Dover port boss: EU checks will take minutes not hours

Europe’s new entry-exit system will add only minutes to the journey time for motorists boarding ferries from Dover, The Independent has been told.

- SIMON CALDER

The much-delayed border scheme will require each British traveller to the European Union to be fingerprinted and register a facial biometric, before passing through passport control – which at Dover takes place on UK soil.

Eastern Docks, from where ferries depart for Calais and Dunkirk, was never designed for intensive border checks. But after Brexit, Boris Johnson’s government negotiated for UK citizens to become “third-country nationals”. At present, that means every passport is scrutinised and stamped when arriving in or leaving the EU and wider Schengen area Council leaders in Kent have warned of queues of more than 14 hours once the entry-exit system (EES) is in force at Dover – and the nearby Eurotunnel terminal at Folkestone.

But the chief executive of the Port of Dover says the new process will add only minutes to the journeys of departing travellers – thanks to a new registration venue and a “continental corridor” through the town, approved by the EU and French authorities.

Doug Bannister told The Independent: “Rather than being reliant on agents with tablets, which was what we were shooting for last year, we’ve changed our delivery mechanism to kiosk-based.”

Outbound motorists and passengers who have not previously registered for the entry-exit system will be directed to a new compound where biometrics will be collected. It is currently under construction on reclaimed land at the Western Docks, a mile from the ferries.