Cuxhaven (Germany) (AFP)
From Brexit, the German port of Cuxhaven has experienced everything from the shock of the referendum to the endless negotiations to the stress of the preparations.
A few hours before the divorce, his director has only one wish: "that it happens, finally!".
However, it is an unprecedented challenge that awaits this platform in the North Sea when England leaves the single market and the Customs Union on 1 January: 85% of Cuxhaven's sea freight is carried out with this country, making it one of the most exposed ports.
From his office, the port manager, Hans-Peter Zint, can see the scale of the task: hundreds of Mercedes and BMWs from German factories are ready to be loaded into the holds of a ship just arrived from the port. Englishman in Immingham, on the east coast of the United Kingdom.
Hardly docked, the ship opens its holds and unloads British Land Rovers intended for the continental market, but also metal parts intended for construction or even mobile homes.
The entire operation will take a few hours then the boat will set sail for Immingham, about twenty hours of navigation.
"Today we have no customs formalities to carry out and tomorrow, these procedures will concern 85% of our volumes, it is an unknown territory for Cuxhaven", explains Mr. Zint to AFP.
The large neighboring ports, such as Hamburg, are less dependent on English customers and are more used to trade outside the EU.
- Tests and reality -
But for nothing in the world, the manager would not want to postpone the deadline any longer: "for three years, it's been a lot of preparations. So comes the moment when we say to ourselves + it has to happen, finally! +", Confides he, tired of the climate of uncertainty that has prevailed since 2016.
The German automotive sector will be at the forefront of the consequences of Brexit: with nearly 600,000 vehicles delivered in 2019, England is its main export market.
The UK was Germany's seventh largest trading partner last year, down two places from 2015 before the referendum.
To prepare, Cuxhaven reviewed its organization in three areas: regular training in new customs procedures for teams;
redesigned computer system to facilitate the transmission of documents to customs;
expansion of the terminal and storage areas for cases of red tape linked to new formalities.
"According to our simulations, if each link in the chain, from the seller to the customer, does its job well, the deadlines should not get longer", continues the director.
"But it's still testing," he admits, "and now we would like to see if everything works in reality."
- Turn the page -
On the quays of the port located at the mouth of the Elbe, the coming and going of heavy goods vehicles is incessant.
After the plunge in activity in the spring, due to the pandemic, Germany and England have worked hard to move the most goods before the end of the transition period.
"It's been a funny year," sighs Marcus Braue, local manager of the Danish shipping company DFDS, which operates the two daily routes between Cuxhaven and Immingham.
"Most companies have prepared themselves well, but a few, for which the UK market is not central, are only beginning to worry about future formalities," he explained in early December.
The trade agreement reached in extremis on December 24 between the EU and the United Kingdom makes it possible to avoid the worst: a "hard Brexit" with the imposition of customs duties which would have increased the price of goods conveyed via Cuxhaven, risking bring down commercial activity.
There remains the threat of administrative chaos and traffic jams.
In this regard, Cuxhaven considers that it has an advantage over maritime giants such as Hamburg, Calais or Rotterdam: "with us, only the cargoes are shipped, the truck does not accompany them. If tomorrow, we are faced with a document customs officer incorrect or missing, the load can be put on hold without blocking the driver ", explains Hans-Peter Zint.
The German port hopes to win new customers looking for less congested routes, and is betting that "in three or five years, Brexit will be digested, it will be old history".
© 2020 AFP