Ferry operators, haulage firms and coach companies are on alert ahead of the year’s busiest getaway weekend after French frontier police confirmed they will register every non-EU traveller leaving Dover under the EU’s new Entry/Exit System (EES). The Guardian reports that officers stationed on the Kent side of the Channel will rely on a manual work-around because permanent biometric kiosks are still being installed. The stop-gap will require British passport-holders to disembark vehicles for fingerprinting and facial imaging, a process that operators say could add several minutes per person. The Port of Dover expects more than 200,000 passengers between Friday and Sunday. Port chief executive Doug Bannister warned MPs last month that even a 20-second increase in processing times could lead to mile-long tailbacks on the A20 and A2. Coach trade association RHA Coaches has advised members to build in “at least two extra hours” for crossings, while hauliers fear missed delivery slots and potential fines under just-in-time supply contracts. Carriers are pressing the UK and French governments to deploy additional police and marshal staff. Under the 1991 Le Touquet treaty, French officials conduct Schengen immigration controls on UK soil; the French interior ministry has authorised temporary overtime payments to keep all booths manned through the weekend. For business travellers, the disruption comes at a sensitive time. Corporate travel managers had already budgeted for the extra time the EES will add at continental airports from this summer. Dover’s problems highlight the importance of contingency planning, especially for time-critical assignments such as oil-and-gas engineers heading to North Sea bases via Calais. Beyond the immediate queues, the episode underlines a structural risk: the UK no longer has a formal say in how EU border technology is rolled out, yet the consequences are felt first in Dover. Trade associations are urging both sides to revive the Joint Committee on Road Transport created by the Brexit Trade and Cooperation Agreement to iron out such operational glitches before next year’s launch of the linked ETIAS travel authorisation.
Source: The Guardian
