What Does Brexit mean for Traffic at Border Crossings?

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Could Ireland’s logistics and transport industry be heading for a traffic nightmare?

If Brexit goes ahead and there is no-deal with the EU, transport companies fear that the frictionless border checks will disappear, which will lead to long queues at the crossings. Irish transport companies also worry about whether or not vital routes, across the north/south border will remain open as well as the landbridge across the UK.

For years, the landbridge has always been the preferred route for Irish truck drivers, as it effectively minimises transit times and maximises the value of time-sensitive products. The landbridge follows this journey: ferry from Dublin to Liverpool, a drive across England to Dover, another ferry to Calais and on to Europe.

DG McArdle Transport yard owner David McArdle told the Irish Times (1) that the landbridge through the UK is still the fastest route to Europe. A no-deal Brexit along with new custom checks at UK and French borders will add hours, even days to the journey of trucks. “When Brexit comes, where is all the traffic going to go? People don’t realise how bad it is going to be,” said driver John Carroll.

Irish companies say there is a lot to fear. Take for example Dover, which is England’s closest port to the European mainland. Around 10,000 trucks pass through Dover on a typical busy day, and it is the major route that will be affected when the UK leaves the EU. (2)

According to a report on Quartz, UK Government Ministers are planning to acquire more than 50 miles of the M20. If this happens, it would be the world’s largest lorry park, stretching all the way from the Channel Tunnel to the M25. However, the situation could escalate very quickly with the UK’s Freight Transport Association noting that even a two-minute delay could cause a 17-mile traffic jam. If that delay increases to over twenty minutes then there could potentially be queues longer than the record for the longest traffic jam, which Lottoland reports was 176km. (3)

The Paris to Lyon queue happened in 1980, and was a one off event. A no-deal Brexit could cause daily queues. Even if the UK gets a solution like the Sweden-Norway border crossing, one Swedish truck driver told Quartz that even though the average waiting time is 8 minutes, it can take up to 90 minutes, as each crossing deals with 1,000 trucks a day. With no checks in place, and ten-times that number, the Dover-Calais crossing will be much worst.

At the Irish border, it would take a huge operation to install border checks. (4) One route from Ireland to Northern Ireland crosses the border 4 times within a very short distance, with one hardware store requiring a border change to access the yard. With checks at each crossing, the free-flowing road would become a solid wall of traffic. This is a problem that would be replicated many times, as there are 275 border crossings between the north and south. (5)

Analysis by the Irish Exporters Association (IEA), which we published, indicates that more than half of Irish companies have started putting Brexit mitigation plans in place. There will be a surge in the cost of customs procedures, tariff, and border controls, not to mention additional costs, which will affect every part of the supply chain. Ireland’s logistic industry hangs in the balance, and with no clear directive on what form of Brexit will be negotiated, the likelihood of traffic nightmares are very high.

References

1. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/putting-brexit-to-the-test-on-the-road-with-a-trucker-from-dublin-to-germany-1.3700114

2. https://qz.com/1386499/brexit-britain-is-quietly-preparing-for-the-worlds-largest-traffic-nightmare/

3. https://www.lottoland.ie/magazine/record-breaking-cars.html

4. https://www.thejournal.ie/brexit-divisive-border-3595420-Sep2017

5. https://fleet.ie/brexit-transport-options-to-europe-appeal-of-shannon-as-a-logistics-centre-discussed-at-irish-exporters-association-regional-council-meeting-in-westport

 

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