Europe’s new entry-exit system (EES) will add only minutes to the journey time for motorists boarding ferries from Dover, The Independent has been told.
The much-delayed border scheme will require each British traveller to the European Union to be fingerprinted and register a facial biometric, before passing through passport control – which at Dover takes place on UK soil.
Eastern Docks, from where ferries depart for Calais and Dunkirk, was never designed for intensive border checks. But after Brexit, Boris Johnson’s government negotiated for UK citizens to become “third-country nationals”. At present that means every passport is scrutinised and stamped when arriving in or leaving the EU and wider Schengen area
Council leaders in Kent have warned of queues of over 14 hours once EES is in force at Dover – and the nearby Eurotunnel terminal at Folkestone.
But the chief executive of the Port of Dover says the new process will add only minutes to the journeys of departing travellers – thanks to a new registration venue and a “continental corridor” through the town, approved by the EU and French authorities.
Doug Bannister told The Independent: “Rather than being reliant on agents with tablets, which was what we were shooting for last year, we’ve changed our delivery mechanism to kiosk-based.”
Outbound motorists and passengers who have not previously registered for the entry-exit system will be directed to a new compound where biometrics will be collected. It is currently under construction on reclaimed land at the Western Docks, a mile from the ferries.
“We’re going to be creating a new facility in our Western Docks to allow the car traffic to be able to register itself before proceeding down to the Eastern Docks to board the ferries,” Mr Bannister said.
Drivers and passengers will park, get out of their vehicles and register their fingerprints and facial biometrics at an array of kiosks that will collect data including the traveller’s passport details.
Once the formalities are complete, motorists will follow the A20 dual-carriageway through the town of Dover to Eastern Docks, where passport checks by French Police aux Frontières will take place as normal. With each car occupant already registered, the verification process should be brief.
Officers will continue to stamp passports until the entry-exit system is in place throughout the Schengen area.
“The key part about the EES process is registering the biometric details alongside the passport,” the port boss said. “That was where the incremental process is going to be. We’re not anticipating the border check process to be very different from how it is today.”
Modelling by the Port of Dover indicates that the registration process could take six minutes for each car, followed by an average eight-minute drive from Western to Eastern Docks.
Having each part of a two-stage border check separated by a mile raises questions about the security of the system, and in particular the possibility that unregistered passengers join the vehicle en route. So AI will be deployed to detect any unusual activity on the “continental corridor” between the two checkpoints.
Mr Bannister said: “In order to provide great assurance about the process, we’re piloting new technology based on some artificial intelligence to be able to provide the security of the vehicle transit from the Western Docks to the Eastern Docks on behalf of the European Union.
“If that vehicle turns up in that eight-minute window, then it’s a good probability that everything is OK with it.
“If it takes 28 minutes to go what should be an eight-minute drive, that could flag up as a ‘red’. So there might be further intervention at the border check part of the process that’s required by the Police aux Frontières.”
The Dover CEO said the new procedure should work without creating any additional queues. “The magic number that we’ve had to try and build our infrastructure for peak-hour processing is 600 non-European cars per hour.
“This facility at 100 per cent efficiency will be well over 800 cars an hour and even at 80 per cent efficiency, it’ll still be about 650 cars per hour.
“We will be facing a period of uncertainty when this comes in. Will the technology work well? Will the processes work well?
“The fact that they’re introducing [EES] in the autumn at a lower travel time, and they’re adopting a progressive implementation, gives us time to really check our operational processes, make improvements prior to the peak travel times: Christmas, February half-term, Easter, and then of course, for summer 2026.
“We’re feeling very confident about how that process is going to work, and we’ve had huge support from the European Union to enable us to do this, and the French authorities.
“If it goes well, we may see this as a feature on all road crossing points.”
Key highway frontiers in and out of the European Union and wider Schengen Area include the borders of Serbia, Albania, North Macedonia and Turkey – as well as Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.
The much-delayed European Travel Information and Authorisation System (Etias) online permit system for British visitors to Europe will be introduced no earlier than six months after the full EES is running well. That will be October 2026 at the earliest.
For the first six months of Etias, the permit will not be mandatory – meaning UK travellers will not require one before April 2027.
Listen to Simon Calder’s full exclusive interview with Doug Bannister, CEO of the Port of Dover
