Work continues to untangle freight delays

by Gabriella Ramagge and Maria Jesus Corrales

The Government has been identifying issues causing delays processing imports such as pharmaceuticals and fresh produce, which continued on Wednesday and also resulted in postal disruption.

The issues stem from the new arrangements at the frontier following the implementation of the treaty last week.

This has meant that Customs and businesses on both sides of the border have had to understand this new model of processing imports.

As a result, some freight has been to be unable to across the frontier since last Thursday, particularly medicines which are subject to unique exemptions.

On Wednesday, the first lorry carrying chemotherapy drugs for the GHA crossed the frontier.

The Minister for Health and Business, Gemma Arias Vasquez, said the delays with imports of fresh produce and medicine were actively being rectified.

She explained that pharmaceuticals are completely exempted from all EU duties, which meant that these imports were subject to a different code when inputting the customs data.

She said the treaty had provided for better clearance of medicines from UK to Gibraltar than in the rest of the EU, but the issue lay with implementing the new procedure.

The problem has now been identified and it is expected that trucks carrying produce and pharmaceuticals will cross the frontier tomorrow.

Lorries not carrying food or medicines have been able to cross “fairly easily”, Mrs Arias Vasquez said, adding that some 184 trucks were cleared at the frontier on Wednesday.

She stressed that the GHA has a good stock of medicines that would last at least a fortnight and that she did not envisage the delays to last that long.

There have also been issues with mail entering Gibraltar from the UK, while parcels from Spain and the rest of the EU have been unaffected as this post originates from within Schengen.

The Chronicle understands that international mail from the UK is no longer being conveyed directly by air into Gibraltar as was the case prior to the agreement.

The Minister responsible for postal services, Nigel Feetham, said he will be meeting with the Post Office tomorrow to further understand the issues.

“The introduction of the new UK/EU Treaty arrangements in respect of Gibraltar has required some adjustments to the processes supporting international mail movements,” Mr Feetham said.

“The Royal Gibraltar Post Office is working closely with its postal and transport partners to ensure these arrangements are implemented as smoothly as possible.”

“Domestic postal services within Gibraltar remain unaffected.”

‘WAS GOVT READY?’

The GSD aired concerns over the delay in a delivery of medications and goods into Gibraltar due to the new Customs arrangements at the frontier.

Shadow for Health Joelle Ladislaus said these issues should have been foreseen by the Government, which should have acted pre-emptively.

She highlighted the issues with medicines and produce crossing the frontier.

“Although pharmacies are not concerned about stock levels at this stage, historic events demonstrate that the situation can change rapidly,” she said.

“There is the additional issue of stock that may perish in transport because of delays with resulting losses. The successful implementation of something as significant as this Treaty depends on public trust.”

“The Government have had significant lead-in time on these arrangements, and it does beg the question why this is happening and why it needs the drama of the Minister personally attending the frontier to ensure importation happens.”

Shadow Business Minister, Craig Sacarello questioned whether the Government was ready for the implementation.

“Teething issues are understandable, but when the Government has been saying they were ready in April and when they have had the benefit of an extra three months till July, it is surprising that these issues are happening at all,” Mr Sacarello said.

“Was the Government actually ready to deal with these issues? Most of the technical issues could and should have been pre-empted had greater focus been placed on the logistical practicalities facing the movement of goods much earlier on.”

“It seems there is a ‘learn on the job’ approach which, in turn, heaps the pressure on to businesses who have to deliver for customers and have wages bills and taxes to pay. Small businesses contribute a significant portion of Government revenue and must be prioritised to reduce the losses inflicted by these delays.”

In response, Mrs Arias Vasquez said training platforms were available several months before the treaty was implemented, but despite training issues have arisen during implementation.

“No matter what training there is, when you start operating you will realise what issues there are,” she said.

She said the GSD was “scaremongering” and “irresponsible” in their approach, adding that Customs were still identifying issues.

Mrs Arias Vasquez highlighted that the situation had been exacerbated by the La Linea fair meaning that trucks could not park in the compound causing issues with traffic flow.

She added that there were issues from the Spanish procedural side and she has been in conversation with officials at “every level in Spain”.

She also met with customs agents on Wednesday to discuss the issues.

SPAIN

Customs agents in La Línea criticised what they described as a lack of planning by the Spanish authorities in implementing new working arrangements for the export of goods to Gibraltar, warning that the changes have increased administrative workloads and contributed to disruption at the border.

They said the new export protocols have introduced additional administrative procedures, prompting calls for better communication from the authorities and officials responsible for coordinating exports to Gibraltar under the Treaty arrangements.

They argued that closer engagement with customs agents would have helped ensure the new system was implemented more effectively and that workflows were properly coordinated.

Customs agents also said the new procedures should have been trialled with Gibraltar Customs for several days before being introduced in order to identify and resolve any implementation issues ahead of the launch.

The changes have coincided with long queues of lorries, causing significant traffic congestion along Avenida de España in La Línea.

Customs agents have also raised concerns about the treatment of transport professionals, calling for greater understanding when traffic is reorganised to deal with the increased volume of vehicles.

The disruption comes against the backdrop of long-standing calls for improved infrastructure at La Línea Customs.

The situation has been exacerbated by the closure of the eastern road in the area due to the local fair, adding further pressure to traffic management around the customs post.