It cost £15.3mn to build and should have started being used earlier this month. Instead, the new state-of-the-art border control post (BCP) at Hull’s King George Dock stands empty awaiting the next twist in the saga over the government’s much-delayed start to post-Brexit checks being carried out on food imports arriving into the UK from the European Union. The latest target for that to happen is by the end of 2023.
UK reluctant to control its borders
Announcing a fourth delay in April, Minister for Brexit Opportunities Jacob Rees-Mogg shelved the proposed 1 July date for physical checks to start at a network of new BCPs which have been built across the country. At the time he claimed the move was sensible because of rising costs, caused mainly by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
However, it has created further uncertainty over what type of border import regime the UK intends to operate, having become a so-called ‘third country’ by leaving the EU and its frictionless cross-border trading system. As a result, all EU states now carry out checks on UK food arriving in continental ports.
Figures for the first 15 months after Brexit to the end of March this year show UK food exports to the EU dropped by 19% to £10.4bn with many in the food sector complaining about extra costs now associated with shipping products to the continent, while their EU competitors continue to have free entry into the UK. Meanwhile, port operators here are wondering what to do with their empty BCPs, with some calling for compensation for their development costs.
Hull’s expensive, and unused, border control post
The BCP in Hull cost £15.3mn to build and features medical grade inspection facilities where specialist veterinary and port health staff can check both livestock and pre-packaged food products such as meat, fish and dairy intended for human consumption as well as animal by-products and plants. Other features include huge refrigeration units and £3mn worth of internal mechanical and electrical services just to ensure the building operates efficiently.
Covering a 4.1-acre site, it was built by the Hull-based Spencer Group to a tight timetable based on the assumption it would be operational in July last year. Then came further delays from the government until the latest pause announced in April.
Initially, Port of Hull operator Associated British Ports submitted a £15.3mn bid to build the new facility in Hull from a national government fund set up to meet the cost of constructing BCPs at key border sites around the UK. The Hull bid was successful but was eventually only awarded just under £9.9mn.
ABP Humber’s head of policy Daffyd Williams said: “ABP owns the BCP facilities in both Hull and Immingham and we paid significant parts of the costs to build both. The government created the Port Infrastructure Fund to pay for the building of these new facilities around the UK but then cut 34% off the grant for each one. ABP paid the shortfall for both projects.”
Wasted time, effort and money
The UK Major Ports Group, which acts on behalf of big operators including ABP, has recently claimed the government is now looking to offload responsibility for additional costs incurred by operators in making up that funding shortfall. Chief executive Tim Morris said:
“Many ports have been working incredibly hard and have invested over £100mn of their own money to build a network of brand new border checks to meet the requirements the government has been insisting on for several years. This now looks like wasted time, effort, and money to develop what we fear will be highly bespoke white elephants. Government needs to engage urgently with ports to agree how the substantial investments made in good faith can be recovered.”
Meanwhile, the Hull and Goole Port Health Authority has frozen a proposed recruitment drive to appoint inspectors expected to work in the new BCP. The authority is also waiting to see how the latest delay will impact on its finances, having anticipated being able to charge importers for inspection services from the start of this month.
At the moment, the Hessle Road-based authority is relying on quarterly grant support from the government with further funding to cover the period now stretching to the end of 2023 yet to be confirmed. Chief port health officer Laurence Dettman said the new “extensive and expensive, fully equipped” BCP in Hull is ready to go but is currently standing idle.
He added: “It was with great disappointment and incredulity that the latest major change in policy has left port health authorities and other agencies, which strived to meet the complex demands for ‘UK Border Readiness’ within extremely tight deadlines, unclear as to how best now to proceed. The present position remains one of much confusion, with a distinct lack of clarity of both immediate and future purpose.
“Fortunately, the authority has no financial liabilities relating to these facilities and I am in no position to comment on how such problems will be resolved but I do empathize with the unenviable situation that ports now find themselves in, with unused facilities now mothballed indefinitely.”
