U.K. port snarl-ups would be exacerbated in a no-deal Brexit, shipping giant Hapag-Lloyd AG warned as vital ferry links to France remained closed for a second day amid concern about a new coronavirus strain.

While Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government is desperately trying to re-open the key truck-ferry route between France and Dover, the No. 1 entryway for sea containers at Felixstowe, east of London, is itself badly congested. That situation will likely worsen without a trade accord with the European Union by a Dec. 31 deadline, according to Hapag-Lloyd.

“If there’s a no-deal Brexit there is going to be additional congestion and administrative troubles for the upcoming couple of months,” Rolf Habben Jansen, the firm’s chief executive officer, told Bloomberg TV. “Not so much because it’s a no-deal Brexit, but mainly because there’s a lot of unclarity about the rules that will then be in place.”

Dover Talks

Richard Ballantyne, who heads the British Ports Association, said in a separate interview that he’s hopeful that Dover, the country’s busiest vehicle port, can be reopened to trucks. This could occur through an agreement to exempt freight drivers from the travel ban, possibly combined with testing for Covid-19 at the border, he said.

“We would expect some kind of move from the French,” Ballantyne said. “It’s probably going to be a reinstatement of the exemptions for key workers such as freight drivers.” Rapid coronavirus testing for drivers has been discussed, he added, though might not be easy from an operational standpoint.

The situation might become clearer following further meetings of European officials, according to Ballantyne, who argued that the nature of trucking means it’s unlikely to spread the new viral strain.

“Lorry drivers particularly are low risk,” he said. “They spend a lot of time in their cab. They are not mixing with the general population in the U.K. They are just coming in, dropping their goods off and going back to Europe.”

Container Shipments

Hapag’s Jansen said the extent of potential Brexit disruption is difficult to gauge, given that most containers are shipped from distant locations in Asia rather than on ships from Europe.

Shipping firms have struggled to cope with rampant demand as companies restock following lockdowns at a time when empty boxes are piled in the wrong places and trucking capacity is stretched.

Container rates will remain strong at least for the first quarter, he said, adding while he expected some easing of the market going into the second quarter, visibility that far out is low.