Travelers heading through the Port of Dover this summer have been warned to prepare for significant delays. Doug Banister, the port’s chief executive, stated that the facility is set to face repeated episodes of severe congestion throughout the peak holiday season. Without greater flexibility in the implementation of the European Union’s new Entry & Exit System (EES) for passport checks, Banister warned that queues of vehicles could spill out of the port onto public highways for several miles, creating a potentially dire local impact.
The upcoming weeks mark the first peak travel period since the full-scale introduction of the EES biometric checks. The port has struggled with infrastructure and space limitations since the end of the Brexit transition period in 2021, often leading to difficulties during busy travel windows. Most notably, the port experienced queues lasting up to six hours during the May half-term holiday period.
While border officials do maintain the authority to suspend EES checks if they cause major disruptions—a measure that was utilized in Dover during May—there are concerns about the upcoming weeks. Schools in France are set to begin their summer break on July 4th, whereas schools in the UK generally do not break up until July 17th. Consequently, officials anticipate the most intense travel pressure to occur between late July and early August. READ ALSO: EES: Why is the UK-France border such a problem for the EU’s new biometric passport checks? However, the problems are expected to be worse this summer as it will be the first peak travel period to take place since the full-scale introduction of EES checks. Bosses at Le Shuttle say they are prepared for the summer peak.
He told The Independent that queuing cars will be “spilling out of the port onto the public highway for miles” unless something changes, adding “the local impact could be dire”.
Limited space and infrastructure problems at the port mean that it has had difficulty adapting to the extra passport checks required for British travellers since Brexit.
