Brexit border-line issues: Would you want to still be 'testing' software designed to stop Kent becoming a massive lorry park come 31 December?
- Reference: 1599227153
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/09/04/brexit_export_import_sytem_late/
- Source link:
Whether or not the UK manages to strike a trade deal with the EU by 31 December – when the current business-as-usual transition arrangements come to an end – the thousands of freight vehicles crossing the border from the UK to the EU will require the correct documentation.
It is now almost second week of September. The system will need to work on one minute past midnight on January 1st
The Road Haulage Association and the Freight Transport Association, now Logistics UK, has written to the government detailing the risks if IT systems are not available for users' acceptance testing and training.
“We are concerned that mass user testing of the software will not be possible until October – or maybe even November: this is far too late for the thousands of companies and tens of thousands of people who build our complex supply chains to redesign their own processes and contractual relations before the Transition Period ends.
"This timeline brings Smart Freight
System, the new post-Brexit arrangement
onstream at the height of the Christmas peak – traditionally the busiest time of year for the logistics industry – the worst possible time for our members to test and train staff in new working practices,” said Sarah Laouadi, European policy manager at Logistics UK, in a statement.UK government marks 'at least' £115m for new Brexit systems against backdrop of chequered IT project history in customs and border control [1]READ MORE
“Even if the software is ready by the end of the year, the government’s plans ignore the users’ perspective – our members will need time to learn the new system, adopt it and help to iron out any potential issues in the system,” she added.
'Ambition' to build Smart Freight System only surfaced in July
In July, the government published the [2]Border Operating Model , which included its ambition to build a Smart Freight System. The document said heavy goods vehicle drivers will need documents for EU import requirements including customs or transit declarations and any other commodity-specific approvals. Included are Cabinet Office plans to build a web-based portal to allow drivers or freight company staff to key in details of the vehicle, load documentation and produce a decision on whether it is advisable to travel to the border.
Logistics UK policy manager Chris Yarsley told The Register the scheme was designed to avoid traffic congestion, particularly in the county of Kent, through which most of the freight passes, caused by trucks being held up at the border. [3]Kent is home to the port of Dover , the UK's main commercial/cargo hub from mainland Europe.
Yarsley told us he'd seen a walk-through of the web-based software via a Microsoft Teams meeting with the Cabinet Office, but freight companies had not been given the chance to try out a working version. “It is now almost [the] second week of September. The system will need to work on one minute past midnight on January 1st. We need to see a significant increase roll-out of testing; it will leave us very little time. It might be November before we see a public beta test.”
He said the system looked straight forward for a single driver carrying a single load, but many trucks carry multiple loads for different destinations, and could include hundreds of packages.
Yarsley said: “Who is going include those detail and how? Do you need a new entry for each package? What if
there are
breakdowns, as happens all the time, and the freight company needs to change it? What if the driver is ill or quarantined?”He said freight companies could put plans in place, but they needed answers to these questions to design their processes. “We can’t put those in place until we know what we are dealing with.”
'There are up to 10 new systems that haulage firms and freight forwarders will have to navigate from Jan 1...'
According to newswire [4]Bloomberg , a Cabinet Office memo detailed the risks of the number of new IT systems involved and in development that could create risks of border disruption when Brexit becomes real.
“There are up to 10 new systems that haulage firms and freight forwarders will have to navigate from Jan. 1, including at least three being designed now,” the memo reportedly said. “This is completely unnecessary and unmanageable with duplication and overlap.”
A UK government spokesperson said: "The Smart Freight app will be up and running for January 2021 to minimise any potential disruption and help to ensure that only vehicles carrying the correct documentation for Member State border controls travel to ports. We are currently working with businesses and the haulage sector to ensure that the web application is effective and simple to use.
"Extensive preparations and engagement with ports and local authorities on border arrangements are underway. We have also committed to spending £470m on new border infrastructure to support ports in building extra capacity to meet the new control requirements where there is space to do so, and, if necessary, to build additional inland sites across the country where checks can take place," the spokesperson added.
