In profile: Richard Christian, Head of Policy and Communications, Port of Dover

“All of the roles I’ve held have been externally facing,” he said. “As I moved along in my career, generally everything came together into one overarching, externally facing role, which is what I have now.”

BALANCING PRIORITIES

Since 2017, Christian has been the Head of Policy and Communications for the port. Some might think that wearing these two hats would be quite a balancing act, but Christian sees the two key elements of his role as being mutually compatible.

“In many ways it blurs into one,” he said, “If you take, for example, the current Freeports policy that the government is proposing, that very much has a policy angle as well as a comms angle.

“Part of it is about setting out and using some of those policy hooks,” he said, “not only specifically to set out our approach to Freeports, but to set out our message about Dover’s importance to UK trade going forward, particularly as we are now at this key period post Brexit, and hopefully soon post COVID.”

GEOGRAPHY MATTERS

As the Brexit transition period draws to a close, Dover finds itself at the sharp end of the UK’s exit from the EU, being positioned just 21 short miles from the European Continent.

As you may expect given this unique geography, the Short Straits commands an enviable share of the market in goods traded between the UK and EU. In fact, if you combine the goods shipped through both the Port of Dover and the Eurotunnel, it enjoys an eye-watering 60% share of GB-Continental Europe trade. But it is also important for trade between the Republic of Ireland and the EU too.

“Roughly around a third of Irish exports heading into mainland Europe will come across the UK land bridge via Dover and the Short Straits into France,” Christian said, “It’s around 10.5 hours from Ireland to France via us, compared to about 37.5 if you went direct by sea from Dublin to Zeebrugge.”

COPIOUS CAPACITY

It’s not just its geographic location that makes the Port of Dover so popular as a ro-ro destination, it’s capacity too. At its peak it can handle up to 10,000 HGVs a day, which is about 110 miles’ worth of freight traffic, and processes each individual HGV in a matter of minutes.

“If you look at the in-bound processing time, it’s five minutes,” Christian explained, “That’s what really sets us apart from say the container ports or ports handling unaccompanied traffic – it doesn’t stop. There’s a minimal dwell time.

“We’re turning over our land space in the ferry terminal five or six times a day, whereas a container port might be turning over their land space once every five or six days. It’s a totally different model.”

A QUESTION OF TIME

Many of the goods shipped via Dover are extremely time sensitive, with just-in-time supply chains requiring the most efficient route to market. These include food, drink, pharmaceuticals, vehicle parts, electrical components and many other goods that the cross-Channel ports help ensure reach the shops and assembly lines at the right time. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been more vital then ever that the ports remain open and keep these essential supply chains moving.

“If you take automotive as one particular example,” Christian said, “We know that a lorry might have as small as a 30-minute window to reach its destination and make sure that the components are coming out of the back of the lorry onto the assembly line, ready for that particular car to be built.”

In many cases the components need to be delivered not “just-in-time” but “just-in-sequence” too, so that they are coming out of the lorry in the right order for the vehicles being put together on the assembly line.

BREXIT AT BRITAIN'S FRONTIER

Since the UK voted to leave the EU in 2016, Christian has increasingly found himself being called upon to explain to a national audience what the Port of Dover offers in terms of UK trade and UK trade resilience. As UK trade will need to continue to rely on Dover, he argues that whatever solutions are put in place will need to be implemented in a way that enables the port to continue to offer that resilience.

Given its strategic location, there is an understandable concern that the Short Straits could become a potential ‘pinch point’ for UK-EU trade on 1 January 2021. However, Christian maintains that while the Port of Dover’ will face the same EU border arrangements as all UK ports, the secret weapon in its armoury is its large capacity.

“What other ports won’t have is the capacity that we have at Dover,” he said. “If there is disruption, there will be disruption across the UK, but it’s how you respond to that disruption – that is the key.”

BUILT-IN RESILIENCE

Christian argues that the advantage that Dover has over other ports, is that if an HGV driver misses a ferry, there will always be another shortly after. “You’ve got that element of resilience built into the system, which you don’t necessarily have if you’re on the longer routes,” he said.

The port has recently had that resilience severely tested, during a 24-hour strike in Calais and a two-day national police security operation. Kent's tried and tested traffic management plans include Operation Stack, where lorries are queued along the M20, which came into force during the security operation.

“From the moment that was stood down,” Christian said, “there were 4,500 trucks queued on the motorway, and within 12 hours we’d cleared the lot.”

Christian argues that ferries often do five round trips a day at Dover, compared to just one or two round trips at other ports. It’s this capacity that enables the port to clear long queues of lorries quickly.

This confidence is heartening, given the fact that the end of the Brexit transition period is looming ever closer. “From a post-Brexit resilience perspective, Dover’s well placed to deal with any disruption that there might be,” Christian said, before carefully adding the caveat, “If there is disruption at Dover, it will be everywhere.”

PROVIDING REASSURANCE

With the end of the Brexit transition period fast approaching, Logistics UK is sponsoring a half-day online conference – Get Ready for Brexit – on 25 November, to help hauliers understand what they need to do to be ready to go from 1 January. Port of Dover is the main sponsor of this event, so what does Christian hope delegates will take away from the conference?

“Two things in particular,” he said. “One will be around the need for trader readiness." The other will be to reassure hauliers looking to continue sending goods between the UK and the EU, that Dover and the Short Straits is still a secure way to get their goods to where they need to get to.

2021 AND BEYOND

When the Brexit transition period ends on 1 January 2021, the hope and expectation from both government and industry is that the UK and EU will continue to trade smoothly, with minimal disruption to supply chains. How optimistic is Christian that UK-EU trade will continue to be frictionless?

“I think that we have to wait to see what the outcome of the negotiations are going to be,” he said carefully. “But having said that the government has certainly listened clearly and carefully to Dover’s requirements, so I think we will be as well placed as we possibly can be to keep trade moving.”

Christian maintains that the government has accepted that it won’t be able to conduct physical checks in the port because there is insufficient space to do so and is establishing various lorry sites across the UK.

“I think you’re seeing that clear acknowledgement that the system that is being introduced has to recognise that when the traffic turns up at Dover, it’s ready to go,” he said.

*www.doverport.co.uk
 

Published On: 15/10/2020 14:05:51

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