DOVER is dealing with journey chaos subsequent yr after the port boss warned border checks on vehicles may rocket from the present 45 seconds to 10 MINUTES.
The EU is because of introduce a brand new Entry-Exit System in Could with travellers having to endure a collection of biometric checks together with fingerprints and captured facial photographs.
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It can imply each passenger in a automobile arriving on the port must register for the brand new system, sparking recent fears of journey chaos and miles of queues.
Dover Port chief government Doug Bannister warned yesterday: “Proper now, EES will work effectively in main airports or rail terminals with massive, well-lit rooms.
“However there was no course of designed – none, zero zip – for a busy ferry terminal to course of automobile a great deal of passengers on darkish stormy nights.
“Even on the busiest instances proper now, with new post-Brexit guidelines, passport checks are taking 45 to 90 seconds per automobile.
“With the pre-registration concerned a automobile with a household of 4 or 5 in it may take as much as 10 minutes.
“The federal government ought to be urgently discussing with their French and EU counterparts how that is going to work.
“Our port handles £144billion of commerce a yr and greater than 11million passengers.
“There must be severe consideration to having the method occur exterior the port and even at house.
“If we get handed a course of that doesn’t work for our enterprise mannequin and terminal and are compelled to implement it it is going to have a dramatic detrimental affect on commerce and journey.”
The brand new system is because of be applied in Could 2023, with a brand new European visa waiver scheme that may see each traveller having to pay seven euros – round £6.30 – attributable to begin in November.
The Eitas scheme – modelled on the present US Esta scheme will imply making use of and paying for a visa waiver that may final three years.
