After the UK's exit from the single European market and the re-establishment of customs formalities, the first post-Brexit trucks arrived at the port of Calais.

Traffic was fluid on this holiday.

Companies must now declare their goods before crossing. 

REPORTAGE

Four years after the British vote, Brexit has been in effect since midnight French time.

On this first day of the UK's exit from the single European market and the re-establishment of customs formalities, around 200 trucks have passed through the Channel Tunnel "without any problem," said the management of Getlink, the tunnel operator.

In Calais, the gateway to all commercial relations between the United Kingdom and France, the first heavy goods vehicles arrived at the port without a hitch.

Europe 1 was there.

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Declare your goods before crossing 

Thirty-six trucks, coming from P&O Ferries' "Pride of Kent", arrived shortly after 10 am at Terminal 8. The first in the world after Brexit.

Three were selected for further checks, while the others continued on their way.

On January 1, a public holiday and weekend eve, the traffic was calm and there were no queues. 

From today, transport companies will have to declare their goods on the internet before crossing, via the computer system called "intelligent border".

During the crossing there will be the verification of these customs formalities.

If they have not been filled, it is the guaranteed stop ", explains Isabelle Braun-Lemaire, Director General of Customs." If they are filled, some trucks will nevertheless have to stop at the border because they contain, for example, goods subject to sanitary and phytosanitary control, or because their declaration shows that it is a good which can be targeted and controlled. "

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Calais and Dunkirk, hotspots for trade between the UK and the EU

For the customs services, the challenge will be to convince companies, which transit for example through the port of Calais, to complete these customs formalities upstream.

The objective: to avoid stopping heavy goods vehicles, because a stopped truck is synonymous with loss of money.

It is therefore a question of making traffic more fluid by avoiding traffic jams and queues.

Almost 70% of trade between the UK and the EU goes through Calais and Dunkirk.

On average, 60,000 passengers and 12,000 trucks pass through it daily.