Northern Ireland's supply could collapse, carriers warn

Northern Ireland's supply could collapse, carriers warn

The supply of Northern Ireland may "collapse" in a few days in connection with post-Brexit controls on goods flowing into the British province. The carriers quoted by the AFP agency announced this on Monday. Supermarkets have "significant difficulties" in supplying goods since Britain is not part of the European Union's single market, said John Martin, a representative of the Road Freight Association for Northern Ireland. "Some companies have decided to suspend supplies to Northern Ireland due to uncertainty or delays," Martin said. As a result of the new coronavirus pandemic, only 30 to 40 per cent of the usual quantities of goods go from Britain to Northern Ireland. Nevertheless, the customs authorities are not in a position to carry out all the necessary administrative tasks and customers in Northern Ireland complain on social networks about the lack of goods in shops. Sainsbury's sales network said last week that a "small number of products" were "temporarily unavailable" in Northern Ireland. A key part of the UK-EU post-Brexit agreement was the open borders between Northern Ireland and the EU Member State, Ireland. However, this means that goods from Britain may be subject to special controls in Northern Ireland if there is a risk that they may subsequently be transported to the EU across the said open borders. In November last year, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised Northern Irish businessmen that goods from Britain would not be subject to "no forms, no checks, no barriers," AFP recalls. The Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom, which has almost 1,250 pages, governs their economic relations from 1 January 2021. At the end of 2020, the transitional period during which Britain was part of the single market and the customs union ceased to apply.