News / New German border controls could cost 'tens of millions' in delays, claim shippers

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Supply chain leaders are urging German regulators to rethink a pending expansion of stricter border controls from Monday (16 September) or face major disruption.

Permitting spot checks on anyone crossing any of Germany’s land borders for the next six months at least, the expansion is based on rules in place in Austria since 2014, before being subsequently extended to cover Switzerland, Poland, and Czech Republic last year.

Described by commentators as the “end of [border-free] Schengen area”, the decision only announced this week has received strong rebuke from supply chain operators.

Responding to the news, Dutch shippers and forwarders association, Evofenedex, said in a statement that “the introduction of border controls by Germany from 16 September has completely surprised the business community”.

“There is a risk of long waiting times that disrupt chains, and fresh products such as flowers arrive late,” it added.

Details were not publicised, but interior minister Nancy Faeser said the move would tackle “irregular migration and protect against acute dangers posed by Islamist terrorism and serious crime,” after a wave of knife attacks, the most recent in August, claimed by Islamic State.

Stressing that it “understands the measure in view of the unrest in Germany” Evofenedex said that a rethink was needed to ensure “a smarter system to disrupt chains as little as possible”.

With Belgium, Denmark, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands now covered by the spot checks, and with the crossing between the latter and Germany particularly busy, the shipper group’s policy advisor Geert van Eijk said: “Controls are guaranteed to cause a traffic infarction. Total control is not possible in our opinion.

“If that is not an option, we want to talk about setting up green lanes as happened with Covid. As a result, freight traffic could cross the border faster. That is the least bad solution in our opinion. Six months of border control will soon cost tens of millions in waiting time alone.”

While Islamist extremists were tagged as motivation for the change, it also follows German authorities intercepting several “unconventional incendiary devices” sent by freight services.

Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Federal Criminal Police Office wrote to logistics and transport providers following a DHL package catching fire at its Leipzig hub in July.

The package had been sent from the Baltics, triggering suspicions of Russian involvement, with authorities noting that it was not just DHL that had been impacted.

The German Constitution office warned that more parcels containing incendiary devices were expected – an attempt to “deliberately damage freight service companies and other logistics infrastructure in western countries”.