The President of the Irish Road Haulage Association has said that officials at ports in France have treated Irish hauliers “like they’re coming from England”.
Eugene Drennan made the comments in an interview with thejournal.ie. When complaining of Irish hauliers being held up longer than they should, Drennan added “To the French, we’re only a block off of England.”
According to the thejournal.ie, representatives of Irish hauliers have suggested that Irish trucks are being unnecessarily delayed at French ports because officials perceive the lorries, or the goods they are transporting, as being British.
Ireland’s Freight Transport Association General Manager, Aidan Flynn, has even gone as far say to say that Irish goods are “effectively viewed as British goods” when they arrive in France.
Since the end of the Brexit transition period, Irish hauliers have avoided the UK landbridge e-masse and turned to direct services between France and Ireland. However, Ireland’s Department of Agriculture have stressed their desire to make the UK landbridge route viable for EU traders:
“Ireland has undertaken substantial engagement at political and official level across the EU to ensure that EU goods moving under transit across the UK landbridge are not subject to unnecessary checks and controls. This engagement is ongoing. Revenue and DAFM (Department of Agriculture), along with DFA (the Department of Foreign Affairs) and our Embassy network are in ongoing contact with their EU and UK counterparts on a range of trade and customs matters, including the functioning of the landbridge. We are committed to ensuring the UK landbridge remains a viable route to market for EU traders. Although some limited issues since 1 January have been identified, we are engaging proactively to address any issues that may arise, and overall the landbridge procedure is operating as expected.”
Photo credit: David Merrett / Flickr