LONDON (Reuters) – Many Scottish fishermen have halted exports to European Union markets after post-Brexit bureaucracy added days to their delivery times and hundreds of pounds to their costs.
Fishing exporters have told Reuters their businesses could become unviable after the introduction of health certificates, customs declarations and other paperwork.
Business owners said they had tried to send small deliveries to France and Spain to test the new systems this week but it was taking 5 hours to secure a health certificate in Scotland, a document which is required to apply for other customs paperwork.
In the first working week after Brexit, one-day deliveries were taking three or more day – if they got through at all.
Several owners could not say for sure where their valuable cargo was. A trade group told fishermen to stop fishing exported stocks.
(Reporting by Kate Holton; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
