The Port of Rotterdam Authority, the Port of Amsterdam Authority, PortBase, all partners including Customs as well as all the relevant municipalities are putting their efforts to prepare for a possible no-deal Brexit on Thursday, 31 October 2019, in attempts to mitigate any delays coming from additional customs formalities at Rotterdam en Vlaardingen ferry terminals.
The ports will form an outer border between the EU and the UK when Brexit comes to reality, which means that inevitable customs formalities will be in for freight traffic through the Dutch ports- noting that in the event of a no-deal Brexit these will come into force immediately.
Moreover, according to estimations almost 40 million tonnes of freight pass via ferry and short-sea crossings through the port of Rotterdam, out of the approximate of 54 million tonnes that is traded between the UK and the Netherlands per year.
Exporters and importers must make arrangements as to who will register their cargo from or to the UK in PortBase in advance. This can be done digitally by either any intermediaries, such as forwarders, customs agents or carriers; or can be executed by themselves.
Moreover, traffic circulation plans by Rijkswaterstaat and all relevant parties are already in place in order to safeguard the efficient traffic flow, keeping local and regional traffic moving.
[smlsubform prepend=”GET THE SAFETY4SEA IN YOUR INBOX!” showname=false emailtxt=”” emailholder=”Enter your email address” showsubmit=true submittxt=”Submit” jsthanks=false thankyou=”Thank you for subscribing to our mailing list”]
Additionally, six new buffer parking sites will be arranged in the forthcoming weeks and will be provided with fencing, lighting, sanitary facilities and security, for those who do not have the proper paperwork needed. In fact, drivers will be able to use the sites in order to contact their client or transport planner to carry out the relevant formalities.
In the possibility that more space is needed, Rotterdam informs that there are additional areas available.
In particular, the Municipality of Rotterdam has realised the Oranjeheuvel site on the northern bank in Hoek van Holland, close to the Hoek van Holland ferry terminal, holding around 200 trucks.
A buffer site in Maasdijk, in the municipality of Westland, can serve around 24 trucks.
In the Municipality of Vlaardingen, 80 spaces are being created on the DFDS site and a secondary holding site is being created on Waterleidingstraat for around 80 trucks.
On the southern bank, buffer parking sites are being created on Moezelweg contracted by the Port of Rotterdam Authority.
On Moezelweg, the largest site will provide space for approximately 280 trucks, in the vicinity of the ferry and short-sea terminals that operate out of the Europoort and Rozenburg port areas, which can easily be reached from the A15 motorway, from both the easterly and westerly directions.
Rijkswaterstaat, the Municipality of Velsen and Sea Port IJmuiden are together establishing a parking site in the ‘Blokkenterrein’ (Rijkswaterstaat storage area) on Zandvoortstraat in IJmuiden that can accommodate 45 trucks.
This comes after other ports, such as the Ports of Gothenburg and Dover started getting ready to deal with the effects and consequences Brexit will incur for ship freights in and out the UK and the handling of non-UK freight at the ports.