But observers could be wary of accepting the government's assurances over technology designed to managed UK border crossings. According to spending watchdog the National Audit Office (NAO), the government e-borders programme spent £830m before it was cancelled and the Home Office allocated another £275m to the successor programme, due to be completed in 2019. It was designed to improve the use of information to track people moving across UK.
IBM produced a system dubbed Semaphore in 2004, which was due to be replaced by the a Raytheon-build system until the vendor’s deal was cancelled in 2010.
The government has [5]said it plans to continue to use Semaphore after December 2020 and is considering options regarding any successor.
Today, the NAO warned
[6]PDF
of the complexity of “the interdependency of IT systems at the border; and the breadth and scale of the work required across the whole of government.”Tech to solve post-Brexit customs woes doesn't exist yet, peers say [7]READ MORE
“Preparations for EU Exit were taking place in a context where government already had a huge programme of work. We raised the need for realistic prioritisation about what could and could not be done with the resources available, particularly considering the capacity of expert functions across government and the ability of senior management to give all their projects the attention they needed,” the NAO said.
It also noted: "DExEU’s monitoring of work across government did not allow it to properly assess progress... and [it] did not have enough understanding of how missed or moved milestones would affect overall delivery.
It noted that the "instinct for secrecy" had hurt preparations and added that: "The centre of government made limited use of available tools to drive implementation." ®
Get our [8]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/13/uk_government_commits_at_least/
[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-border-operating-model
[3] https://www.google.com/maps/place/Kent,+UK/@51.1910404,-0.3783449,8z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x47d8a815e2b18297:0x9251e76476201559!8m2!3d51.2787075!4d0.5217254
[4] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-03/u-k-races-to-fix-critical-gaps-exposed-in-brexit-border-plan
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/13/uk_government_commits_at_least/
[6] https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Learning-for-government-from-EU-Exit-preparations.pdf
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2018/09/20/tech_post_brexit_customs_government/
[8] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Not a problem at all ...
Not really necessary. Behind the sofa is an almost unused world beating app. It managed to cross (almost) to the Isle of Wight so crossing the channel will be a pushover.
Maybe tweek the name to 'Track without Trace' it will alert all android equipped lorry drivers when they come with 5 metres of another lorry. Well two weeks down the the road or 10 metres along the M20 lorry park.
If you just keep the front end and dispatch all collected data to /dev/null then that should speed up comms and capacity and be about as much use as Chris Grayling.
Stockpile your popcorn
.. and whatever else you may want
Place your bets that there will be some hassles & it will all end in tears
Re: Stockpile your popcorn
Typical Marxist socialist libtard beta cuck NPC Remoaner talk, just wanting Brexit to fail to make the Leavers and Bojo look bad instead of reflecting the brilliant triumph of conservative dogma, the rigorous honesty of the Leave campaign, and the absolute unanimous and unchangeable will of the English people.
Re: Stockpile your popcorn
Two thoughts crossed my mind when reading this piece.
1) Government + It Project. Yes of course it will be alright on the night, we have the Minister's word for that.
2) Be careful what you wish for, it might come true. As far as the Brexit supporting faction in the country that is just about to hit them.
This mess is far too serious to say " I told you so" or getting out the popcorn, if we are able to get any of course. We will have to live with the consequences for many years to come. It may be that I will never see the UK rejoining the EU and that does nothing for my peace of mind or blood pressure.
Folks, the shit is about to hit the fan and I'm glad that being retired I am in some ways shielded from the effects but I do fear for the younger people.
It's not as if we have nothing else to worry about now, is it Minister?
Re: Stockpile your popcorn
Coronavirus has dealt them a get out of jail card. Whatever goes wrong can be blamed on that, not Brexit.
Re: Stockpile your popcorn
Including the lorry parks?
