Port warns of summer chaos with EU border delays

"Time is rapidly running out" to find a solution to problems caused by the EU's new digital border control system, the Port of Dover's chief executive has warned.

Doug Bannister said there was still no "workable solution" for Entry-Exit system (EES) border checks despite extensive preparations which included a new £40m facility.

He warned the local impact "could be dire", including disruptions to freight and lorries queuing on roads around the port.

In a letter to the Business Select Committee, Bannister wrote: "We're rapidly approaching the critical summer period and still lack the assurances needed to avoid a potentially challenging six weeks."

The Port of Dover, the country's busiest, is one of three sites where French border checks take place in the UK.

Under the EU's new EES, enforced since 10 April, non-EU travellers must register biometric data when entering most European countries.

The system replaces passport stamping for visitors from outside the EU to the Schengen Area, which is made up of 29 European countries.

The idea of the EES was put forward by the European Commission with the aim to boost security and stop overstayers.

The European Commission has been contacted for comment.

Dover's new border processing area is equipped with 84 kiosks to record fingerprints and photographs.

However, it is currently not in use because the technology for the kiosks, the responsibility of the French authorities, cannot be activated.

Ferry passengers are instead being processed manually by border control staff in the old area of the docks, which has less space and is also used by crucial freight traffic.

Bannister called for "greater flexibility" in EES operations during peak demand, otherwise there would be "repeated severe congestion throughout the summer holiday period".

He added daily volumes at the port regularly exceeded 12,000 vehicles at that time.

A critical incident was declared at the port during the May half term holiday because of congestion due to border checks.

The port boss warned the situation could be far more serious in the coming weeks.

"Tourists heading for France could face worse delays at border controls, with queues stretching for miles beyond the port onto public roads," he adds.

Liam Byrne, the chairperson of the Business and Trade Committee, called for the UK government and the EU to take urgent action on the EES system.

"Without an agreement with France to pause the new EU border technology this summer, Britain risks border chaos again," he said.

"Once queues stretch for miles through Kent, it will be too late."

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