This week is the anniversary of TV crews and reporters descending on Dover to film reports from Harbour Shipping.

As politicians interminably wrangled the politics and finer details of the UK leaving the European Union fears of a ‘no deal’ exit mounted. Leaving the EU without a deal would have caused massive disruption and overwhelmed the capabilities of the Port of Dover according to expert opinion and would have been ‘apocalyptic’ according to Star Cargo Chairman Mr John James.

News crews and journalists from BBC and Channel 4 sought out professional industry voices to inform the debate across the news channels. Naturally senior managers and directors of Harbour Shipping were approached – as Dover’s largest customs firm - to give their expert opinions on the practical real-world implications of the different policies then being discussed.  

Chairman Mr John James and Harbour Shipping Director Mr Steve Applebee led the way in the TV news packages filmed by BBC and Channel 4 crews. Steve Applebee remembers,

“This was a crucial time and we were having regular meetings that year with senior politicians at the Cabinet Office in Westminster where we made our views clear to them from the sharp-end of the industry and our decades of practical experience. Filming the TV packages was a challenge of course but it was important we put our views to the public as well as the politicians.”

The experience is remembered vividly by colleagues from Harbour Shipping’s teams at both the Eastern and Western Docks, with interviews conducted at our office in Lord Warden House.

To view the full Channel 4 TV report please follow this link: https://www.channel4.com/news/largest-dover-customs-firm-says-no-deal-could-create-armageddon-for-uk