Cherbourg (AFP)

Three ferries at the quayside, three to four stopovers per day, dockers soon to be recruited: Brexit has revived the port of Cherbourg where trailer traffic with Ireland tripled in January thanks to carriers who want to avoid crossing England .

Brexit, "this is very good news," said David Vastel, a dockworker foreman, as the first of the three ferries of the day from or to Ireland is about to dock.

Thanks to the "explosion" of freight between Cherbourg and Ireland, "a dozen dockers are in training" alongside the "forty or so dockers", specifies Mr. Vastel.

At the end of December again "the traffic was extremely low, we had even had to resort a little to partial unemployment since the Covid", adds the docker.

With 9,000 trailers in January against 3,000 in January 2020, "we have tripled our freight activity to Ireland", rejoices Yannick Millet, CEO of Cherbourg Port.

An unprecedented level of traffic since the departure of P and O in 2007, which followed the end of duty free and the development of the Channel Tunnel.

Companies present at Cherbourg, Irish ferries, Brittany ferries and Stena Line have all increased their Irish offer with more or larger ships, adds Millet.

Behind him, three ferries are at the quayside, one bound for England, the others for Ireland.

And dozens of trailers are getting ready to embark for Dublin.

Registrations from Eastern European countries and in particular from Poland are numerous, a novelty for the port of Cherbourg.

Crossing England, "it's too much bureaucracy", launches a driver registered in Ireland interviewed by AFP before restarting for boarding.

"By Cherbourg, it's simple," adds Kaz Dziedzic, a driver originally from Poland but living in Ireland, driving his Irish refrigerated truck.

- a "temporary" boom -

“A few weeks ago I loaded up for England. Before Brexit I was wasting maybe 15 minutes waiting for the papers. There I had to wait two and a half hours,” he says.

"When you have food and you want to go to England, you need a certificate for each product, meat, milk. And if the cargo belongs to several customers, you need several declarations," he adds. he.

“I don't know if it's shorter but it's more comfortable,” said Adam Gierach, a Polish driver working for an Irish haulier.

The crossing between Ireland and Cherbourg lasts 17 to 18 hours, or in theory, before Brexit, some six hours more than reaching Calais via England.

Some carriers have anticipated.

"At the end of December, my boss told me, + finished England +", explains Diego Marcante, maneuvering his heavyweight carefully in this port which he does not yet know very well.

Kaz Dziedzic even expects the situation to deteriorate further when England enters in the coming months.

Because unlike the EU, the British government has decided to gradually implement customs controls.

They will only affect all goods from July.

The head of Irish ferries activities in France Ole Bockmann, however, believes that this freight boom in Cherbourg is "temporary".

The Irishman expects traffic through England to resume "when everyone gets used to the new procedures".

For the time being, the Covid is also helping to complicate the crossing of England, he specifies.

Cherbourg also competes with other ports.

The first departure from Roscoff to Ireland will be on Monday and the first from Saint Malo on Friday, according to Brittany ferries.

And the Danish company DFDS in particular opened a line between Ireland and Dunkirk, which filled up from day one.

Before Brexit, 150,000 lorries used the "UK crossing" between the Republic of Ireland and the European Union each year.

© 2021 AFP