Portsmouth City Council set to appoint its firm Portico to run new border control point in city

Portsmouth City Council' s cabinet will be asked to approve a five-year agreement for the council-owned firm to run it from the start of next year.

A report by the port's director has warned that not doing so could have 'a major detrimental impact'.

'Due to the uncertainty over the level of provision required, the need to access the border control post through Portico's leased site, the variety of services required and the relatively short timescale, the port wishes to award the contract to Portico Shipping,' Mike Sellers said.

'Should this contract not be awarded to Portico Shipping, there is a probability that no service provider in time for the border control post to be operational, which would result in a loss of freight traffic.

'In turn, this could also affect passenger figures as some sailings would cease due to it no longer being cost effective for ferry operators.'

The border control facility has already been built ahead of the introduction of post-Brexit checks on plant animal products from January 1.

Mr Sellers said it was a 'difficult' contract to award because of the lack of information about the volume of goods arriving but he said Portico Shipping – which was formally known as MMD – had 'experience' in dealing with similar issues at the port.

His report will be considered by councillors at Tuesday's cabinet meeting.