Sarah Laouadi, Logistics UK’s head of European policy, has expressed concern on behalf of the organization about the lack of details regarding the type of commodities that will be accepted at each BCP location. She adds that this information is crucial for businesses to rearrange their routes and operations if necessary, and it should be available by now.
“The operational changes we are talking about cannot be delivered at the last minute. We would like the UK Government to show leadership on this to bring together all involved parties including the operators of BCPs and deliver the information the logistics industry needs to successfully navigate the next stages of import controls,” said Laouadi, in a statement on the Logistics UK website.
The most important thing, according to Ms Laouadi, is to achieve the ambition to move from the “day one” arrangements to the best possible border procedures. She states that the 2025 border strategy has the potential to reduce the costs of trading, which did increase for EU imports and exports as a result of EU Exit procedures.
“The speed at which these border reforms are introduced is crucial. There is no doubt the transformations proposed by government in its Border Strategy have great potential, but we believe some of these should be delivered even before 2025,” she adds.
MP’s expect delays at the border after July
Logistics UK’s statement came as a response to the Public Accounts Committee report “EU Exit: UK Border Post transition”, which was published yesterday.
The report urges the government to plan for an increase in passenger and trade volumes as travel abroad resumes to normal levels and further checks are introduced at ports.
The document highlighted Dover, where EU officials carry out checks on the UK side of the border, as a likely port for queues to “build up” in the UK and warned that border arrangements may be “further challenged” by the introduction of required biometric passport checks by the EU.
According to the reprot, MPs are still concerned about hauliers’ readiness for the changes:
“HMRC told us that the readiness of EU hauliers was now the main risk ahead of the implementation of UK import controls. HMRC told us that while EU haulier readiness is improving, it is coming from a lower base and accordingly it is writing each month to 14,000 EU haulage firms to inform them of the need to prepare.”
However, the document also admits that only 8% of hauliers turned up at the border in January with faulty or missing administration, and this number quickly reduced to 1%.