Are there alternatives to Dover?

With less than three month to go until the UK is due to leave the EU , care is focused on how to keep vital trade routes across the English Channel flowing as smoothly as potential . “ I am expecting the channel port to operate normally in all Brexit circumstances , ” the Transport Secretary Chris Grayling told the this week .

But in the outcome of a no - deal Brexit ( the UK leave the EU without any formal Withdrawal Agreement and no conversion period ) , the government‘s own advice belie him .

A financial statement issue by the Cabinet Office last month suppose that transversal - government planning supposition have been revise to show that , in a high-risk - case scenario , “ there will be very importantly reduced access code across the short strait [ between Dover and Calais ] for up to six months ” .

The statement note that , in a no - raft scenario , the EU would bring down full third - body politic controls on people and goods introduce the EU from the UK . The impact , the Cabinet Office enounce , would affect both meaning and exportation at Dover and Folkestone ( home of the Channel Tunnel ) because of the “ frequent and closed cringle nature ” of the crossings .

So why has Dover become so integral to the UK‘s economic system ? It is by far the biggest terminus in the land for roll - on roll - off ferries ( cognise as Ro - Ro , which means payload is drive on and off rather than lifted by cranes ) . Dover care 2.9 million units of Ro - Ro freight last year , most of which were lorry with drivers .

It is also the primary access road for trade with the repose of the EU inside the single market . Lorries presently simply labour on and off ferries and are on the motorway within a matter of moment .

But any lorries arriving from a non - EU country , such as Switzerland , are dependent to long delays . “ If customs don‘t require to hold back anything , that would [ still ] delay the fomite by about an minute or an time of day and a half [ while the driver wait for a determination ] , ” Andrew Baxter , the grapple director of the freight logistics company Europa Worldwide , enjoin a House of Commons Committee last year . “ If customs want to do a documentary film check , that could delay it by up to three minute , and if there was an inspection of the goods , that could delay it by up to five hours , ” he added .

Even though such checks are in the humbled undivided digits in percentage terms , it doesn‘t take much for long queues to develop in the tight confines of the port of Dover .

That‘s why the governance suppose that , in the event of no - deal , it would minimise checks at Dover to the greatest extent potential and could , in theory , simply brandish hand truck through . But , as the Cabinet Office acknowledge , it can not control what the EU will do on the other side of the Channel .

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