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DUBLIN, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Ireland's tax authority
temporarily eased post-Brexit customs arrangements after some
trucks were unable to deliver goods from Britain, difficulties
that prompted the largest Irish Sea ferry operator to cancel
some sailings from Friday.
Britain's departure from the EU's orbit introduces reams of
paperwork and costs that must be completed to move goods across
the new customs border. For Irish firms, it means a 12-fold rise
in the number of import and export declarations, the tax
authority warned ahead of the changes.
Ireland's Revenue Commissioners said a significant number of
firms are correctly submitting new customs declarations but it
was aware that trucks had been denied boarding at Holyhead port
in Wales and introduced a temporary fix late on Thursday.
Struggling firms can use an override code to complete safety
and security Entry Summary Declarations (ESD) - a key customs
formality - which will in turn make Revenue aware of which firms
need help in adapting to the new customs formalities.
"It is clear that many were not as prepared as they thought
or significantly underestimated what was involved in being
Brexit-ready," a spokeswoman for the agency responsible for
customs checks said in a statement.
Irish consumers are already experiencing difficulties with
some British retailers pausing deliveries to Ireland, while
Marks & Spencer said Britain's withdrawal from EU trade
rules was responsible for near-empty fresh-food aisles at some
of its stores in Ireland this week.
Ferry firm Stena Line cancelled 12 sailings from Dublin to
Holyhead and the southern Irish port of Rosslare to Fishguard in
Wales over the next five days, citing a "significant drop" in
freight volumes due to supply chain problems at a time when
COVID-19 travel restrictions have hammered passenger demand.
One recent service from Rosslare had just four freight
units, a spokesman for Stena told Reuters.
Stena recently doubled its direct Ireland to France freight
service in response to demand for an alternative route to the
British "land-bridge" used by around 3,000 lorries each week
pre-Brexit to ship goods to and from mainland Europe.
(Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Catherine Evans)