But it will be world-beating. You can be sure of that.
Oh yes
Nobody does IT cock-ups like the UK government. We will have the best, biggest, world-beating screw-up you can possibly imagine! In terms of "damage caused" (including, but certainly not limited to, the cost of the system) it will be the best of the best!
I am sure Boris will be on holiday when the $h1T hits the fan
Just like for the exam disaster, the glorious leader of little Britain will no doubt be on holiday when the rules change.
AC because of the 51.9%...
Re: I am sure Boris will be on holiday when the $h1T hits the fan
Good.
Maybe he'll get stuck out there and not allowed back in.
Re: I am sure Boris will be on holiday when the $h1T hits the fan
He won't be stuck across the channel - I guess his choice winter holiday destination would be a Castle in Perugia, or a villa in Mustique. Most probably the latter
Re: I am sure Boris will be on holiday when the $h1T hits the fan
Very likely but Perugia still counts as across the channel - and in the EU.
Re: I am sure Boris will be on holiday when the $h1T hits the fan
"But Boris Johnson said the UK was "ready for any eventuality" after the transition period."
[1]https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54021421
I do share Boris' optimism.
I do also believe in fairies*.
*Dido Harding will come riding her white charger to the rescue
[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54021421
Re: I am sure Boris will be on holiday when the $h1T hits the fan
"But Boris Johnson said the UK was "ready for any eventuality" after the transition period."
Spot the difference:
[1]Rowley Birkin QC
[2]Johnson talking Customs and logistics , his claims in that video about GB-NI trade were debunked in less than a day.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Cwyq3XWeHE
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7NFfUOJwDE
Re: I am sure Boris will be on holiday when the $h1T hits the fan
*Dido Harding will come riding her white charger to the rescue
My thoughts entirely, once she has fixed the track+trace app and all is going swimmingly, she can be moved across to work her magic on this project too. She has an excellent track record.
Re: I am sure Boris will be on holiday when the $h1T hits the fan
"Dido Harding will come riding her white charger to the rescue"
The lorries can all be parked up in a car park that doubles up as virus testing centre about 150 miles from Dover.
Testing? Are you having a larf?
They'll still be testing and adding more feature bloat/spread in January 2023 (if not 2024).
January will be a total disaster for the freight boys. The Kent Car park will be mirrored along the A26 in France. Ferries will sail with just a handfull of trucks on board because of the delays in getting anything rubber stamped. The French 'Gallic Shrug' will be much in evidence.
If you have anything due to be shipped in January or indeed anything due in 2022 then get it here before Christmas or it may not arrive at all without reams and reams and reams of paperwork (the IT system will crash at 00:01 or 01/01/22 and not come back for yonks) and an extra 10% Import Tax.
We as in the UK voted to walk over a cliff like lemmings. We are getting close to that time people. Will Nigel (mine's a pint) Farage be leading the way?
Where is he by the way? Has he escaped to some foreign bolt-hole to sit out the fiasco?
Just saying what I feel is going to happen. I didn't vote for BREXIT but our Governments since then have failed the UK as a nation to get a trade deal done with the EU. They are our biggest trading partner for heavens sake. Get a deal done Boris! The words Brewery and Piss up come to mind.
Re: Testing? Are you having a larf?
Just saying what I feel is going to happen. I didn't vote for BREXIT but our Governments since then have failed the UK as a nation to get a trade deal done with the EU. They are our biggest trading partner for heavens sake. Get a deal done Boris! The words Brewery and Piss up come to mind.
Sadly this broken software (let's not even pretend that untested software ever works) will be needed even with a deal. Even with a deal, unless the UK were to remain in the single market and customs union, which it is not, there will at the very least be rules of origin and sanitary/phyto-saniitary declarations left, right and centre.
Re: Testing? Are you having a larf?
needed even with a deal
Also, (parts of) it will be needed, even with a deal, for moving goods between GB and NI.
