What's Going On at Larne ?

[LadyEloise]

Could someone explain to me what is going on at Larne and Belfast port where workers were withdrawn for their own safety?
Are they now not letting imports in or are they letting imports in but not checking them ?

Anyone ?

The Brexit protocol has protected a hard border between NI and RoI . And goods can flow easily from NI to GB
but since jan 1st there has been problems THE OTHER WAY getting goods into NI from GB due to the new customs rules.

Things like supermarkets not able to bring in same level of products, some fruit delayed so long it goes off. Shelves are often noticeable lacking in variety with a lot of meat shelves only comprising of NI and ROI products and gaps where GB goods would have been.

Parcels going round in circles and back to England so delayed.
Small Gb business don’t understand the rules so they make mistakes on the customs forms and the goods can’t get thru. Some of them have decided not to ship to NI anymore or temporarily.
Gardens centres aren’t allowed to import certain types of plant seeds and pets need passports or something.
All of this means consumers in NI are currently having less choice and more hassle. It will probably cause higher prices if it goes on.
NI hauliers are experiencing higher costs as they go out with full trailers and back with half empty ones which is far from cost effective.
All of this is starting to lead to anger and tension and it urgently needs resolved.
It could have the potential of escalating as the unionist or loyalists community start to view themselves as cut off from the rest of the UK ( although the problems affect all citizens and businesses)
So far some graffiti has appeared protesting against Irish sea border and some staff have felt watched. The PSNI are playing it down as being a small element ,maybe even just a few youths but the council are being cautious and have withdrawn staff from inspecting goods in ( animals or animal products I think)
We just hope a solution is found so that we can have frictionless goods coming in especially before the April amnesty after which I think customs rules are meant to apply to all private parcels coming from Gb.

Thank you for the explanation @blubberyboo