It’s February already! In fact this month has three special days that mark the passing of time. Most importantly for us, 10th February is the 1st anniversary of Harbour Shipping starting in our new HQ in Dover. St Valentine’s Day on 14th February of course is important for romantics everywhere! Then on 17th February the Chinese calendar marks the new Year of the Fire Horse. As your newsletter editor was born in the last Fire Horse year, he’s hoping for good things in the year ahead!

This month we start with a great overview of the year ahead for European roads, tunnels and tolls from Samantha Barrie. We have a detailed look at ATA Carnets, your versatile friend for so many types of international freight movements. When will the French finally introduce the ELO? Finally in our Harbour Lights series we celebrate legendary shift supervisor Ray Hunter’s 22 years with Harbour Shipping. In this edition we cover:

• Samantha Barrie looks ahead to 2026.
• ATA Carnets – unlock the power
• Is ELO still coming?
• Ray Hunter – 22 years and his sense of humour is as sharp as it ever was!

European Tunnels and Tolls in 2026

Did you know Harbour Shipping has a specialist team to help our clients with tunnels and tolls on journey throughout Europe? Samantha Barrie has recently become manager of this well-established team after working for many years with Michael Ford. We asked her to look ahead to 2026 for insight on what’s likely to affect freight traffic in Europe this year. Samantha says:

First, I’m looking forward to 2026, alongside my colleague Olly Cope, and helping my clients and my sea freight colleagues get the best value and smoothest journeys. My job really gives me an overview of Europe, from Portugal to Poland so, over the years, I’ve developed an encyclopaedic knowledge of European toll systems, tunnels, bridges and the technology available, which is constantly evolving. I could go into a lot of details but space is limited so I’ll just give you the headlines here.

First on the technology side of things. We look to help our clients for their whole journey end-to-end and we look Europe-wide. So the Lumesia1 system is really important already in 10 countries and it will continue to grow in 2026. On the other hand ProntoSat is gradually being phased out. For example, Switzerland has already started phasing out ProntoSat in 2026 while The Netherlands will introduce Lumesia1 in a few months’ time. So if you don’t do anything else in 2026, contact us to ensure you’ve got the most suitable On-Board Unit for your journey!

We get travel advice months in advance from road authorities and we obviously keep a sharp eye on planned and unplanned closures throughout Europe, such as last year’s Mont Blanc closure. Our mission is to help our clients with diversions and alternative routes and we’ve done that successfully for the recent Alpine tunnel closures. Also, I can almost guarantee some routes will have weather disruption this year, particularly through snow or floods, so we can help with alternatives when that happens too.

As well as Europe-wide and country-wide systems, we also understand specific locations and the toll-passes associated with them. So that’s the Liber-T badge in France, the Alpine Card and many more across Europe.

If you have any questions you can contact me at my Dover office: Samantha Barrie (European Tunnels & Tolls Manager): ?? [email protected] | ?? +44 (0) 1304 20091

Unlock the power of ATA Carnets

First, what is an ATA Carnet? An ATA Carnet (short for Admission Temporaire/Temporary Admission) is a customs document that allows you to temporarily export and import goods without paying:

• Customs duties
• VAT
• Other taxes or guarantees

It's essentially a passport for goods, valid for up to 12 months and accepted in over 80 countries, including the UK, EU member states, USA, Canada, Australia, China and many others.

When Can You Use It? An ATA Carnet has some specific uses:

1. Exhibitions and Fairs (trade shows, conferences, galleries, cultural or business events)
2. Professional Equipment for work purposes (cameras, instruments, tools, technology, etc)
3. Commercial Samples (items used to demonstrate but not for sale such as fashion samples and prototypes)
4. When the items are your own property and especially tools of the trade.
5. Please note, however, you cannot use it for goods for sale, consumables or perishable items.

If you are moving tools, exhibition stands, or race cars or even horses, an ATA Carnet isn't optional. It’s a passport for your goods. Without one, you risk paying full import duty on kit that is coming straight back home.

Harbour Shipping has official accreditation

At Harbour Shipping we work in conjunction with British Chambers of Commerce to create new Carnets as well as to renew existing ones. If you have annual Carnets now might be the time for you to look into your renewals. We are already helping a wide range of customers get them in place for 2026.

For more information contact our Customs Manager George Bowen:

?? [email protected] | Telephone Line* ?? +44 (0)1304 200907

Is ELO still coming?

The short answer is yes! Since our last update in January when France introduced ICS2, French authorities are maintaining the deadline that the ELO (Obligatory Logistics Envelope) will be brought into effect in Quarter 1 2026, so by 31st March at the latest. The ELO is similar to a British GMR and without one your truck won't be able to enter or leave France. Don’t risk getting stuck. Contact our Customs Clearance Team for more information on ELO and ICS2.

Harbour Lights:

Ray Hunter – Humour undimmed after 22 years.

It’s hard to believe this is already 2 years ago! In January 2024 we were privileged to celebrate the 20-year anniversary of a very popular colleague. So last month in January 2026 we celebrated 22 years.

Ray Hunter began work at Harbour Shipping in January 2004. He's senior of the four shift supervisors in the Customs Clearance team and mainstay of our 24/7 operation. It hardly needs saying he is an expert in his field.

In addition to his dedication, Ray is well-known for his wit and sense of humour that draws from a deep knowledge of British and American comedians. That’s a bonus when leading shifts and solving problems in the middle of dark nights and holiday weekends when the buck stops with him. He has instilled a relaxed discipline and a sense of team spirit into many of the younger members of shift he has worked with over the years, some of whom are now very senior.

When we celebrated Ray’s 20th anniversary two years ago, Star Cargo chairman Mr John James presented Ray with an engraved fine-quality watch during a presentation at our old Lord Warden House office. Thanking him for his service, Mr James said, “I’m very proud that over the years we’ve celebrated long-service for so many people at Harbour Shipping. In fact these today bring us to nearly 40 watches we’ve presented for 20 years’ service.”

We all wish Ray many happy years ahead and look forward to many more jokes and practical jokes…

Editor for Harbour Shipping: Gary Goldfinch

We're happy to acknowledge that the text and artwork for this newsletter was produced with the help of Shane Gurney at Sentily

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