LONDON: From government IT systems to portable toilets for queuing drivers, the UK's logistics industry is still in the dark about crucial post-Brexit arrangements as the clock ticks down to a possible "no deal", representatives warned Wednesday.
Even with a deal, a huge and complex array of systems needs to be in place to ensure European-bound trucks pass EU border checks, they said, pushing back at the government for stressing it is up to industry to be ready for January 1.
"There is an awful lot to get ready and be tracking in order for us to say things will work smoothly on the 1st of January," Elizabeth de Jong, director of policy at the industry group Logistics UK, told a committee hearing in parliament.
Outlining a "reasonable worst-case scenario", senior minister Michael Gove last month said queues of up to 7,000 heavy-goods vehicles could develop in southeast England from January, and urged businesses to step up their preparations.
But hauliers, exporters, logistics agents and ports are still clamouring for details from the government, including on an IT system for EU-bound lorry drivers that is still being tested, and a new system of permits for trucks to enter Kent.
Road Haulage Association chief executive Richard Burnett said the industry's last meeting with Gove was a "washout" and hoped for a lot more clarity when they next meet with the minister on Friday.
Burnett said that in a recent survey by the association of 1,000 international hauliers, 91 per cent complained that they still did not have enough information from the government for post-Brexit arrangements.
"We're trying to align thousands of businesses and thousands of people," he said, demanding details about the availability of portable toilets, food and water for truck drivers forced to queue on roads in Kent.
Britain left the EU in January but remains bound by the bloc's rules under a transition period that expires on December 31.
Beyond that, there is no certainty of a new trading arrangement, with the two sides locked in difficult negotiations.
Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen were to hold talks later Wednesday, as both sides blame each other for blocking progress ahead of a key EU summit this week.