The tender, which was published last week, calls on applicants to present a digital technology that could “manage the flow of EU bound freight vehicles arriving in Kent efficiently, to match the capacity available for them to make their onward journey across the Channel, enabling traffic to halt at a truck stop either outside Kent or within Kent whilst providing assurance that their place in the queue is secure.”
Post-Brexit custom checks have been in place for a year now, and experiences show that an average check can take up to 15 minutes which can and has led to queues. When holiday traffic or bad weather impacts ferry services, 20-mile congestion of HGVs is not an uncommon sight on the A20 road.
The government’s recent tender aims to tackle this problem; the traffic management system recommended by the applicants “needs to provide a seamless flow through to the ports and not create queues on the local or SRN,”the document says.
“Specific problems that would need to be considered include: whether there would need to be a requirement to have some form of real time communication with hauliers, and how this could be done safely and at low cost? what process could be used for allocating capacity at truck stops and/ or at the portals; and controlling access to portals and then enforcing or incentivising this system,” the document adds.
Applications for the £80-£100k tender can be submitted until the end of 17th January.
Photo credit © David Anstiss and licensed for reuse under CC BY-SA 2.0