And most trade between the Irish Republic and Europe transits the UK to/from Channel ports.
But apart from that everything will be fine.
I wonder if Dom is planning to project pictures of the queues on to the walls of his [1]E-mission Control [Warning: Daily Mail] in 70 Whitehall?
[1] https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8688907/Dominic-Cummings-moves-senior-aides-new-Nasa-style-Whitehall-hub.html
Re: Testing? Are you having a larf?
The Irish have actually done their thinking, their planning, and their execution of their plans to bypass the UK over the last few years. The use of the UK as a "land bridge" to the Continent much reduced.
From March 2019:
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/brexit-buster-sister-ship-begins-sailings-to-mainland-europe-1.3842933
From May 2020:
https://theloadstar.com/port-of-cork-wins-new-transatlantic-deepsea-call-on-icl-service/
Re: Testing? Are you having a larf?
Get a deal done........
Sounds great in principle, however, in practice you will still need all of the systems, lorry parks, additional capacity etc. even with the proposed deal.
The FTA that Johnson is seeking will deal with some tariffs and quotas, but its not going to fix any of the non tariff barriers to trade, and its those babies which create the delays. Thats why Thatcher was a the architect of the single market, she understood trade friction and its associated costs, she also understood what freedom meant as well. The current bunch of eugenicists, racists and all round muppets (and thats just the SPADs) are not in her league.
And IT won't replace SPS checks until you can train a robot to shove its arm up a cows bottom!
Everyone I know in trade and logistics is personally stockpilling, that should tell you all you need to know.
Re: Testing? Are you having a larf?
Or ferries stuck in port because there's nowhere to disembark while waiting for customs
Re: Testing? Are you having a larf?
Or ferries stuck in port because there's nowhere to disembark while waiting for customs
No danger of that - the trucks would be booked with the ferry company with no ferries that the Department for Transport under Chris Grayling signed up.
Re: Testing? Are you having a larf?
"
Or ferries stuck in port because there's nowhere to disembark while waiting for customs
"
Ports, like airports, have large areas where passengers & vehicles can wait to clear customs after disembarking from the ferry. If they become full, then I suppose vehicles will be stopped from embarking at the other end.
Re: Testing? Are you having a larf?
Might be better to send freight on small rubber dinghies ...
we don't need to frikking deal
we'll show them Frenchies... our French friends, we WILL show them! Rule Britannia, rule the waves, cummings never shall be laid!!!
Re: we don't need to frikking deal
Having done a lot of sailing, I can confirm that Britania does not have a very straight ruler.
Shock
The bureaucracy that runs the country cant get organised, who is surprised?
So, road/sea based trade is basically fucked come 1st Jan?
Yep,and the rest of the country.
Indeed
Will be nightmare for exporters
In theory a disaster for imports too, unless UK gov basically tell customers to ignore paperwork and let stuff in .. but importers will still need enough paperwork to get out of the continental Europe ports, so depends how helpful EU states are (and they have no incentive to be helpful)
Yup it'll be an epic cluster-fuck car-crash train-wreck manifesting as a completely blocked border with no trade able to go in or out, with SE England and NE France a pair of gigantic truck parks.
Meanwhile, Bojo and Barnier dick about waiting to see who blinks first. Hint: no-one will blink first. They never do. This will go to the 11th hour when both sides will finally see sense and pull an agreement out of their collective arse. Which of course does nothing to help the little people dependent on being able to, you know, plan for stuff in advance.
Dipshits, both.
>Dipshits, both.
Personally I blame Barnier. He is a professional politician, he should have forseen that the UK government's response would have been a complete cluster fuck and so arranged a deal with himself and implemented the software for the UK.
If something like that doesn't appear in the opinion columns in the British right-wing comics in the second week of next year, I'll lie down in front of a bulldozer and eat my ID card.
exporting looks to be a popcorn scenario. anything goes so far as imports are concerned, for the first 6 months anyway.
