Port of Dover faces ‘utter chaos’ under struggling EU entry system, MPs warn | Travel & leisure

Cross-Channel ferry passengers and the port of Dover face “complete chaos and miles of queues” under the EU’s entry/exit system (EES) unless the technology is fixed or checks are suspended by next week, MPs have warned.

Home Affairs select committee chair Karen Bradley called on the government to “put maximum pressure” on French officials to take action on the EES before holiday traffic reaches the port.

Dover normally has its busiest weekend when most schools officially go into summer break, so traffic is expected to peak from Friday 17 July.

The port said EES checks carried out at the beginning of the May half-term holiday had caused four-and-a-half hour delays and almost 50% more vehicles were expected to travel through Dover this summer.

The warning comes after the EU on Tuesday rejected calls for airports and airlines across Europe to suspend EES fingerprint and facial recognition border checks, despite acknowledging “20 pain points” where the system is causing disruptions.

EU officials said only 20 of 1,500 border crossing points were “difficult points”.

The committee of MPs visited Dover last week to see where it had changed the layout of the port using land reclaimed from the sea and installed 84 automated kiosks for the EES, which were designed to speed up traffic but are no longer available due to problems with technology supplied by France.

Bradley said: “We have seen with our own eyes that there will be complete chaos next week unless the French authorities take action. And the people who will suffer from this will be British holidaymakers and companies trying to transport goods.”

“The western docks currently serve as a processing center for bus passengers passing through the EU’s entry/exit system, but the £40 million biometric kiosk facility for car passengers remains closed due to technology and software delays from French authorities.

“The Home Office must apply maximum pressure now to either make this work or suspend the checks, otherwise there will be miles of queues.”

The port’s general manager, Doug Bannister, wrote to the business and commerce committee last week to warn of the impact on local towns as well as transportation, shipping and trade if EES issues are not resolved. He said Dover was unable to use its facility because of the “inoperability of the EES kiosk technology, which is completely outside the port’s control.”

He warned: “Without greater flexibility in the way EES is operated during periods of extreme demand, we will face repeated episodes of serious congestion over the summer holiday period.”

Bannister said traffic modeling shows “cars are lining up for miles on the public highway from the port.” “This simply cannot be allowed to happen as both Dover and Folkestone will be seriously affected.”

EES was launched last October after years of delays, with the ability for border police to temporarily suspend the system if deemed necessary to process all travelers; this discretion will only last until September.

The International Air Transport Association called for action on the checks, highlighting “delays and missed connections” in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece and Belgium, while Ryanair warned of “queuing chaos” at major holiday airports such as Malaga, Alicante and Palma.