No-Deal Brexit May Lead To Up To 2-Day Cargo Vehicle Delays At UK's Dover - Reports

A leaked report by the United Kingdom's Department for Transport (DfT) has indicated that thousands of cargo vehicles could be stuck in traffic for as long as 48 hours at the Port of Dover in Kent in the event of a no-deal Brexit, causing shortages of all kinds of goods and harming the economy, Sky News reported on Monday, citing government documents

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd September, 2019) A leaked report by the United Kingdom's Department for Transport (DfT) has indicated that thousands of cargo vehicles could be stuck in traffic for as long as 48 hours at the Port of Dover in Kent in the event of a no-deal Brexit, causing shortages of all kinds of goods and harming the economy, Sky news reported on Monday, citing government documents.

According to the DfT analysis, a no-deal exit from the European Unions will immediately result in freight at the UK port city of Dover, which is at one end of the Channel Tunnel that connects the United Kingdom with France, being delayed for up to two days, leaving about 8,000 vehicles stuck at the border. Even companies that are well prepared for this outcome will most likely have their vehicles waiting for up to three hours. Truck transportation companies may go so far as to cancel their deliveries due to all of these delays, Sky News' analysis of the government report said.

"The sort of delays ... would be crippling to many sections of the British industry and the supply chain on which we all depend. For example the things that we get in the shops, perishables, foods and so forth, we simply cannot afford to have them sitting in a traffic jam for 48 hours," the managing director of policy at the Road Haulage Association, Rod McKenzie, told the broadcaster, commenting on the leaked report.

The UK government announced that it had started stockpiling food, fuel and other stuff to prepare for a no-deal exit scenario back in January. However, the possibility of the country leaving the bloc without a deal became much more likely with Boris Johnson's appointment as prime minister, since the politician has vowed to deliver Brexit by the October 31 deadline without "ifs and buts."