Q&A: How the new Covid variant caused chaos for hauliers 

As many as 250 Irish truck drivers were left stranded in Britain due to a 48-hour ban by France on all freight coming from the UK since Sunday night.

What caused hundreds of Irish truck drivers to be stranded in the UK?

As many as 250 Irish truck drivers were left stranded in Britain due to a 48-hour ban by France on all freight coming from the UK since Sunday night.

France was among several countries, including Ireland, to shut down travel with the UK in light of risks posed by a new, more virulent variant of Covid-19 confirmed in England.

The ban on freight, however, also impacted on Irish haulage companies who were in transit through the UK to mainland Europe.

On Monday, British prime minister Boris Johnson said he and French president Emmanuel Macron were working to unblock the border "as fast as possible".

Will the French ban on UK freight cause a shortage of goods?

Hauliers and their representatives say the UK-France border closure will not cause an immediate shortage of food or medicines in Ireland.

In preparation for Brexit, which is less than two weeks away, they say Ireland has stocked up well in anticipation of possible problems in the new year.

Kevin Byrne, business development manager at Hendrick European, said the overnight border closure may impact food supplies in the UK but not Ireland in the short-term: “In the longer-term there could be a knock-on effect for Ireland if the UK can’t get their supplies from Europe”.

How will consumers be impacted?

The border closures should not have any major impacts on consumers in the short-term, although people awaiting parcel deliveries are advised to check and track their packages and make alternative arrangements if necessary before Christmas.

Events over the weekend, however, may see more hauliers seeking out direct routes to Europe, which could increase costs for hauliers and, ultimately, consumers.

Greater shipping capacity and more direct routes are needed to keep costs down, Aidan Flynn of the Freight Transport Association Ireland said: “We need more competition on direct routes, we need more of them to drive down the price and keep costs at a sustainable level for hauliers.”

Is Ireland too reliant on using the UK as a landbridge to Europe?

Irish Exports Association chief executive Simon McKeever said Ireland was “extremely reliant” on the UK as a faster and cheaper landbridge to Europe and that events over the weekend had served as a “wake-up call” to companies who were not Brexit-ready: “This debacle over the past 24 hours has shown that any company that can ship to the continent they have got to look at that now. If you’re not ready, go and get ready now”.

Is Brexit part of the problem?

As Brexit negotiations go down to the wire, the freight chaos that evolved over the weekend provided a glimpse of what Brexit could look like, Kevin Byrne, business development manager at Hendrick European said.

“The Government should have acted much sooner in terms of getting more ferry capacity to go to mainland Europe. That’s going to be a huge issue come January,” Mr Byrne said.