FactualLess than three weeks before the UK leaves the EU, freight traffic has intensified to the point of causing significant slowdowns on the A16, in Dunkirk and Calaisis
Queues of trucks for several kilometers along the A16 motorway, near Leffrinckoucke, Téteghem or Calais. Storage areas saturated with heavy goods vehicles. Or even migrants trying to get into stationary goods vehicles, hoping to reach England illegally. Since the beginning of December, from Tuesday morning to Thursday evening, the northern motorway which links Belgium to the ports of Dunkirk and Calais has experienced significant slowdowns and traffic jams which poison the lives of carriers.
You have to wait until Friday to see the traffic flow more fluid because few companies send their drivers to the other side of the Channel the day before the weekend. “The British are anticipating Brexit and stocking up on goods as never before known, explains Sébastien Rivera, secretary general of the National Federation of Road Transport (FNTR) of Pas-de-Calais. They fear additional customs procedures and tariffs. “
It has been two weeks since the traffic has intensified. “We went from 10,000-12,000 heavy goods vehicles per day in both directions of the Dunkirk-Calais axis to 16,000-18,000”, observes Paul-François Schira, sub-prefect in charge of Brexit in the North. To ensure the safety of people and goods, and avoid a motorway paralysis, the prefecture of the North monitors the traffic of the A16 like milk on fire. Since December 8, it has also activated its plan to regulate heavy goods traffic because of the high traffic on cross-Channel links.
Storage areas
In consultation with neighboring Belgium, detours have been set up in addition to storage areas for 700 to 800 heavy goods vehicles, in Ghyvelde and Saint-Folquin. “These areas are like taps that are opened according to the capacity of the ports to absorb the traffic, specifies the sub-prefect. We create controlled traffic jams on the right lane to limit the impact, but it is not the role of the motorway to serve as a giant parking lot. “
Current work on the Calais Port 2015 site (which provides for doubling the port’s current capacities by creating a new basin towards the sea) is preventing access to certain reserve car parks. “We invested 13 million euros, we created new car parks, we tested the future smart border, we are ready for Brexit, reassures the CEO of the port Boulogne-Calais, Jean-Marc Puissesseau. But here, we have parking lots in the waiting area jostled with the works. “ According to the prefecture, road traffic will further intensify next week, before starting a traditional decline as the Christmas holidays approach.
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