Thread by @vivamjm

Increasing noise from sources within the supply chain suggests importers are engaging in strategic non-(Customs)declaration to avoid worse congestion across UK’s RoRo ports.
Another source explained that the “minimal” congestion experienced across UK ports ..

following the implementation of border controls did not tally with the volumes of goods entering the country or post-Brexit customs systems
“I can't work out what is happening at the borders, because where you have customs checks at road borders you have queues,” said the source

“The fact we don’t have queues is questionable – it’s not the efficiency of the systems and operations. With the numbers they are processing, it only requires a couple of hold-ups and that’s hours lost. They have greater queues on the EU/French side.

“That there are no (greater) queues means either HMRC is not performing the checks it should, or there is strategic non-declaration.”
Another source suggested it was likely a combination, noting that some importers would have “figured out” the system...

but hauliers have said the practice of strategic non-declaration was known. This would involve multiple shipments being declared under one, “so, you have 10 shipments, but only declare one of the 10 in the lorry”. Sources have also referenced industry “gossip” that ...

customs officers are “simply waving trucks through” without performing any checks at the country’s borders.
“We’re supposed to be ‘taking back control’ of our borders, but if the rumours are true (& they surely are), you have security threats and threats to the national
purse,”

“Hauliers have told me that customs officers are not performing the checks, it is the ferry operators doing them. The problem is, though, we cannot divine hearsay from fact, and so do not know what is happening.” One shipper representative claimed strategic “non-declaration”

was “straightforward smuggling”, and that the CHIEF customs system did not have the capacity to cope with the volumes of cargo – “apart from through random stops, otherwise HMRC has no visibility”.
Of course none of this "news" to me &

I've been shouting all of this into the wind/tweeting with many of my (ex) colleagues for many years now.
Ang again remember (3 times delayed) UK has still to implement its full standards (SPS/food) controls.
Now (fat chance) due July to Nov.

FULL REPORT
theloadstar.com/clueless-or-qu…

as an ex customs officer warns....

https://twitter.com/andy_astewart/status/1493251604295921665?s=20&t=Drnk16kz-Ll4HH61-tTEGg