The new £40 million passport control facility at the Port of Dover, designed to speed up biometric checks for non-EU travelers, is unlikely to open in time for the busy summer holiday period due to delays attributed to French authorities. While the port has completed the border processing centre for car passengers, French police have reportedly not yet activated the European Union’s Entry/Exit System (EES) kiosks essential for processing fingerprint and facial recognition data.
Doug Bannister, managing director of the Port of Dover, stated that the port had taken all necessary steps to prepare for the EES, which has been mandatory since April 10 for non-EU citizens entering the bloc’s Schengen area. However, he acknowledged that the system’s full deployment at the port “most probably” would not be ready for the summer season. The processing centre, constructed on reclaimed land, has capacity for 600 vehicles and includes 84 biometric kiosks.
The delay raises concerns about significant queueing at the border during peak travel periods, particularly as the port expects daily traffic of 11,000 to 13,000 cars throughout the summer, up from around 8,000 during the May half-term holiday, when the port faced considerable congestion. During that period, the port had to suspend partial EES profile processing, which excludes biometric data, to manage backlog issues.
The ongoing problems appear linked to software malfunctions within the EES kiosks, which remain offline not only at Dover but also at the Eurotunnel terminal in Folkestone. The port is collaborating with UK and French authorities to ensure smoother operations ahead of the holiday influx, but Bannister noted there is “no certain outlook” as to when full functionality will be restored.
The EU confirmed that the EES system is operating effectively overall, with exceptional cases managed through legally established fallback measures, according to an EU spokesperson. However, criticism persists from industry groups: Stefan Schulte, head of ACI Europe—the trade association for European airports—described the system as problematic and urged policymakers to acknowledge its shortcomings. He warned of serious difficulties in managing passenger flows in the coming weeks.
Plans initiated by Greece, Portugal, and Italy to exempt British travelers from the EES requirements during the summer were rejected by the EU, underscoring the union’s commitment to full implementation of biometric controls for all non-EU arrivals.
The situation highlights ongoing challenges in rolling out new border control technologies amid increasing travel demand, with potential implications for cross-Channel ferry and tunnel services during a critical holiday season.