report
As of: 09/21/2021 11:08 am
Bureaucracy, waiting times, traffic jams – transports to Great Britain have become more difficult. A truck trip from North Rhine-Westphalia to the English county of Staffordshire shows what that means in concrete terms.
At seven in the morning in the port of Calais: truck driver Uwe Hansmann hands the freight documents into the counter. On the loading area: around 30 pallets with liquid plastic from Follmann Chemie from Minden in East Westphalia. The goods are considered dangerous goods and had to be registered separately in advance. New since the beginning of the year: Customs papers must also be on board – for transport to Great Britain. The officer at the counter scans the barcode. Hansmann receives the ticket for the ferry and is allowed to pass. He has to wait a good hour for the crossing – in the lane for dangerous goods transports.
No customs controls in Dover
When we arrive at Dover harbor, everything goes well. The long blue Mercedes truck drives unmolested past the house with the British customs officers. “Now we can enjoy the rest of the journey,” says Hansmann and laughs. Up until a few years ago he was touring the UK regularly with his truck, he has come to love England and speaks only of “his island”.
The driving pleasure is then limited: There are plenty of traffic jams on the almost 360 kilometers to the destination Stafford in Central England – at London and Birmingham. Brexit is not to blame for this – but it is due to the fact that the goods only started their journey so late in Minden.
24 hours advance notice for goods exports
The delivery is put together in the factory two and a half days in advance. A forklift truck first drives the pallets with the metal buckets to the packaging system, then another forklift truck places them in the waiting lane. They could be loaded onto the truck the next morning. But UK Customs require a 24-hour lead time for exports from the EU.
During this time, the goods block urgently needed space in the loading zone, says Mike Solga, Head of Logistics at Follmann Chemie: “This means that we cannot use ten to 15 percent of the space for other customers who may be in a bit of a hurry.” Claudia Löhrmann, who prepares the customs papers in the export department, calls it an “extra sausage for the UK”. In the case of deliveries to other so-called third countries, there is no such lead in any case.
Two days for 1050 kilometers
When transporting the liquid plastic pallets, things get tight in the end: Driver Hansmann lost more than an hour due to the traffic jams. It only arrives at the warehouse in the late afternoon, where a large part of the freight is to be unloaded. This also takes a good hour, including waiting for the forklift driver and unloading. Then it goes to a shipping company a little further south to unload the rest of the goods. After around 1,050 kilometers and 15 hours on the truck, the destination Cannock is reached – just in time before the maximum driving time is exceeded.
Back to the EU with an empty loading area
The next morning, Hansmann will cross over to France with an empty loading area. Background: Transports from Great Britain to the EU have been extremely unpredictable since January. The customs procedures cause a lot of time loss. “It can happen that you have to wait a day or two in Dover because some part of the load has not been properly cleared,” says Hansmann from discussions with his British colleagues. In order not to risk a standstill on the way back, his forwarding company is currently no longer accepting goods in Great Britain.
So Brexit costs time and money. It could become even more expensive for Follmann Chemie if the UK soon introduces its own standards for chemical products; Currently, the rules of the EU chemicals directive “Reach” still apply. “Of course, these prospects are no fun at all,” says company boss Henrik Follmann. Because the new approval of the products for the British market would involve a lot more effort and costs.