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With all the focus on Dover & Holyhead (my main experience on containers then RoRo but not LoLo) I tend to overlook the brexit issues at other UK ports: here in Hull..."Government preparations for huge changes to post-Brexit border checks at the Humber ports have been described
as a "shambles" by a city councillor.
Officials at the Hull and Goole Port Health Authority have yet to be told where two new border control facilities dealing with imports on either side of the estuary will be located. They also don't know how anticipated extra staff required
Officials at the Hull and Goole Port Health Authority have yet to be told where two new border control facilities dealing with imports on either side of the estuary will be located. They also don't know how anticipated extra staff required
to deal with expected increased workloads from January next year will be funded. So far, the government has only identified a handful of inland sites in Kent for new border control facilities aimed at avoiding bottlenecks at the Channel ports. Campaigners there say current
greenfield sites will be turned into giant lorry parks.
Spare dockside land in Hull is in short supply, prompting speculation that a site outside the city could be chosen. King George Dock Chief port health officer Laurence Dettman said: "The changes coming down the line in
Spare dockside land in Hull is in short supply, prompting speculation that a site outside the city could be chosen. King George Dock Chief port health officer Laurence Dettman said: "The changes coming down the line in
five months time are the most challenging this authority has faced in its long history."From where we are now, not withstanding the situation with Covid-19, it's very difficult to get a grip on where we are going with this.
"It's all a big puzzle. At the moment, it feels like we
"It's all a big puzzle. At the moment, it feels like we
haven't even got all four corners of the jigsaw." Port hold-ups after Brexit of 'great concern' to Hull and Goole. No-deal Brexit could see Humber Bridge car park used as lorry stacking site. Almost all of the 150 million kilos of food imported through the Humber ports every year
destined for wholesalers and retailers across the UK come from the European Union. For nearly 50 years, none of the foodstuffs produced within the EU have been subject to routine border checks by port health authorities under freedom of movement rules. However, that will change
from next January when the UK formally leaves the EU at the end of the current transition period. Initially, import checks will only involve paperwork being signed off with physical inspections of foodstuffs due to start next July. Mr Dettman said: "I get very frustrated and
animated because I just don't have the answers to a lot of questions all because of a lack government policy and clarity."The key to this is clarity but time is ticking away." He estimated around 20 physical one-hour checks a day will be needed on EU food imports arriving at the
Humber Sea Terminal in Killingholme while a dozen similar daily checks will be required at Hull's docks.
Killingholme currently has *no facilities* to physically check EU food imports while a recently-approved border control post at King George Dock in Hull only deals with
Killingholme currently has *no facilities* to physically check EU food imports while a recently-approved border control post at King George Dock in Hull only deals with
non-EU fishery products and is *not regarded as being big enough* to carry out the scale of import checks required next year. Hull & Goole Port Health Authority chief port health officer Laurence Dettman said any decision to create inland border control posts would cause another
problem because the port health authority's current powers are limited to port sites on either side of the Humber."Our jurisdiction ends at the port gates," he added. He said expanding his current five-strong team of inspectors to cope with the extra workload and a potential move
to seven-day shifts is another huge challenge. "Until real concrete decisions are made in terms of laying the foundations for new border control posts and how they will operate, we just don't know what level of recruitment will be required."Even then, it's now less than a year
before physical checks will start but recruiting, & more importantly, *training someone up to the right professional level takes a long time* Ministers have indicated one-off funding will be available to recruit extra staff but the responsibility of long-term funding to maintain
higher staffing levels is likely to fall back on individual port health authorities."We don't have enough staff, we don't know how getting any more will be funded, there are no locations for any border control posts and no idea of any locations" https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/news/hull-east-yorkshire-news/brexit-border-checks-humber-ports-4378962
