An Taoiseach Micheál Martin hosted a media briefing and tour of the inspection facilities put in place in Dublin Port that come into use from 1 January 2021.
He told the assembled media that while many large export businesses were prepared for the biggest changes in doing business for 50 years, many small and medium-sized enterprises weren’t yet equipped for the new trading arrangements, but there was still time to make arrangements.
Terminal 10 at Dublin Port has 25 loading bays to undertake detailed sanitary and phytosanitary inspections and customs checks. It has a feeling of calm before the storm.
The facilities at Dublin Port, along with the Border Control Posts at Dublin Airport and Rosslare Harbour, represent an investment in excess of €1bn by the Irish Government since 2018 and 1,500 additional staff have been employed by DAFM, Revenue Commissioners and Department of Health/HSE for inspection duties.
Trucks will be screened on arrival as they pass through Terminal 7, with detailed checks carried out in a specially adapted building in Terminal 10.
It can accommodate up to 25 trucks and containers at any one time and has facilities to undertake sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) inspections on goods of animal origin that are arriving from the UK which have to be accompanied by a veterinary certificate.
This is in addition to a customs declaration, which all goods arriving into Ireland from the UK will be required to have after 1 January.
Inspection building at Dublin Port with frozen, chilled and ambient sampling facilities.
Parking facilities in Dublin Port are in place for up to 200 heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) and more are planned.
However, the return to pre-single market inspections in the port has potential for traffic congestion that could impact on the wider area. A Dublin city traffic management plan is expected in the coming weeks.
Exports will affect farmers
Border inspections, customs declarations and health certificates for goods of animal origin are inevitable, even if there is a deal concluded between the EU and UK.
The facilities at Irish border control posts are very much focused on imports from the UK. These are consumer goods, with farmers particularly concerned about the consequences for animal feed and machinery imports.
It is exports that will be the most immediate concern for farmers. Irish agri food exports will be subject to the same controls at British ports, though these will be phased in over the first six months of next year.
Irish exporters are also concerned by how arrangements will work for goods in transit through Britain for onward shipping to Europe, particularly those that use the port in Dover.
Calm before the storm
The opportunity to see the huge empty sheds and parking areas in the port while lorries sped past without stopping is very much the calm before the storm.
After 1 January, lorries no longer just get off the boat and drive. They will have provided advance notification of their cargo, from which the level of scrutiny will be decided.
Many will have a minimal scrutiny, but others will be pulled in to one of the now-silent 25 cargo bays for more detailed sampling, with the inevitable disruption and costs to the supply chains involved.
An Taoiseach Micheál Martin hosted a media briefing and tour of the inspection facilities put in place in Dublin Port that come into use from 1 January 2021.
He told the assembled media that while many large export businesses were prepared for the biggest changes in doing business for 50 years, many small and medium-sized enterprises weren’t yet equipped for the new trading arrangements, but there was still time to make arrangements.
Terminal 10 at Dublin Port has 25 loading bays to undertake detailed sanitary and phytosanitary inspections and customs checks. It has a feeling of calm before the storm.
The facilities at Dublin Port, along with the Border Control Posts at Dublin Airport and Rosslare Harbour, represent an investment in excess of €1bn by the Irish Government since 2018 and 1,500 additional staff have been employed by DAFM, Revenue Commissioners and Department of Health/HSE for inspection duties.
Trucks will be screened on arrival as they pass through Terminal 7, with detailed checks carried out in a specially adapted building in Terminal 10.
It can accommodate up to 25 trucks and containers at any one time and has facilities to undertake sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) inspections on goods of animal origin that are arriving from the UK which have to be accompanied by a veterinary certificate.
This is in addition to a customs declaration, which all goods arriving into Ireland from the UK will be required to have after 1 January.
Inspection building at Dublin Port with frozen, chilled and ambient sampling facilities.
Parking facilities in Dublin Port are in place for up to 200 heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) and more are planned.
However, the return to pre-single market inspections in the port has potential for traffic congestion that could impact on the wider area. A Dublin city traffic management plan is expected in the coming weeks.
Exports will affect farmers
Border inspections, customs declarations and health certificates for goods of animal origin are inevitable, even if there is a deal concluded between the EU and UK.
The facilities at Irish border control posts are very much focused on imports from the UK. These are consumer goods, with farmers particularly concerned about the consequences for animal feed and machinery imports.
It is exports that will be the most immediate concern for farmers. Irish agri food exports will be subject to the same controls at British ports, though these will be phased in over the first six months of next year.
Irish exporters are also concerned by how arrangements will work for goods in transit through Britain for onward shipping to Europe, particularly those that use the port in Dover.
Calm before the storm
The opportunity to see the huge empty sheds and parking areas in the port while lorries sped past without stopping is very much the calm before the storm.
After 1 January, lorries no longer just get off the boat and drive. They will have provided advance notification of their cargo, from which the level of scrutiny will be decided.
Many will have a minimal scrutiny, but others will be pulled in to one of the now-silent 25 cargo bays for more detailed sampling, with the inevitable disruption and costs to the supply chains involved.
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