Brexvid-19
Now at least you have a real reason to stockpile toilet paper...
Re: Brexvid-19
Time to stockpile tar and feathers. There'll be a need for them on Jan 1st.
I'm glad that we will get a new season of my favourite reality show. It's a bit difficult to follow the current game of chicken between the EU and the UK government, each holding onto the fishing rights/common standards and refusing to let go while the abyss beckons, but it is sure to end up in a grand finale in December, and if history is any judge, we will get a sequel next year.
Don't worry, I've just heard that it's all been outsourced to Seabourne Freight... it's on their website, just under their guarantee that your pizza will be delivered in 30min or it's free.
Don't forget the inevitable change freeze kicks in on 1 Dec
re: Change Freeze?
But which 1st Dec? My guess is 2022 at the earliest.
Err...
J Foreigner Road Transport is only going to drop one load at (eg) Swindon before getting stuck in a Kent lorry park for 2 days trying to get back out again. He ain't coming back with a second load.
Re: Err...
Fortunately we will know by at least 11:45 on Dec31 if he is even allowed to do that.
At the moment we don't know what the rules will be for Eu drivers in the UK.
Re: Err...
RE: "...Kent lorry park..."
Also known simply as Kent. They overwhelmingly voted to leave the EU so it's kharmic justice if they find themselves living in the midst of a gridlock. Of course, many other areas voted heavily for Brexit too, but they will have to suffer the same way as the rest of the country and have no food, drugs, jobs, etc. Being back in control...of not very much...will be well worth the pain. Of course, perhaps I'm just being a naying nelly and it will all turn out to be a new golden age, as they promised. Can't wait to see. It will be a nice diversion to what Trump will be doing in his second term. A new Dark Age! Glory! Glory! Lets put the Great back in Britain! I have my bunting ready!
Well, we can but hope that there's some sort of extension before then so we can get our shit together. But judging by how well our response has been to COVID, I will definitely be stock piling toilet paper from this weekend for the inevitable shit show that will unfold.
@wolfetone
"Well, we can but hope that there's some sort of extension before then so we can get our shit together"
We had that. Hell how many extensions are we at now?
Re: @wolfetone
There will be no extension.
However we reckon we could get a lean-to built by the end of 2021 if there are any old doors going spare on the allotment
How hard is it really?
DHL, UPS, Parcel Force, (FFS even) Amazon, can happily send, track and deliver across borders and continents (so taxes, tariffs, etc.) with relatively little friction. There's one working model you can copy. For another try the system the Scandinavians use. The lists of required documentation for each country is published by the countries (of blocs) online. So you have a rough outline of what you have to support already.
If it took a competent program team (of 5 or 6) more than a week to design the databases, cloud infrastructure ('cus it has to be cloud now!), web and AP design and programming API (for those people who want to interface with their existing warehousing systems) then I would be surprised. Then about a month to program and unit test, and then a month to beta test.
If they had started when they came back from Christmas then it would have been ready before lock-down.
However, this is government IT and their usual consultants have to get their snouts in the trough, (to the order of 100's of millions) and take many months to get nowhere.
It's not rocket science - I know, because that's part of my job!
Re: How hard is it really?
"DHL, UPS, Parcel Force, (FFS even) Amazon, can happily send, track and deliver across borders and continents (so taxes, tariffs, etc.) with relatively little friction."
So they can. The problem starts when you have to work out where they delivered it.
Your truckload of toilet paper might be no closer than the Goodwin Sands. Check the photo the drive took to prove it.
1. Yes it will be a cock up
2. Incompetent government is not in itself a rationale for staying in the EU
Not a problem at all ...
As all government ministers know: us IT people are magic, so a small amount of programmer pixie dust sprinkled on a vague agreement on 31 Dec will result in a well polished & documented system that can be tested against on 1st October. It might need a bit of help from the driver of that blue box in the BBC documentary.