New inland border facilities

As part of their preparation for the UK’s new EU trading relationship the government committed to build new inland border facilities, to carry out customs compliance, transit, and Sanitary and Phytosanitary checks, including one facility opened beside Metro’s midland freight hub. 

Seven inland border facilities have been operational from the 31st December 2020, so that customs and document checks can be effected by HMRC, the Department for Transport (DfT) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) away from port locations.

The locating of one of these critical inland customs facilities alongside our Birmingham air freight facility and just minutes from our UK headquarters, provides Metro customers with unique access to a critical resource for inbound and outbound European movements.

New rules, that came into force on the 1st January, require additional customs and transit checks and with restricted space at ports for new border infrastructure, the Government  sought approval to build new inland border facilities where inbound checks and other activities will take place.

The facilities will act as a Government office of departure and destination, where hauliers can start and end journeys when moving goods, under the Common Transit Convention with Transit accompanying documents (TAD). 

They can also be used for Admission Temporaire or Temporary Admission (ATA) Carnets, Transport International Routiers (TIR) Carnets and Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) checks

Lorries and their drivers should be “custom-ready” before entering these sites and those who haven’t completed the “Check an HGV” service’s questionnaire or haven’t received a green or amber light from the service may not be allowed entry, with checks expected to take up to two hours.

The inland border facilities are located at:

• Ashford – Savington
• Ashford – Waterbrook
• Birmingham
• Ebbsfleet
• Manston
• North Weald
• Warrington

Metro European transport solutions include road, short-sea and intermodal, providing the most appropriate mode or mix of modes to support our customers’ domestic, European and international supply chains.