Thread by @Freight_NI

🚨Brexit Thread 🚨
1/11 - Lots of talk and focus on what will happen to the Border in the event of a ‘No Deal’ #brexit
Let me outline the impact on just one of these roads for Freight:
The A1 crossing at Newry~Dundalk, currently a frictionless efficient strategic road 👇

2/11 - Over the 24hr period of Wednesday 5 June 2019,
8,390 Goods Vehicles crossed the border via the A1:
3,038 Artics 🚛
919 Rigids 🚚
4,434 LGV’s 🚚

3/11 - These figures are counted daily by Transport Infrastructure Ireland that employs a system of under surface counters on strategic roads across Ireland that can differentiate vehicles by axle lengths

4/11 - Possible to analyse Goods Vehicle traffic flow on 6 of the 300 border crossings for 05/06/19:
Bridgend: 1,356
Belcoo: 521
Ballyconnel: 307
Emyvale: 1,811
Castleblayney: 1,098
Ravensdale (A1): 8,390

Total 13,483 Goods Vehicles crossed the border in 1 day on SIX roads

5/11 - Back to the A1 road
Goods Vehicles going into ROI/EU on 5 June = 4,022 (avg 167 per hour)

Average 1 x lorry every 35 seconds over 24hr period

The average delay time on 🇳🇴 🇸🇪 border for trucks is 10mins (pic) - Norway is in EU SINGLE MARKET

Starting to see the problem?

6/11 - Then we see impact of SPS controls into EU

33% of NI sales to ROI is agri-food

Of the 4,022 lorries travelling into ROI on 5 June, approx 1,300 were carrying agri-food which is subject to SPS controls

7/11 - In morning peak time from 06.00 to 09.00, this equates to 347 lorries carrying agri-food

That’s avg 115 per hour or one arriving at the border frontier average every 52 seconds

SPS checks all involve stopping for Doc & ID checks + up to 50% physical inspections

8/11 - SPS checks can last from 10 - 30mins, a lot longer if tests required.

If a Border Inspection Post on the A1/N1 has a delay of 1 hour for traffic at peak times then within that one hour there could be a backlog of 70 Goods Vehicles awaiting processing

9/11 - This is where problems get even worse:
- a queue of 70 trucks on the A1 would be over 1km long 🚛🚛🚛🚛

- the running cost for a HGV is £1 per minute 💸

- Delivery window for perishable goods to Distribution Centres is 45mins ⏱

10/11
A ‘No Deal’ will:
🚨Create paralysis on the border for freight
🚨 Significantly add costs
🚨 Cause friction & congestion on strategic roads
🚨Result in unreliable journey times
🚨NI Businesses will lose trade & some will relocate as stated by @CommonsNIAC report 👇

11/11 - At the minute there is no technical solution to manage any border without friction.

We haven’t even considered inevitable controls/impact on inward freight from ROI

Due to integrated nature of our economy it’s vital that we avoid a ‘No Deal’ as NI stands to lose most

Correction on 7/11:
Typo says one truck every 52 seconds, it’s actually;
ONE TRUCK EVERY 32 SECONDS