Dmitry Grozoubinski@DmitryOpines (fmr Australian trade negotiator)
"I never thought trucks would pile up at MY border,"
weeps MP from the Trucks Piling Up at Borders Party
1/ Since this is blowing up a little,
let's talk about why this parking lot is being built and the choices (beyond holding a referendum and implementing its result)
that brought this about.
Brace yourselves ya'll, we're threadin'.
2/ "Why do we need giant truck parking lots?"
Because from the end of the transition period, trucks moving things UK-EU will need to stop and present significantly more paperwork than before.
The lots are for trucks without papers, wrong papers, or if there are queues.
3/ "Why do they need more paperwork?"
Because now the UK and EU will be two distinct trading areas, and trading areas need to know precisely what's crossing their borders, in what amounts, owned by who, driven by who, and liable for which tariffs.
That's a lot of new paper.
4/ "So they'll fill out the forms, what's the problem?"
Even if every truck is carrying perfect paperwork, that's thousands more forms that have to be processed, and thousands more confirmations happening at the port every day.
That alone could overwhelm the port's capacity.
5/ "What if the forms aren't done, or aren't right?"
That's even worse. Customs documentation is complicated, and it's not going to be something the driver can just correct with a sharpie.
They'll need to contact head office, which may need to consult the customer or an expert.
6/ "How long can that take?"
Hours, sometimes longer.
Many ports don't have room for trucks to sit idling while someone on the other end of the country corrects errors on a Rules of Origin certificate.
Ergo, you need these big parking lots.
7/ "But this was always inevitable, once Brexit was voted in, right?"
Not entirely.
First, the way the Future Relationship Agreement was done,
ruling out Customs Union membership, is what made this volume of paperwork needed.
A CU has much less paper at its internal borders.
8/ Second, the reason the HMG is frantically buying up hectares of land to put trucks in,
is because it anticipates freight operators not being ready, port processing not being ready, or both.
Not extending transition, despite a pandemic, made this far more likely.
9/ "Can electronic systems fix all this?"
They can help a lot, but they're not a magic bullet.
HMG is obviously not expecting tech to enable a frictionless end to transition.
I can tell because they just leased half of Kent. 