Humber Border Control Posts ready for new post-Brexit rules

Border Control Posts have been established at Hull and Immingham. Pictured is the facility at the Port of Immingham.

Two Border Control Posts on the banks of the Humber are ready to receive European imports.

The facilities at Hull and Immingham, operated by Associated British Ports (ABP), are equipped to handle a huge range of products in line with post-Brexit border rules coming into effect at the end of the month. Pre-opening test exercises have been carried out by Government agencies to prepare the two locations for checks on animal products, plants and plant products sent from the EU.

The team operating the Border Control Posts is being led by Kerry Costello who previously worked in the Humber’s safety team. Assistant operations managers who will run the facilities and manage the agencies and Government bodies working within them, have come from ABP.

Simon Bird, regional director of the Humber ports, said: “We have worked very hard and committed millions of pounds of investment to deliver these two new state of the art border check posts. The Humber is a critical gateway to European and global markets – the UK’s largest by volume – and we’ve put the right resources in to manage them and provide customers with the options they need. Kerry and her team haven’t been daunted by the high-profile nature of the BCPs and the difficulties of delivering high quality port operations in a complex government led context. They’ve rolled their sleeves up and taken the challenge on.”

Ms Costello added: “My predecessor did a great job to get them to where we were at the start of the year and my team have picked up and completed the tasks in hand. Each relishing the challenge and bringing their ideas to the table in the process. The level of communication between ABP and North East Lincolnshire Council Port Health and Hull and Goole Port Health Authority has been phenomenal. We’ve built up good relationships with the other regulatory bodies and ensured that communication has been clear.

“We’ve run some live tests with Cabinet Office, Port Health Authority, and shipping lines which have all gone well so as to ensure systems and infrastructure all communicate behind the scenes.”

Other border measures coming into effect this year include the UK Single Trade Window, which the Government has previously said will simplify duplicate processes and data requirements, and ease the administrative burden.