from Dover to other UK ports at Immingham, Harwich and Teesport and looking for other solutions such as moving goods in containers.
UK Transport Minister Grant Shapps has said that 80% of freight into and out of the UK is unaccompanied and that people should stay calm. Baxter’s response was that “He would sound calm, that’s his job, but the reality on the ground is that there will be a major impact on goods. Government has mismanaged Brexit during the pandemic, they could have managed it far better. It is the Government’s job to control these things, so who should we hold responsible?” He asked.
Nick Savvides
Managing Editor
