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  3. The collapse of Britain’s trade with the EU will continue into the summer after the failure to recruit up to 30,000 customs agen

The collapse of Britain’s trade with the EU will continue into the summer after the failure to recruit up to 30,000 customs agen

admin2022-11-16  79
问题     The collapse of Britain’s trade with the EU will continue into the summer after the failure to recruit up to 30,000 customs agents, despite government assurances that normal service has resumed, industry groups have warned.
    Businesses reported that a lack of customs agents meant they were unable to respond to orders from customers based in the EU or found their goods were returned at huge cost.
    The Cabinet Office minister, Michael Gove, has answered critics of the UK’s failure to prepare for border checks by delaying a previously agreed timetable for imports. Under a new scheme, controls on animal product imports will be pushed back from April until October and checks on most other goods will only take place at UK ports from next January.
    But Brussels has insisted that UK exporters comply with EU rules on imports, forcing many British firms to find a customs agent to certify that animal products are safe to enter the EU. Richard Burnett, chief executive of the Road Haulage Association, said the deluge of exporters needing help to fill in paperwork meant customs agents were turning business away. He said: "The delay to import checks is welcome but not a universal fix—we cannot be confident that operators will even be ready on 1 October. The number of skilled customs agents in place across the EU to complete the relevant documentation still falls far short of what is needed."
    Richard Ballantyne, head of the British Ports Association, said most ports had seen a recovery in shipments over recent weeks, although the delay to import checks had "put off a problem rather than resolved it".
    Rod McKenzie, the RHA head of public affairs, said that with 40％ of containers travelling to the EU without goods, shipment numbers failed to show the full impact of new Brexit-related red tape at UK borders. He said the recruitment of customs agents needed to rise by around 30,000 to nearer 50,000 to cope with the extra regulations. He added that delays and loss of exports would continue until more customs agents were trained, leading to delays until at least the summer.
    Small and medium businesses are likely to be hardest hit by the dearth of agents that play a crucial role in handling the mountain of new paperwork being imposed on firms that wish to continue trading in Europe.
    Alex Altmann, who is a chair of the British Chamber of Commerce in Germany, said the pay of customs agents was low and meant recruitment was difficult. He added: "Extending the customs easements at the UK border until the end of 2021 is a confession by the government that the border operating model is not working. Imports from the EU are still more than 30％ down compared to last year and businesses struggle to deal with the new red tape."
    Some economists have forecast that delays at UK borders will drag on growth for at least the rest of the year while the Treasury’s official economic forecaster, the Office for Budget Responsibility, has said the thin Brexit deal signed on Christmas Eve would knock 4 percentage points off UK growth over the longer term.
    A. there is a huge demand for skilled customs agents to help exporters to fill in paperwork.
    B. the earnings for customs agents were low, which posed a recruitment challenge.
    C. the number of customs agents needed to increase was 30,000 to 50,000.
    D. exports tumbled by 41％ as thousands of trucks failed to gain entry to the EU.
    E. the critics of the UK’s inadequate preparation for extensive checks by postponing a previously agreed timetable for imports.
    F. there was no quick fix to the dearth of customs agents in recent months.
    G. shipments in many ports began to recover, although the delay to import checks didn’t resolve the problem.
Richard Ballantyne seemed to believe that
选项
答案G
解析 Richard Burnett出现在第五段，他表示，最近几周大多数港口的货运量有所回升，尽管延迟进口检查“推迟了问题，而不是解决了问题”。右栏的选项中与之相对应的是选项G，shipments in many ports began to recover是原文most ports had seen a recovery in shipments的改写，故为答案。
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