French ferry ports: ‘IT and tablets not ready for EES border changes’
It is possible that only ‘samples’ of passengers will be checked at first
The port of Cherbourg is among several which is not yet equipped for EES
Ian_Stewart / Shutterstock
Normandy’s ferry ports still do not have key equipment required for the EU’s new digital border checks, with just over a month to go before the planned launch date.
Tablet computers - to be handed to car passengers - have not been delivered and pre-registration ‘kiosks’ for foot and coach passengers remain empty shells without the actual digital interfaces, reports a director of managing body Ports de Normandie, Jérôme Chauvet.
The kiosks would be used to enter passport information, answer travel questions and give biometric data in order to lighten the load on border police who in all cases will also have to check fingerprints of all non-EU non-resident travellers on first entry or leaving the EU.
Mr Chauvet previously told us of concerns over lack of time for testing of equipment, and additional costs and complications caused by the preparations for the European Entry/Exit System (EES), currently due to start on Sunday November 10.
Read more: Q&A with Normandy ports director on new EU border plans
Non-EU residents of France with valid residency cards or visas will not be subject to the EES rules but are very likely to be hit by delays due to the queues. They will also not necessarily be able to use the EU passport lanes, which are expected to move faster.
Read more: Which passport lanes for travellers with French residency cards or visas under EES
Speaking to The Connexion today, Mr Chauvet also confirmed a recent report by The Guardian, which stated that it “understood” that France and several other countries, having been asked to return declarations to the European Commission on their state of readiness by September 5, had written to a commissioner to say they would not be ready.
“We’re in a rather unusual situation,” he said.
“From exchanges with French government officials, we understand that a certain number of countries haven’t sent back their form to confirm they are ready to conform to the requirements for the planned start date.
“It’s France, and in principle also Germany and the Netherlands, which corresponds to a substantial mass of passengers in Europe.
“However, it’s not certain that the date will be put off. November 10 could be maintained, but there’s a lot of uncertainty, as applying the rules will not be technically possible in many places.
“We, at any rate, will not be able to do the checks since, as yet the tablets have not been delivered and the kiosks are not equipped with their IT systems.
“We are not sure yet what demands are going to be imposed on us and the timings. We think there will be some flexibility allowed at the start – to only process small samples of people – but we don’t know the details of this.”
Mr Chauvet added: “The kiosks have been installed, but it’s an empty box, the computer part is not there inside. And the communication network [to link the kiosks to the EU’s central databases] has been installed in the ports but the French government hasn’t turned on its own antenna [to connect data from the ports to the EU system].
“So, we’re supposed to put it all into action, but we can’t as we do not have the tools.
“We’re waiting for the state to deliver the tablets and kiosk-equipment and to connect us up.”
He said Ports de Normandie had been relatively pleased at the prospect of a start in November, which is a fairly quiet time of year.
“But we just don’t know how it’s going to pan out, and how the amount of checks that will have to be done will increase over time.
“If everything is delivered to us very late and then we’ve got to get going very fast in the high season, that’s going to be a nuisance to us.”
Ports de Normandie manages the ports of Cherbourg, Caen-Ouistreham and Dieppe, which are served on cross-Channel services by Brittany Ferries and DFDS, as well as Irish Ferries and Stena Line for Ireland.
Since being hit by dropping passenger numbers linked to Brexit and Covid, the ports have seen the figures picking up, with, for example, 6.85% more passengers crossing the Channel to and from Cherbourg in the first seven months of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023 – a total of 322,787 passengers.
This included 122,000 on routes between the UK and Cherbourg, which while being up 6.25% is still far from the figure of 193,000 in 2019.
The overall figures have partly been kept up by increasing traffic with Ireland.
