When does EES start for Eurotunnel and how will it work?
We look at how lanes and pre-registration booths are being organised
Aerial view of Folkestone terminal including new EES pre-registration areas
Jacky Lannoy / Eurotunnel
How will new EU border changes affect you?
Connexion subscribers can read our help guide to the EES and Etias for free on the Subscriber Resources page here.
If you are not subscribed to the Connexion either click here to subscribe or click here to purchase the guide for €9.50.
The new EES digital border scheme is set to roll out at French borders from October 12, starting at certain crossing points from that date and gradually increasing to all over six months.
The first ‘Schengen area crossing point’ to confirm to The Connexion it is starting at the earliest possible date was the Port of Dover. Getlink, the company which runs Eurotunnel, has now also confirmed it will start from October 12.
A spokeswoman said it will begin registering coach passengers from this date as well as commercial (freight) traffic.
“Passenger vehicles will follow a few weeks later, with the exact date to be confirmed by the French authorities,” she added.
France's Schengen border crossing points include some 70 airports, 30 ports and half a dozen stations, including the French check points at Dover port for ferry passengers; at London St Pancras for Eurostar and near Folkestone for Eurotunnel.
Non-EU/non-EEA/non-Swiss nationals visiting Schengen for less than three months visa-free (or on short-stay Schengen visas for some nationals) will have to register in EES.
What is planned by Eurotunnel
Eurotunnel (a subsidiary of French company Getlink) runs the LeShuttle service, which offers Folkestone to Calais trips in 35 minutes.
Cars or coaches board its trains for transport through the Channel Tunnel to and from France.
Getlink reports being confident it will offer a “seamless” experience for passengers, due to 224 EES pre-registration kiosks it has installed, where passengers will be able to input their own passport data, answer short travel questions and have a facial image and right-hand fingerprints taken.
This should mean they can pass quickly through the border afterwards.
Getlink says these systems are designed to process up to 2,000 passengers / 700 vehicles per hour.
It reports also having installed an “intelligent lane allocation system” that will work alongside questions that Eurotunnel asks passengers when booking.
On arrival at check-in a vehicle’s number plate will be read by a camera and the vehicle will then be guided to the correct lane, depending on the status of the occupants.
Those needing to register in EES will be directed towards new covered pre-registration zones where the vehicle can park up in a bay so occupants can get out to use a kiosk.
