If UK prime minister Theresa May’s Brexit proposal is rejected by Parliament, some of the most immediate repercussions could manifest at Dover, one of the world’s busiest ports and a crucial shipping link between the UK and Europe. To prepare for the worst, the British government staged a dry run on Monday (Jan.7) of what a massive traffic jam through the Port of Dover might look like.
The disused Manston airfield was turned into a holding area for trucks heading to Europe. The trucks then caravanned the 20 miles from Manston to Dover.
The event was quickly derided by politicians and drivers alike as a pointless stunt that in no way resembled the actual stresses of a no-deal Brexit. The drill originally called for 150 trucks, but Bloomberg reports that only 89 showed up. Either way, it’s a drop in the bucket compared to the 16,000 that pass through the port every day.
The whiplash of a no-deal Brexit could be severe. Currently, trucks traveling from the UK into the rest of Europe move freely, with little to no inspection, thanks to the customs agreements of the EU. If the UK leaves the EU without a customs union agreement in place, the number of trucks stopped at Dover could skyrocket from the current 2% that do so, as the New York Times reported in June, to possibly every single one. That would be quite a few more than 89.
