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Large sections of the M180 motorway could be closed and used as a giant holding area for lorries bound for Europe after Brexit.

Other sites, including Scunthorpe United’s football ground Glanford Park, could also be used to keep lorries until they can board ships.

The plans are being put in place by emergency planners representing four local authorities, should the ‘worst case’ Brexit scenario materialise.

Most of the M180 has been identified, as have two separate stretches of the M62 heading for Hull, for lorry parks to ensure ports at Immingham, Grimsby and Hull continue to operate uncongested if a potential ‘no deal’ Brexit spark delays for North Sea crossings.

It is phase three of ‘Operation Wellington’, brought forward to keep people and supplies flowing in and around the vital quaysides.

Alan Bravey, the area’s emergency planning manager, briefed freight handlers at a special event hosted by DFDS – the largest roll-on roll-off operator at Immingham, the nation’s largest port.

(Image: MDM)

He acts as secretariat to the Humber Local Resilience Forum, the multi-agency crisis team.

Stating the move which would have a severe impact on travel times for thousands of motorists and the communities around the diversions was a highly unlikely scenario, Mr Bravey said: “National planning models and Department for Transport analysis suggests it is unlikely there will be disruption, based on driver readiness – people being reasonably prepared for customs when arriving at terminals. But we plan for the worst and hope for the best case, and we have traffic management in place.

“If we have ferries delayed on the continent, that means subsequent delays for the UK. Phase one is to get the message out, for drivers to stay at the point of origin or at truck stops, and that’s really important. If we get that communication out rapidly and people can respond and adapt we should be able to avoid any queuing at the port gates. We do not want people arriving for ferries who are not going to be sailing for 16 hours.”

Phase two would see strategically located car parks used for HGV holding “a relief valve for people to go somewhere if we face congestion around the ports,” Mr Bravey said, with the huge Walton Street facility in Hull – home to Hull Fair – capable of accommodating 350 vehicles alongside Scunthorpe United’s Glanford Park (75) and parking at the Humber Bridge (35) in Hessle.

(Image: David Haber/scunthorpelive)

Ahead of any implementation, port and ferry operators would file twice daily reports, with a daily feed into government too, as areas are monitored.

“There’s absolutely no suggestion at all it will be necessary to go to phase three,” Mr Bravey added. “With phase three, if we really, really need to, we have got the option to stack vehicles on the motorway, but in a different way than to Kent. This is planning for the worst situation, there is no indication we need to do it, but if we have to do it we have plans in place.”

It comes after Andrew Byrne, managing director of DFDS Seaways UK, told how the rush to get goods across via Immingham ahead of the initial March 31 deadline would have seen the operation triggered.

“Immingham is of huge strategic importance,” he said. “It is not a DFDS challenge, it is a port challenge, a Humber challenge and an industry challenge.”

(Image: Rick Byrne / GrimsbyLive)

A total of 750,000 units moved through Immingham last year, one every 40 seconds.

“We have five destinations, 35 sailings a week it has to work. The goods on the shelves we buy every day come through Immingham. It is a very slick just in time operation. It is not Dover with cars and caravans, but just as important to the economy. It is a well oiled machine.”

Spanning 175 acres, DFDS operates 2,700 trailer bays, but these are all turned round within 48 hours. “Our constraint is speed. Goods are moved in a finely honed just in time operation,” Mr Byrne stressed, highlighting the impact delays could have before sessions explaining the technical aspects were held.

“The speed of terminal operations is key. If we see things slowing down we will back up fairly quickly. You only have to go back one kilometre and it is the same access and egress as Killingholme (another roll-on roll-off Europe-trading port). It will bottleneck and become a problem. We are trying to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.”

(Image: Richard Addison)

Should Operation Wellington be required, phase three would see a single lane option for the three-lane carriageways initially, moving up to full closure with Highways England diversions for non-port traffic and staffed filters for abnormal, dangerous and livestock loads. Two lanes would hold traffic, with a relief lane for emergency services and welfare.

For South Humber Bank traffic it would mean travelling through Scunthorpe along the A18, from Junction Two to Junction Four of the M180, with Market Weighton the diversion for the element nearest to Hull, from Junction 37 of the M62 at Howden to the A63 at North Cave. Further west, it is earmarked between Junction 33 (A1/A162) and Junction 35 (M18).

Concerns raised at DFDS event

(Image: GrimsbyLive)

How the Dutch and Belgian authorities handle a new relationship with the UK and the ability to stay on plan are the Halloween fears harboured by ABP’s Humber ports director Simon Bird, should it be no deal.

The cluster handles 16 per cent of the UK’s entire trade, and has just tapped into nearly £1.5 million of emergency funding from government coffers.

It will be used to create extra holding space for trucks at the ports of Immingham and Hull.

Should it be no deal come October 31, Mr Bird said ABP will have a dedicated website with rolling information and 24-hour support for port users.

“It all sounds really very good,” he said of the plans. “My fear is that when it clogs up, at whatever time of the day, plans go out of the window and we have to be fleet of foot and manage it. Unless you are a card-carrying police officer you can’t move traffic on the outside of the port estates. If we get one glitch it will back up pretty quickly.”

(Image: GrimsbyLive)

Highlighting the importance of the work around lorry parks and motorways in Operation Wellington, Mr Bird told how cargoes included fuel and energy supplies coming in to keep the country’s lights on and vehicles and machinery moving.

He said: “We have 120 pilots on the Humber moving vessels in and out. If we can’t get these guys to the launch boats or cannot get them back from Goole and Grimsby, these vessels won’t move. The larger vessels bring oil in to the refineries, if we cannot get pilots back because roads are blocked, those vessels won’t dock.

“Having the port jammed with trucks is something we’re not going to allow, equally having trucks going out of the east and west gate interfering with traffic, and the two refineries, well the police won’t let that happen either. It is really important we have some ability to manage this.”

A total of £1.42 million was secured to surface additional land, with £760,000 to be spent on the Eastern Rail Area by King George Dock on the North Bank and £660,000 on the former Hargreaves facility close to the eastern entrance to Immingham.

Mr Bird revealed it was signed off last week, “the fastest approval I have ever had from government giving us money, and long may it continue”, adding: “This government is desperate not to have massive clogs in major ports, regardless of the outcome of Brexit.”

Government created a £10 million pot for Port Infrastructure Resilience and Connectivity, part of a £30 million kitty that includes the local resilience forums and longer term projects.

(Image: GrimsbyLive)

Speaking at the DFDS event, ahead of an ABP awareness day next week, Mr Bird told how his senior team were in fortnightly meetings with Whitehall officials, and had been for three years.

He said: “The government has said it wants to get a deal, and that’s great, but in the absence of a deal we don’t have any clarity and need to plan for the worst. What we hear is cargo coming into the UK is not going to have any more burdens in terms of checking, and in most cases customs duty and clearance will be done away from the port. That’s great news that cargo can be moved away. It is the other way that concerns us, the linkage to Dutch and Belgian ports, and what the administration they bring in to the port will do to cargo back here. “Until the politicians conclude what they are going to conclude we don’t know and that’s what this trade resilience is all about.

“We need clarity. We are all logistics professionals and experts, and once we understand what the law is we will accommodate the law in our operations. With the lack of clarity we can only plan for the worst.”