Thousands of lorries steer clear of Europe

But the drop in cross-Channel deliveries is down to coronavirus, not Brexit

BRITISH goods vehicles are making fewer road trips into Europe - but it’s down to the coronavirus pandemic rather than Brexit. The UK formally left the European Union on January 31, and the Brexit transition deal is set to end on January 1, 2021.

After that, with or without a deal, there will be new rules that are likely to have a major impact on trade.

However, as a 27-acre field in Kent is turned into a lorry park for up to 2,000 trucks in case of mass hold-ups at Dover; the evidence shows that deliveries into Europe have already slowed down.

The Department of Transport (DfT) says that is due to the effect of the Covid-19 crisis on international trade routes.

Figures released by the DfT show that in the 12-month period ending on September 30, 3.1 million trips were made by goods vehicles travelling from the UK into Europe.

Where details on country of origin are available, 13.5 per cent of journeys were made by vehicles registered in the UK.

Meanwhile, 93.8 per cent were registered in the EU, and 3.8 per cent were registered elsewhere in the world. In 2.3 per cent of cases, the country of origin was unknown.

The total number of journeys was down by 8.6 per cent compared to 3.4 million trips made in the same period the year before.

The DfT says, “intelligence from industry reports”, suggests that some roll-on, roll-off ferry routes ceased operating from April, while others only carried unaccompanied trailers.

A drop off in goods traffic was seen across most trade routes surveyed between April and June, while the UK and much of Europe was under strict lockdown conditions.

There was some recovery from July, however, as lockdown restrictions were eased.

A DfT spokesperson said: “Road goods vehicles travelling from the UK to Europe this year have been affected by the global Covid-19 pandemic, which includes measures introduced to limit the impact and transmission of the virus.

“A fall in activity was seen across most of the routes surveyed between April and June, with some recovery taking place from July onwards as lockdown restrictions were relaxed.”

Goods traffic also plummeted across Britain during the lockdown, the DfT says.

Figures show that in April, heavy goods vehicle journeys within the country hit a low of just 25 per cent of the normal number, while commercial vehicle traffic fell to just 22 per cent of normal levels.

This was based on a comparison with the flow of traffic during the first week of February.