PORT & BORDER DELAYS

“As with aviation, so with ferries; the new realities of Brexit have been harder to adapt to because of staff shortages” said travel journalist Simon Calder in a feature for National Geographic Traveller last year.

“Those should ease by this coming summer, but from late 2023, the outlook is actually worse. The new European Entry-Exit System (EES) and the European Travel Authorisation and Information System (EITIAS) are due to take effect in 2023. For airline travellers to the EU, this will constitute a minor inconvenience, but officials at the Port of Dover are expressing alarm at how travellers in vehicles will be processed, fearing they may have to get out in the middle of an area busy with traffic to have their biometrics taken.”

How to deal with it: Sail to and from the UK Monday-Thursday, and avoid travel on bank holidays or school holidays if you can. “Avoid Dover and go for longer sailings to France and Spain from Portsmouth, Poole and Plymouth, and to Belgium and Netherlands from Newcastle, Hull and Harwich,” recommends Calder, cautioning “prices may go up as people avoid the tailbacks and delays in Kent.”