For UK exporters, post-Brexit border chaos arrives early

LONDON (AP) — For some British truckers, retailers and traders, a feared New Year's nightmare arrived early.

“French borders closed,“ signs on roads approaching the English Channel port of Dover flashed Monday, steering truck drivers away as traffic backed up. British supermarkets warned that supplies of fresh produce could run short within days.

Businesses have spent months worrying about disruption at Britain's borders when the U.K. makes a post-Brexit economic break from the European Union at the end of the year. Monday’s mayhem, however, was caused by the coronavirus.

Early tracking of a COVID-19 variant that scientists think may spread more easily plunged southern England into lockdown and over the weekend prompted countries around the world to halt flights from the U.K. France went further and shut its border for at least 48 hours from Sunday night, stopping people and cargo vehicles entering by air, road, sea or rail.

The move left the 6,000 trucks that cross from England to France each day on ferries from Dover or on trains through the Eurotunnel stuck, for now, in England.

Port of Dover Chief Executive Doug Bannister said that if the port was not reopened soon, there would be “quite a stark situation.”

“Because of the importance of the Dover straits in handling critical goods such as food and other things like that, I think it could become quite dramatic,” he said.

French Transport Minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari said a new “health protocol” to be introduced within hours should allow shipments from the U.K. to resume. British officials said they were conferring urgently with their European counterparts.

The delays were an early taste of what many businesses worry will happen on Jan. 1, when Britain leaves the EU’s economic structures,...