The European Union’s new biometric border checks at the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel have been delayed again.
The Entry/Exit System (EES) was due to be brought in next month – but it has been postponed as the French authorities struggle with ongoing technical issues.
The EES border checks area at Dover Western Docks
KentOnline reported last month how the new processes will result in big changes at the border – particular when it comes to boarding ferries at the Port of Dover.
It had sparked fears of gridlock if the EES had gone live during the busy Easter getaway, with Operation Brock to be brought in on Wednesday in case lorries need to be held on the M20.
Biometric checks on passengers in all vehicles – including cars – using the port or the Channel Tunnel were due to be in force next month.
Just yesterday, the UK government published advice warning Brits travelling to Europe that the “EES is set to be fully implemented at all EU airports and ports” from April 10 as planned.
But today it has been confirmed that the new checks have been postponed once more.
Whenever it finally goes live, the new process at Dover – explained below – will take some getting used to.
But port bosses insist they are ready for the challenge.
What is the EES?
The EES is a new European Union system designed to record the entry and exit of non-EU nationals – including British travellers, since Brexit – visiting EU member states.
The new EES checks will be carried out at Dover Western Docks. Picture: Stanley Murphy-Johns/PA
Instead of having passports stamped, passengers will have their fingerprints and a facial image captured and stored digitally. The system is intended to tighten border security.
What is changing at Dover?
The biggest difference for motorists is where the checks will take place.
The new process for catching a ferry from Dover once the EU’s new EES checks are fully implemented
Under the new arrangements, drivers will first need to go to the Western Docks – where the cruise terminal is based – to register their biometric details.
Once that process is complete, they will exit via the expanded Union Street and travel along the A20 to the Eastern Docks for check-in and final passport checks by France’s Police aux Frontières before boarding ferries.
All cars will have to go through this on every outbound trip from the port. The first visit will be to create a biometric “profile”. Subsequent visits are needed to ensure the profile is still valid and up to date.
The port says full public guidance will be issued once a confirmed implementation date is agreed “to eliminate any confusion”.
When will it finally start
The European Union had said the system will be fully operational by April 10.
A view of the new car passenger identity and fingerprint scanning area at Dover’s Western Docks. Picture: PA
But it had been expected that technological problems on the French side could result in another delay.
The rollout has already been postponed several times.
When it does go live, Port of Dover chief executive Doug Bannister says they will be ready.
He told KentOnline the capacity needed will be “online when we need to have it”.
Will it cause chaos?
Dover has a long history of traffic disruption when there are delays at the border, stormy weather in the Channel or industrial action in France.
Holiday peaks can also trigger congestion, with queues sometimes stretching along the A20 and M20.
In January 2024, Ashford Borough Council warned in evidence to Parliament’s European Scrutiny Committee that a “reasonable worst case” scenario could see delays of up to 14 hours at the port once EES is fully introduced.
Dover District Council leader Kevin Mills told the BBC the system is a “potential car crash” and could cause gridlock in the town if it does not work.
Queues at the Eastern Docks in Dover, where passengers catch ferries
But Mr Bannister insists the port’s new layout is designed to prevent queues spilling onto the wider road network.
“The site that we’ve designed for the EES is completely geared to be able to handle our peak flows of traffic without any congestion out on the external road network,” he said.
What work has taken place at the Western Docks?
To prepare for EES, Granville Dock at the Western Docks was infilled in autumn 2024, creating new space for processing cars and accommodating coach overspill at busy times.
Coaches are otherwise processed at a nearby former boatyard.
A clifftop view of Dover Western Docks. The sandy coloured area is the reclaimed land at Granville Dock and just below it is the EES border checks site
The biometric checks are being carried out on reclaimed dockland to keep vehicles away from the main routes.
“We’ve been taking advantage of the gradual ramp-up of implementation to make certain that our processes are working,” Mr Bannister said.
“The biometrics now are being done at the border position.”
Mr Bannister says they have their first “car process island” at the Western Docks ready to go as soon as “the French are ready to turn on the technology”.
A new entrance to the site has been completed, with two further car processing islands under construction.
“The site will physically be completed probably before summertime when we get into the big rush,” Mr Bannister said.
How has the roll-out gone for coaches and lorries?
EES checks have already been introduced for coaches and lorries in phases since October without major disruption.
Mr Bannister said: “Now we’ve got high confidence that as long as everything works according to plan, there won’t be any problems.
“Of course, there could be challenges in the form of weather delays or technical challenges or whatever. But nowadays, we’ve got quite a robust contingency system that’s in place that we get traffic moving again just as quickly as we can.”
Doug Bannister, chief executive of the Port of Dover authority
During the February half-term getaway, about 300 coaches passed through Dover on one day without significant issues.
Mr Bannister said: “We dramatically expanded capacity and we put in place new processes to ensure that the coach traffic could be handled in a very good way.
“We invested in a brand new coach hall, where all the coaches travelling by ferry across to the Continent go through.
“We have eight permanent border positions in there for Police aux Frontières to operate from.
“It’s a dedicated facility purely for coach traffic that enables coaches to go through in the best possible way.”
Here’s everything you need to know about how the EES will work at the Channel Tunnel terminal in Folkestone