The operator of the Channel Tunnel has warned that the biometric phase of the European Union’s new border-check system for car passengers could slip past its September 6 deadline because the software supplied at the European level is not yet stable.
Getlink, which runs the Eurotunnel car-shuttle service, said the biometric component of the EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES) had still not been implemented for passenger vehicles. “There’s one issue that affects us all and for which there is no obvious immediate solution: the software provided by the European Union,” chief executive Yann Leriche told reporters. The EES, which records travelers’ biometrics as they cross the external Schengen border, became fully operational across the Schengen area in April, but its rollout has raised fears of travel disruption at peak periods among airlines and British authorities.
Getlink said it has invested 80 million euros preparing its terminals for the system, and Leriche argued the disruption has been overstated, with tunnel queues generally held to one or two hours against far longer waits reported at some airports. “All this bad press, especially from the British side, since 80 percent of our tourists are British, ultimately creates a negative impression, even though, in reality, the problems are largely manageable,” he said. The company nonetheless raised its full-year earnings guidance, to between 835 million and 870 million euros, assuming only limited disruption from the new checks.
The EES replaces manual passport stamping with a digital record of entries and exits that captures fingerprints and facial images from non-EU nationals, a shift that pushes biometric enrollment to the moment of crossing. The Channel Tunnel is a stress test because it funnels large volumes of car passengers through fixed terminals where every vehicle’s occupants must be processed, leaving little room to absorb software instability.
Getlink’s warning echoes a run of friction as the system comes online, from UK MPs warning of congestion at Dover as the Entry/Exit System faltered to a Greek airports chief calling for an overhaul of the biometric scheme. With the September deadline weeks away, the operator’s message is that the hardware and terminals are ready and the bottleneck is code.
Sources: Reuters
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By the ID Tech Editorial Team
