French road haulage federation FNTR said the situation, exacerbated by Brexit stockpiling, had been ‘catastrophic’ for the past fortnight and was likely to remain so until the end of the year, with other sources confirming a major increase in EU-UK traffic.
Recent weeks have seen significant traffic jams of heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) on the roads leading to the French port of Calais and the Eurotunnel terminal as UK shippers stockpiling goods as Brexit approaches have added to already very high demand for capacity to the UK.
The general secretary of the regional branch of France’s leading road haulage federation FNTR, Sébastien Rivéra, told French TV news channel BMFTV that the situation had been “catastrophic” for the past fortnight and was likely to remain so until the end of the year. He also described the traffic management provision put in place by the state prefect’s office as “a disaster”.
Rivéra added: “The British are stocking up as never before,” with businesses and consumers fearing the imposition of duties from 1 January, adding that he had been told by road hauliers who have plied UK routes for the past 30 years that volumes of traffic were at unprecedented levels.
More than 8,000 trucks on average are crossing the Channel in each direction currently, compared to 6,000 normally, according to the state prefect’s office, and while an upturn in HGV traffic was observed ahead of the previous Brexit deadlines, the increase was not as marked as it is now. Long lines of trucks are reported to build up in and around the French Channel port on Wednesdays and Thursdays in particular, traditionally heavy days for freight traffic, as drivers seek to complete round trips before the weekend.
Rivéra said truck drivers were exasperated by the traffic jams and also feared that stationary trucks will provide migrants with an opportunity to board trailers. “Our members are at the end of their tether and some of those working local routes have seen their activity grind to a halt,” he added, estimating that there was insufficient parking capacity at the port of Calais and near the Tunnel.
Contacted by Lloyd’s Loading List, no one at the Calais port authority was immediately available to comment on the reports of HGV congestion. But earlier today it highlighted, via Twitter, a risk of traffic slowdown on the port’s access road, urging drivers to adapt their plans accordingly.
Calais congestion ‘problematic’ for months
The congestion around Calais has been “problematic” for a couple of months, according to Wallenborn Transports, whose core business is in the European air cargo road feeder services (RFS) segment.
“It’s not constant, tends to last for between one and three days, and ‘peak’ delays (at the check-in of Eurotunnel’s freight shuttle) are between four and six hours,” the company’s commercial director, Jason Breakwell, told Lloyd’s Loading List.
“Yesterday, the waiting time before check-in was estimated at two hours and went down to 30 minutes later in the day, with transit normal – not too bad for one of the busiest weeks of the year for international road freight.”
Last month, Eurotunnel’s ‘Le Shuttle Freight’ unit recorded traffic above pre-COVID levels with 145,729 trucks carried, the second-best November in its history. It said the “strong performance” – up 11% compared to November 2019 – “benefitted from a stockpiling effect due to Brexit”.
According to a Eurotunnel service update, posted on its website around lunchtime on Wednesday, waiting times for trucks to check-in on the freight shuttle from Calais to Folkestone stood at two hours “due to high demand”, but traffic was “fluid.” In the Folkestone-Calais direction, Eurotunnel informed freight customers of waiting times of 90 minutes and transit times of two hours.
Six hourly departures in both directions were in operation, with “capacity protection activated”, the fixed-link operator said.
Breakwell continued: “We face similar challenges every autumn and I don’t believe the cause is stockpiling (ahead of Brexit), although it is adding to already very high demand for capacity to the UK this year. High volumes of cargo normally arriving at UK ports are diverting to ports in mainland Europe this year due to several factors. The recent lockdown is also a factor as it prompted many UK buyers to defer orders until some activities restarted and stores reopened.”
He continued: “Then there’s the ongoing migrant crisis in northern France, which becomes more acute at this time of year as they (the migrants) have no shelter and conditions in the Channel are too dangerous for most to risk a boat journey. This causes some disruption on the roads around Calais and UK Border Force have been doing extra checks on all vehicles.”
Breakwell added that poor weather and technical problems have also contributed to recent delays.
“We’re keeping our customers informed when delays worsen, and in some cases diverting trucks although the short sea routes remain the most convenient for the majority of our movements from or to the UK due to the high frequency of services.”
Another logistics industry source said the recent delays were not caused by customs testing of new processes due to come into force at the start of next year, highlighting that such testing “lasts usually a few hours per week, not more, and doesn’t have a major impact. The current situation is simply based on the huge demand.
“The tunnel and ferry companies face today a volume of around 9,000 trucks per day instead of 6,000 per day at the same period last year. On top of this, two ships (ferries) are no longer operating, which reduces the offer, whilst the demand is strongly growing.”
Stockpiling of goods
Retailers and other companies involved in UK-EU trade, along with their logistics representatives, have confirmed that they are engaged in some level of stockpiling ahead of potential congestion problems in early January – and potential new tariffs if there is no UK-EU trade deal by then.
Robert Kleppers, commercial director of Jan de Rijk Logistics, told Lloyd’s Loading List that his company had noted the stockpiling of “critical goods” on both sides of the Channel as the Brexit deadline has drawn closer.
“We saw this happening ahead of the first deadline and it’s been the case this time too,” he noted. “We are seeing it in our own warehouses and when we are doing transport movements. Shippers don’t want to be caught out, especially with a ‘no deal’ still being a possible outcome.”
Source: Lloyd´s
