Extra ferries, Ramsgate and lorries at Manston are all just panic reactions by the Government (at our expense) wanting to show it is doing something.
It has been reported that the proposed additional ferry capacity, even assuming that the non existent Ramsgate vessels actually materialise, will amount to just 10% of the traffic through Dover so they will make very little difference.
Moreover, those hauliers who divert to the alternative ports will be faced with driving perhaps a hundred miles or more out of their normal way to board a ferry that is likely to take three times or more longer to cross the channel miles away from Calais so their delay from source to destination compared with present journey times will be many hours at the very least in which case they might be better simply bunking up on the M20 and saving fuel.
Almost certainly what will happen initially is that the lorries which are normally effectively ‘waved through’ will continue to be so until such time as updated systems for dealing with customs checks can be brought into force. This must have been obvious immediately the Brexit vote took place but the Government have done nothing to address the issue and have now run out of time if we do in fact leave at the end of March (Article 50 may of course be extended)
Checks for illegal migrants occur anyway on all traffic so the situation will not change in that respect.There will only be problems if people on either side of the Channel actually make them happen! So it is likely that the whole thing will be a total bodge as one might expect from politicians who make or abstain from decisions with no idea of the practical effects.
The Law of Unintended Consequences is having a field day! I think the dredger at Ramsgate sums it up nicely. ‘If you are in a hole the best thing is to STOP digging’
Colin