Almost 60% of all UK-EU trade passes through the UK short straits and ensuring their operational stability is key to facilitating and maximising international trade, but EU border controls due to take effect next May threaten to impact their resilience and sustainability.

The European Entry/Exit System (EES) will replace wet stamping of passports and require Britons to register biometrics including facial and fingerprint scans on their first border crossing into the EU, and then be scanned on subsequent crossings.

Britons travelling to the European continent have been warned to expect huge delays at ferry ports and the Channel Tunnel from May 2023, with the launch of the scheme expected to be chaotic.

The technology the EU is implementing to support the EES rollout was designed for airports and railway stations, where passengers approach individually in queues and under French laws, the information must be gathered in the presence of a border official and cannot be subcontracted.

The head of EU exit for the Dover Harbour Board, told MPs last year that there is no such thing as an eGate for a car, and there is no such thing as an eGate process for people travelling as a group. They’re all one-at-a-time processes, which means that at British exit ports, EES would require car passengers and commercial vehicle drivers to exit their vehicles at French border controls to undertake passport checks; in addition to compromising the safety of drivers, it would also delay just-in-time supply chains.

The port of Dover has voiced fears - that are supported by Logistics UK and other freight trade associations - that EES will not work in a ferry port where there could be hundreds of cars waiting to get onto ferries and with up to 10,000 lorries crossing every day, any disruption to processing cars for departure, could lead to prolonged freight delays.

Experts suggest that EES could extend passenger processing times, currently averaging 90 seconds per car by a few minutes, which Imperial College forecasts would trigger 29-mile queues.

The Port of Dover, ferry operators, Logistics UK and the British Ports Association (BPA) are lobbying the government to address the looming threats to traffic fluidity from the EU Entry Exit System (EES) and support new border control infrastructure.

Metro are at the forefront of UK/EU customs brokerage solutions, with our automated CuDoS declaration platform and a dedicated team of customs experts, reacting swiftly to any changes in the UK’s trading relationship with the EU.

To learn how we can simplify and automate customs declarations for your businesses, please EMAIL Elliot Carlile to review the options.

The government, who would like your feedback on UK border controls, have announced an unexpected border easement, but another one that nearly a quarter of a million traders would welcome is unlikely to happen.

Customs Declaration Service
The customs handling of import and export freight system (CHIEF) has been in use by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for nearly 30 years and is being replaced from the 30th September 2022.

Metro clients will be migrated onto the CDS platform and will maintain the same support currently provided by our export, import and off service brokerage teams, but they must be registered to use CDS. 

With just three months to go HMRC recently contacted 220,000 businesses, to urge them to move over to CDS, because it takes time to move across, depending on the size and nature of their business and they must start the process now to ensure they are fully set up ahead of the 30th September deadline.

Effective from last Tuesday all new registrations must be made on the Customs Declaration Service, because CHIEF is closing for import declarations on the 30th September and HMRC needs time to ensure that the shutdown proceeds in an orderly manner.

It consequently appears extremely unlikely that the September switch-off date for CHIEF, for UK imports, will be postponed and the date is now set in stone.

Brokerage manager, Andy Fitchett, “We’re ahead of the curve, hiring 35 brokers to ready us for the CDS launch, with procedures, processes and training in place. We’re going through the process of getting our clients onboard now, and our aim is to have this done by August, so we can spend September organising any stragglers.

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Safety and security easements
On the 1st July HMRC introduced four new border easements, focused around the submission of safety and security (S&S) information and designed to simplify the movement of vehicles taking goods into and out of the UK.

The announced changes will benefit hauliers, because they will not be burdened with the administration of creating documentation for the port of departure and will benefit the ports of departure in the UK because the haulier can move through the port unheeded.

The quicker circulation of vehicles does means that equipment should be available to shippers faster.

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Border users survey
The government’s 2025 UK Border Strategy is intended to make the UK border the most effective in the world, embracing innovation and simplified processes and your experiences will help them understand how the border can be improved.

With improved security and biosecurity, the ambition is to make border documentation digital, to reduce complexity for traders and the border industry.

The new Target Operating Model will set out the transformative programme that will digitise the border; harnessing new technologies and data to reduce friction and costs for businesses and consumers.

The government’s border users survey aims to understand how the experience of the border can be improved through digitisation of government or trade documentation and processes.

ACCESS THE SURVEY HERE

RESPONSES MUST BE SUBMITTED BY THE 11TH JULY 2022

Our customs brokerage team have been processing live entries through CDS and our CuDoS automated customs platform has been updated for and integrated with CDS for nationwide declarations, at any point of entry or exit.

Metro are at the forefront of UK/EU customs brokerage solutions, with our automated CuDoS declaration platform and a dedicated team of customs experts, reacting swiftly to any changes in the UK’s trading relationship with the EU.

To learn how we can simplify and automate customs declarations for your businesses, please contact Elliot Carlile to talk through the options.