The area of ​​the Strait of Pas-de-Calais (Boulogne-sur-Mer, Calais, Dunkirk) is by far the most felt in the North of France, because it offers the shortest navigable passage between the European continent and the Great -Brittany. While Brexit could have been a grain of sand in the gears, the ports of the North, where thousands of trucks transit daily to and from the United Kingdom, have prepared themselves in advance for possible congestion generated by the new border formalities. Like the fourth French cargo port, Calais.

A post-Brexit adaptation

“Brexit is not a problem since we are prepared in advance. When Britain announced their March 19 exit, we were ready, then April 12, then October 30.testifies Jean-Marc Puissesseau, president of the port of Calais. The preparation was so well done by the customs, the police and ourselves that we did not suffer from traffic jams or slowdowns in the flow.

Indeed, to maintain the fluidity of the passage through the port, the port of Calais has set up additional car parks and a traffic diagram for better reading of the routes. As for customs, border police and veterinary and health services, it is thanks to digital that exchanges have been simplified.

Thus, the French customs has developed an innovative technological solution, called “intelligent border allowing” operators to automate the border crossing by heavy goods vehicles. This solution is based on the anticipation of customs formalities. “Brexit is unfortunate. Everyone must declare their papers and assets, and this represents a waste of time for companies. But the only influence that the port could suffer would be linked to the economic situation in Great Britain. If the economy on the other side of the border goes down, will continue transport”, adds Jean-Marc Puissessau.

Good results and a desire to remain a leader

At port level, there has nevertheless been a period of adaptation since the beginning of 2021, traffic has been halved due to the over-stocking carried out by British companies in the last quarter of 2020. However , four months after Brexit, according to the interregional director of the General Directorate of Customs and Indirect Duties (DGDDI) of Hauts-de-France, “Traffic had returned to 90% of its level”. An assertion that is reflected in the figures for the port of Calais. “At the end of November 2021, we were at 1.510 million trucks. A figure very similar to that of 2020 which was 1,515 million”, concluded the president of the port. In view of this positive assessment, the president intends to remain the leader in cross-Channel traffic.

In fact, the port has invested 860 million euros (including 270 million euros in public funding) to change its size, with the construction in particular of three new berths to accommodate ferries of more than 200 meters long. The Getlink Group, for its part, built a new car park with 260 spaces and a building for border crossing formalities, for a total of 47 million euros. In addition, the port of Calais, unlike the other ports in the North, is fortunate to have two rail motorway terminals, which makes it all the more attractive and competitive. The VIIA terminal, a subsidiary of the SNCF, connects Spain and Italy to Great Britain. The CargoBeamer terminal offers a Calais-Perpignan link and a Calais-Domodossola link in Italy.

Links with Ireland: a new challenge

But the most striking development remains the adaptability of shipowners. Connections with Ireland have been put in place in order to no longer go through Great Britain and thus avoid going through customs. This is what was observed in particular at the port of Dunkirk. “Our lines have not suffered major disruptions, but there has been a readjustment. The port economy rebounded by making volumes in Ireland. We have seen the birth of new lines, new exchanges,” testifies Franck Gonsse, boss of the dockers. For example, the DFDS company set up a new Dunkirk-Rosslare link from 2 January. Three ships are available for six weekly departures from each of the two ports.

It is true that the direct route takes on a new interest, but it is not without consequences. For a trip from Dunkirk to Rosslare, it takes 24 hours of navigation while passing through the United Kingdom, only 13 hours are necessary, a problem for perishable goods. But the ports fit: “We have made an additional ferry terminal on the Quai de la Lorraine. We built a storage area for the trailers there and laid out waiting files. We are working on the port to double our ferry capacity. The container market has improved,”says Franck Gonsse.

Indeed, this reorganization of the lines constituted companies which until then had no destination towards Ireland. Among them, Containership, a subsidiary of CMA-CGM, specializing in the maritime transport of containers, in one open two. Thus, a Dunkirk-Cork line was launched in November 2020, followed by a Dunkirk-Dublin line. This service, provided by a ship with a capacity of 900 containers, consists, for the moment, only of a weekly connection.