Border post moves to twenty four hour clearing
Hauliers say the queue was the whole problem.
The main southern border post will clear freight around the clock from the first of next month, the transport ministry announced on Wednesday.
Until now, commercial clearing closed at ten at night, and trucks that missed the window waited on the roadside until morning. Hauliers say the overnight queue regularly stretched past eight kilometres.
What changes at the post
The revenue authority will add a night shift of clearing officers, and the agriculture and health inspectors who check some cargo will work a rota so that at least one of each is on duty at all times.
Pre clearance, where paperwork is lodged online before the truck arrives, will become the default for regular carriers. Those who pre clear will use a separate lane.
The haulage association said the queue, not the paperwork, had been the whole problem, and that a working night shift could cut a day from the average trip to the coast.