Irish carriers urged not to load trucks unless they are traveling directly to the mainland.

Police and port staff reject vehicles from Kent’s Port of Dover, which has been closed after the French government’s announcement that it will not accept passengers arriving from the UK for the next 48 hours amid fears over the new strain mutant coronavirus.

Source: PA

THE PRESIDENT OF the Irish Road Transport Association has said that no trucks should leave Ireland unless they have a confirmed reservation to travel directly to the continent.

IRHA President Eugene Drennan told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that there are currently between 200 and 250 Irish trucks stuck in England after France banned road transport from Britain due to the new strain of coronavirus.

The Port of Dover in Kent, where most Irish carriers are currently waiting, is closed to accompanied traffic leaving the UK until further notice due to border restrictions in France.

Drennan said he hoped that the stranded carriers would be allowed to travel back to Ireland tonight and tomorrow and said that “the ferry companies have to do everything they can to get us home.”

Drennan appealed to Irish carriers not to leave Ireland and said there are no ferries traveling directly to the mainland today.

“No carrier, no trucker, no factory should load a truck this morning if that truck doesn’t have a confirmation [ferry] reserve to go to the mainland, ”Drennan said.

He also called for direct freight travel lines between Ireland and the mainland.

France blocked all freight trucks from the UK last night as concerns mount about a new strain of the pandemic coronavirus.

French Transport Minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari announced that the country would suspend all traffic (air, rail and sea) from the UK starting at midnight for at least 48 hours.

It comes as nations in Europe, including Ireland, mobilized to stop incoming flights from the UK in an attempt to prevent the spread of a virus mutation that is spreading across London and south-east England.

Rod McKenzie of the Road Transport Association told Sky News that 10,000 trucks a day crossed between Dover and Calais in France.

He added: “The Brexit stockpile is one thing, the Christmas fever is something else, but the absolute blow now is to close the borders for 48 hours.

“That is a serious disruption to the entire important supply chain.”

Meanwhile, Simon McKeever, executive director of the Irish Exporters Association, said its members had started moving cargo from the UK land bridge to France to direct shipping routes to the mainland.

McKeever said “it’s a little early” to say what the impact will be on its members today. “What we do know is that the freight is open between Great Britain and Ireland, but we have witnessed huge queues entering Holyhead,” he said.

McKeever said the impact of the current restrictions, which can last more than 48 hours, could have a detrimental impact in two to three weeks.

McKeever also said that the current situation is a “real test of Brexit.”

“What would have happened in the event of Brexit is that the outbound freight from the UK would have been the one that would have faced all the delays, so this is an exact replica of what we would have seen … on roll-on, roll -off load. “