Royal Mail warns of slower post as work continues to ease border freight queues

The UK's Royal Mail said transit times for post to and from Gibraltar would likely increase under the new treaty, with parcels and packages now shipped overland via Spain instead of flown to the Rock.

The warning came as customs authorities and transport companies continued coordinated efforts to ease border delays arising from changes to procedures at the commercial border gate after the treaty came into provisional implementation on July 15.

This week queues of lorries could be seen in La Linea as businesses and Customs grappled with new processes and codes.

The delays affected all imports entering Gibraltar including pharmaceuticals and fresh produce.

The issues importing medicines and fresh produce have now been resolved, according to the Minister for Health and Business, Gemma Arias Vasquez, with more shipments entering Gibraltar on Thursday.

The bespoke customs agreement between Gibraltar and the EU means the Government is also dealing with the change of the delivery process for UK goods, which now must enter the EU rather than arriving directly to Gibraltar.

That affects postal services too.

Parcels from the UK which were previously delivered to Gibraltar by air are no longer permitted on commercial flights, except for letters and documents not subject to customs procedures, which can still be handled.

Instead, parcels and packages are being transported to and from Gibraltar by road via Spain.

From July 15, "postal items will no longer be transported by air directly to or from Gibraltar but by road via Spain," the UK's Royal Mail said in a statement.

"Transit time from UK to Gibraltar is therefore likely increased as a result."

The Minister with responsibility for Postal Services, Nigel Feetham, confirmed the first post-treaty consignment of mail from the UK is supposed to arrive at the frontier tomorrow and then would need to clear customs.

He said he has been in contact with the Post Office in Gibraltar and Customs regarding the matter.

“I was at the frontier this morning with Gibraltar Customs and have since held further meetings with the Royal Gibraltar Post Office to continue monitoring the situation closely,” Mr Feetham said.

“I am advised that Gibraltar Customs has put in place the necessary arrangements within its control to facilitate the movement of mail.”

“The delays affecting inbound mail, and outbound mail to destinations beyond Spain, are therefore due to operational arrangements that require implementation on the Spanish side."

"Gibraltar Customs and the Royal Gibraltar Post Office remain in active discussions with their Spanish counterparts to restore normal mail services as quickly as possible.”

“The position conveyed is that the Spanish authorities could not introduce or implement new procedures ahead of the UK/EU treaty formally entering into force.”

Mr Feetham will be in regular contact with Customs and Post Office.

Outgoing mail from Gibraltar to Spain has been operating without issue.

A Chronicle reporter has a pending package which was tracked as leaving the UK on the day the treaty was implemented, July 15, but after a week of no updates the parcel was tracked again as leaving the UK today.

FREIGHT

On Thursday, there were signs that the freight backlog at the border was starting to ease.

Mrs Arias Vasquez said lorries were crossing the border on Thursday including those carrying medicine and fresh produce.

Some 170 trucks had crossed the frontier on Tuesday, and 184 on Wednesday. Mrs Arias Vasquez said that a maximum per day prior to this arrangement was around 250 lorries which would cross the frontier.

She added that the issue with the parking compound due to the La Linea fair had meant that traffic had been pushed onto the roads when this would not be the case otherwise.

The issue with medicines and produce has now been addressed.

All lorries carrying pharmaceuticals for the GHA crossed the frontier today.

Mrs Arias Vasquez underscored that no patient at the GHA has been affected and that the relevant codes are now being used, which was the cause of the issue.

This is because medicines entering Gibraltar from the UK are exempt from all EU standards and have a special code that needed to be inputted into customs data.

The GHA is now assessing whether any of the refrigerated medicine has expired and if so will reorder this stock.

Mrs Arias Vasquez added that no pharmacies have contact the GHA regarding any shortages during this period.

On Thursday, Spanish customs reminded operators about customs declarations and exemptions for health items crossing into Gibraltar.

The Spanish authorities said this clarification followed recent cases in which missing certificate references or exclusion codes had triggered unnecessary sanitary checks or delayed customs clearance at the La Línea Customs Control Point, despite the goods having already undergone the required EU controls.

Mrs Arias Vasquez also confirmed that more lorries carrying produce crossed the frontier today and the appropriate codes have been identified.

She said this was a case of the volume of work in adapting to a new system which caused delays.

She added there will still be “teething issues” has these new arrangements continue to come into effect.

Mrs Arias Vasquez thanked Customs, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Spanish counterparts for having worked “flat out” to resolve these issues.

“Everyone is pulling and pushing in the same direction and there has been cooperation at every level,” she said.