Work has begun at the Calais Eurotunnel exit for a new border inspection post for horses and other large animals as part of a £20m no-deal contingency plan.

Controls are also being prepared at the nearby port of Boulogne to cater for the 200,000 tonnes of fish the UK exports through France.

The plans are part of Brexit preparations launched by the French prime minister, Édouard Philippe, in Calais on Friday, in response to more than a year’s campaigning by the region’s president, Xavier Bertrand.

Digging has already begun at Coquelles, the site of the Eurotunnel exit, with funds contributed by its parent company, Getlink.

Ici, le 30 mars, il y aura un poste de contrôle douanier et vétérinaire en sortie de tunnel sous la manche. « C’est tendu, mais on est motivé » affirme Jacques Gounon, pdg d’eurotunnel. pic.twitter.com/kMBnv6neQc — Sébastien Leroy⭐️⭐️ (@lecontempteur) January 18, 2019

Under EU rules, animals, fresh food and agri-feed from Britain will be classified as being from a “third country” post Brexit, with checks for disease, traceability, rules of origin and welfare mandatory on the French side.

And although work has yet to start, land for a temporary border inspection post involving customs and sanitary checks has been commandeered at the Transmark fuel stop in Calais off the A16, the main artery between the town and Dunkirk.

Planning for border operations on the British side of the Channel is less advanced because of the continuing uncertainty over the possibility of no deal.

Philippe greets customs and police officers at the Eurotunnel in Calais. Photograph: Denis Charlet/AFP/Getty Images

The UK transport secretary, Chris Grayling, has also declared that there would be no border checks at Dover when Britain leaves the EU in March, calling controls “utterly unrealistic”.

However, the French believe this is not a sustainable position in the long term and are anticipating that checks could be needed eventually by Britain, but because of land limitations in Dover and Kent these may have to be done in Calais.

“We are planning not just for day one but day 30, day 90,” said a spokesman for Bertrand.

With the haulage industry dominated by eastern European companies, Bertrand also expressed concern that if Britain crashes out of the EU, there should be a plan to communicate to drivers who do not speak English or French.

“To protect the SME/VSE sector and tourism and avoid congestion in the ports and tunnel, we must urgently conduct an information campaign [aimed at] logistics professionals from across Europe on new customs rules if there is no agreement,” he said in a tweet.

Some British lorry drivers who frequently use the Calais-Dover route told the Guardian they were unconcerned about checks.

Truck drivers Dominic Salvatori, Jon Slack and Simon Wilkinson on the ferry back to England from Calais. Photo Sean Smith Photograph: Sean Smith/The Guardian

“I do wine imports and all imports need documentation at the moment so that they can transit from France to a bonded warehouse in Britain,” said driver Dominic Salvatori.

“I’m not overly worried because I think the tariff system would be very heavily based on sender/receiver honesty and coming down hard on lack of compliance,” he said.

If there isn’t smuggling of dodgy or dangerous goods on a large scale now, why would there be post-Brexit, is the logic of Salvatori and one of his fellow drivers, Jon Slack.

“Everything we carry has barcodes, is scanned and tracked,” said Slack, who takes medical equipment such as scalpels, scrapers and cutters from Sheffield to Aix-en-Provence.

“The load on the way back may come from Spain or somewhere, but there is GPS on the lorries and a lot of companies are informed when their load goes on the lorry. All these people are doom-mongering about delays in Dover,” said Slack.