Prices could jump at the Channel Tunnel after bosses revealed £67 million of costs incurred by incoming new security measures will be “inevitably passed on” to passengers.
The incoming Entry/Exit System (EES) – a new set of EU border biometric checks – will also leave Dover experiencing “gridlock on steroids” when the new system comes in at the town’s port, a council leader warned.
Last week it was announced long-awaited changes to European border rules, which will affect people leaving from Dover and the Channel Tunnel at Folkestone, are delayed indefinitely, when they were meant to commence in November.
The system requires biometric data to be taken from Britons and other non-EU nationals upon entry to an EU member nation and will phase out the use of passport stamps.
Originally meant to start in 2022, the project is meant to take facial data and fingerprints from people entering the Schengen area but has been delayed numerous times.
At a meeting of Parliament’s Justice and Home Affairs Committee, Kent politicians and those involved with managing the border were quizzed by Lords.
Cllr Kevin Mills (Lab), leader of Dover District Council (DDC), told the committee the authority was “extremely pleased” at the delay.
“To be perfectly honest we would not have been ready on the 10th,” he said.
“I don’t think the road networks are ready currently.”
This latest delay was sparked by the governments in Germany, France and the Netherlands saying the system was not ready at their ends either.
Cllr Mills continued: “Residents of Dover district are sceptical, because even without EES we still see the town coming to gridlock several times a year, you add this onto it and it’s gridlock on steroids.
“The whole town stops, nothing moves, I’m not exaggerating that.”
In the summer of 2022, travellers were left stranded in 15-hour queues radiating out from Dover, with some fearing the introduction of the new EES could mean such scenes become the norm.
Cllr Mills added: “I can’t over exaggerate the damage it does business wise, to the community, to individuals, to the security of the country as staff cant even get into work to secure the border.”
Cllr Roger Gough (Con), leader of Kent County Council, also attended the committee hearing, saying the delay “certainly does come as a relief”.
“EES is an extreme form of a problem that we’ve lived with and sought to manage for many years,” he argued.
Also in attendance was John Keefe, corporate and public affairs chief for GetLink group, which owns the Channel Tunnel.
He stressed to the committee the company was ready for the system to be implemented in November and was “disappointed that we won’t be able to put that investment to use”.
The firm has spent €80 million (£67m) upgrading the area around the tunnel in preparation.
“We were looking forward to starting to recover that cost from November 10,” he explained.
“We’ll be sitting on €80m to develop the technology, build the infrastructure, to do the modelling using AI, to install all of the kiosks that we had specially built to operate in the vehicle environment.
“A cost like this is inevitably passed onto the consumer, everything that we do to improve the journey of our customers in one way or another gets passed on.
“This delay and the introduction of EES in itself has cost €80m, so whether it’s delayed or its live now there is a cost that is carried by the consumer.”
In July, GetLink posted a net profit for the first half of 2024 of €173m – up 7% compared to the first six months of 2023.
Revenue specific to Eurotunnel was up 1% with the business turning over €540m despite both freight and passenger numbers each dropping by 4%.
GetLink has also hired new staff in preparation for EES who will now be drilled on how EES will work and rotated in and out of other jobs at the Tunnel.
The chairman of the committee, Lord Foster of Bath (Lib Dem) stressed that “frankly we have no idea” when the system will actually be implemented.
When the delay was announced on October 10, EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson said that there was no clear timetable for EES being implemented, but the EU will adopt a “phased approach”.
Mr Keefe suggested to the committee this means it could be implemented slowly across different entry points to the EU, rather than at all the UK’s ports and airports simultaneously.
