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Radoslav Radev made a lonely gesture as he stood by the check-in booth for the Stena Line ferry to Dublin, handed over his papers and waited.
After a few moments, the woman inside the hut pushed her arm through a small opening in the window and handed them back. He craned his neck, listening to what he had to say.
He would not be allowed to enter the port area proper, he told her.
“You need a BPN number now after Brexit,” he says.
It was 10:30 a.m. on Friday, January 1, and Britain had actually made Brexit, finally and completely, less than 12 hours earlier. Membership of the single market and the customs union, which allows the free movement of people and goods, now replaced by a trade agreement between the UK and the EU and all the paperwork that comes with crossing an international border.
The documents are returned to Radoslav Radev. Photograph: Peter Murtagh / The Irish Times
Radev didn’t seem to notice as he returned to his bright red articulated truck, owned by H Essers, a huge storage, transportation and logistics company based in Genk, Belgium.
He was hoping that before the day was out, he would have crossed the Irish Sea and delivered his medical and pharmaceutical cargo to its destination in Dublin. Radev was hoping to arrive in Dublin with a non-Covid healthcare and pharmaceutical load before the day was out.
As of mid-morning Friday, the unfortunate man was the seventh trucker to be denied entry to the North Wales port for breach of new regulations.
Truckers moving goods in any direction across the Irish Sea must have export authorization from UK or Irish customs and tax authorities prior to departure.
Without a pre-shipment number (PBN) and a PBN identifier, plus a master reference number (MRN), the goods and the truck are going nowhere.
Each load must have its own unique PBN. Upon arrival at the port, the 10- or 13-digit number is scanned. If you register correctly with the Irish and British authorities, truckers literally get a green or red light.
Ian Davies, UK Port Manager at Stena Line: “The new system is pretty straightforward.” Photograph: Peter Murtagh / The Irish Times
While it will take time for everyone to learn the ins and outs, the new system is nonetheless fairly straightforward, says Ian Davies, UK Port Director at Stena Line.
“The Irish government has a database and the UK government has a database and you as an importer / exporter are entering your documentation in those databases and we as a transport company have a link to them . From the port’s perspective, it is a relatively simple process. . . as long as the importer / exporter or carrier has completed all the documentation submitted, “he says.
Davies and his colleagues, who effectively run the port of Holyhead, have prepared for all kinds of Brexit exit by the UK, in close contact with the Welsh government, UK customs and the Welsh police. .
The tests at Holyhead, the second-busiest British port after Dover and crucial for deliveries to all parts of the island of Ireland, not just the Republic, were still underway until 6pm last Thursday.
Twenty years ago, Holyhead handled 70,000 trucks or containers. Last year that figure jumped to 450,000, an average of about 1,250 trucks a day between the two ferry companies, Stena and Irish Ferries.
“The growth has been exceptionally strong. And a lot of that is due to just-in-time logistics and you get a frequency [of ferry services] with Holyhead that has drawn traffic from Northern Ireland, ”he says.
One fifth of the shipping companies using the sea route carry 80 percent of the cargo. Most of them are well prepared. “We focus on that 20 percent. Generally, the level of their preparation is quite good, ”he says.
“What we’re not really sure about, because we don’t deal with them directly, is the bottom level; not the carriers, but the importers and exporters used by carriers. Those are the people who are going to generate a large part of the administration that is required, ”he says, adding that the few rejections of the day show, at least, that the system is working, albeit with low volumes.
However, freight traffic will not return to normal until the end of next week, following the New Year’s weekend and a slowdown caused by pre-Christmas bookings to cope with the dreaded Brexit chaos.
If a large number of trucks are returned from the port, they will go to a cafe at the truck stop on the outskirts of Holyhead, where the Welsh government and customs have established a multilingual problem-solving service.
200 trucks can be parked there and additional space is being added. If that fills up, one side of a five-mile stretch of the A55 highway outside of Holyhead will become a parking lane.
Brexit supporting Hugh and Marcia Williams at their Edinburgh Castle pub and guesthouse overlooking Holyhead Harbor. Photograph: Peter Murtagh / The Irish Times
Watching the traffic outside the harbor entrance, Brexiters Hugh and Marcia Williams, owners of the currently closed Edinburgh Castle pub, declare their happiness.
“I am satisfied,” says Hugh. “Almost euphoric.”
Marcia agrees that there will be initial problems with the new arrangements.
“Initially, it’s going to be a nightmare,” he says. “But once they fix it, it will be fine.”
By now, Radev has left the port on the left and headed for the truck stop. Later, I find him there, wandering around the hard mount, with a mobile phone to his ear.
I lift a thumbs up / thumbs down questioningly.
“No,” he replies. “Not right. Problem. Brexit papers. Maybe I’ll wait three days here.”
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