Of the many looming potential Brexit disasters on the horizon, chaos at our ports is the one that has the biggest impact on our security, with millions of pounds of goods under threat from opportunist criminals.
The government claims to have contingency plans in place to ease pressure on the ports in the event of a no-deal Brexit, but you don’t have to apply much scrutiny to see how dangerously unprepared our ports are.
Most notably there are the plans to turn Ramsgate into a “second Dover” to cope with the increased pressure on our ports if Brexit disrupts our sea trade. Brexit or not, many see reinvigorating Ramsgate’s economy as a necessary move to help the struggling seaside town.
Unfortunately, the sum total of the governments efforts to reopen a continental port in Ramsgate is the much-derided contract with Seaborne Freight.
Seaborne Freight was a newly formed company that possessed no ships and no contracts with either Ramsgate or the destination town of Ostend in Belgium. Nonetheless, they were awarded a £13.8m contract to operate a new roll-on roll-off ferry service.
This contract has since been scrapped after Seaborne Freight’s financial backer stepped away from the deal. The last word from the Department of Transport was that the government was in “advanced talks with a number of companies”.
There has been no news on plans for Ramsgate’s port since – other than the government being sued by Eurotunnel for its “secretive and flawed procurement process”.
In the security industry, we like to follow the old adage of “hope for the best but prepare for the worst”. However, it’s clear that the government’s strategy for preparing our ports for Brexit is to hope for the best put only pretend to prepare for the worst.
We will hopefully manage to avoid a no-deal Brexit, but that isn’t the only scenario that will disrupt our ports. Even a minor change to our customs procedures will result in significant delays and congestion.
With little hope of the government preparing our infrastructure in time, it’s up to individual companies who depend on the smooth running of our ports to have contingency plans in place.
This contingency plan should include security, because chaos provides opportunities for criminality.
Should there be delays at our borders, companies that export outside the UK may have to hold more stock in their warehouses, while lorries packed with valuables may find themselves stuck in miles-long traffic jams or stuck in temporary parking.
Whenever goods aren’t moving or divert from their usual routes, they’re vulnerable to theft. If you need to lease additional temporary warehouses to hold extra stock, make sure their security is up to scratch.
If you have any concerns, we can perform risk assessments of the sites and provide a short-term security package so that your stock is kept safe.
As for freight vehicles, we provide security escorts for high valuable goods that may be under threat during any disruption.
We’ve been setting up a contingency plan for the worst-case Brexit scenario for the past six months, with funds set aside to secure any additional resources required to guarantee our customers an uninterrupted service.
No matter what happens after Brexit, you can rely on Magenta Security to be fully prepared and fully operational.
Time if running out. If you want to keep your company safe during the potential Brexit chaos, get in touch with us now by calling 0800 772 3786.
