Port at Guernsey St Peter Dock

FDF chief executive Ian Wright warned there would be “chaos” if the government was unable to secure a deal.

The government’s hopes of having a new IT system in place at the UK’s ports before Brexit are “nonsense” according to a stark warning from the FDF.

The federation’s chief executive Ian Wright warned there would be “chaos” if the government was unable to secure a transition deal, because new computer systems would not be ready in time.

Speaking after yesterday’s publication of documents by the government about the impact of a ‘no-deal’ Brexit, Wright said an issue that had been largely overlooked was the practicality of introducing new customs checks in time for March 2019.

In November last year, a Public Accounts Committee report warned HMRC was facing a “catastrophic” situation at ports such as Dover, because of delays to the introduction of a new Customs Declaration Service, which his being brought in to replace outdated IT at the UK’s borders.

Wright told the BBC the “clock was ticking” on the IT overhaul. He had no faith in the system being ready to cope with the expected huge volume in checks needed, he said.

“We heard all about customs checks an the new customs system,” said Wright. “There’s seven months to go before we introduce a massive new IT system and everybody knows that the government is absolutely useless at new IT systems.

“The idea that you can introduce a new IT system with new checks and new customs paraphernalia seven months before it’s supposed to go live is nonsense.”

Rod McKenzie, managing director of policy & public affairs at the Road Haulage Association, described the situation facing the customs system as a “terrifying prospect”.

“What we are talking about is queues in Kent the likes of which we’ve never seen before,” he said.

He added the government’s moves to get businesses to prepare for a no deal were “very much too little and very much too late”.

A report in June by the National Audit office said HMRC had made some progress, including establishing some contingency plans and that it had secured the £270m needed for the project - but warned there were still “significant challenges” to overcome.

The number of traders and suppliers declaring customs to HMRC at the border is expected to almost double, from 150,000 to 295,000, while the number of declarations could rise from 55 million to 255 million after Brexit, it said.

Wright’s warning comes a year after a report by the BRC warned of huge queues at Dover and other ports, with motorways being turned into car parks.

It said the cost of a single refrigerated lorry gathering dust at Dover was €500 a day but that four million trucks could be racking up these costs in a billion-pound customs bottleneck.