Entry to France post EES

[dolabriform]

Hi all

We’ve just been to Denmark by plane, and had the whole photo, fingerprint debacle.

As in understand it, we are now registered in the EES.

We are planning to sail to Calais next week, and I’m wondering what the situation will be there.

Has anyone been into Calais or any other French ports post EES? If so, what was your experience?

Thanks

 

[Beelzebub]

I've had the works three times now:- Paris CDG, Paris Orly and Guadeloupe.

 

[dolabriform]

I've had the works three times now:- Paris CDG, Paris Orly and Guadeloupe.

So it’s working as intended then

My wife has had it twice, in Estonia they didn’t have the electronic fingerprint scanners so they did it with ink.

I’m wondering what is going to happen when we sail into a port, and they don’t have the machines

 

[ashtead]

Anyone tried the little machines with a toddler yet -our recent experience in Valencia without one was it was time consuming due to non working machines plus a lack of staff to fix issues but thinking ahead to Canaries later this year with a toddler (leaving aside elderly relatives) I just wondered if they were exempt ?

 

[dolabriform]

Anyone tried the little machines with a toddler yet -our recent experience in Valencia without one was it was time consuming due to non working machines plus a lack of staff to fix issues but thinking ahead to Canaries later this year with a toddler (leaving aside elderly relatives) I just wondered if they were exempt ?

The couple in front of us had a toddler who they were having to lift up to the photo machine as it didn’t go low enough
They had to keep taking the photo as it was hard to keep the toddler still

 

[Lightwave395]

I'm curious to see later in April how this works out at Caen and St Malo ferry ports with queues of 100 or more cars, each having varying numbers of passengers ?

 

[Fr J Hackett]

Makes me sort of happy I am not sailing anymore

 

[ashtead]

Presumably there are rows of machines installed at Cherbourg by now ? Our crews experience in trying to stamp out at St Malo even without machines was that the ferry port had booths to collect the stamp but you had to have a ferry ticket to reach it. I’m sure things have improved by now in terms of collecting an exit stamp but it hardly installs confidence that the machines will work well for the yachtsman who has just crossed the channel and arrives at 10pm and plans to catch the early morning tide next day to the Cap and on to Jersey at 6am .

 

[st599]

I'm curious to see later in April how this works out at Caen and St Malo ferry ports with queues of 100 or more cars, each having varying numbers of passengers ?

Dover are putting people in a coach, driving to the place with the terminals and then sealing the coach and taking it to the ferry.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

Dover are putting people in a coach, driving to the place with the terminals and then sealing the coach and taking it to the ferry.

Apart from the difficulties some places are having Fresh delay for new EU border checks at Dover amid technical problems. Isn't this thread about access for sailors in their own vessels which unless there are terminals in the marinas in the designated ports of arrival it will mean going to find a terminal in a commercial port of customs office much like you have to do in other parts of the world to complete your entry formalities.

 

[wallacebob]

Widely reported that trials over winter period will increase on 11 April, but still not 100% until later in year. Always defaults back to passport stamp. Exiting Alicante this month , the UK queue were asked if they had registered or not. We had, and quickly through scanners. Still has stamping. It’s all still in trial mode at most destinations, trick is to not get grumpy!

 

[dolabriform]

Update:

We've just been to Calais, took the free bus to the ferry terminal, and walked to the PAF building as usual.

The PAF were friendly and helpful as always, but they were having problems with the computer in the office. We were invited in, and they tried to scan our fingerprints, but the scanner refused to work.
In the end, they just entered our info into the system.

When we went there a second time to depart, we were invited inside to wait as it was windy outside! Time passed, and the official came out and said they were having trouble with the computer, so they took our passports over to a ferry booth to scan them.

No passport stamps.

The PAF couldn't have been more friendly and helpful, they appreciate that there are "teething problems".

As I said in my OP, we had just been to Denmark, so I'm hoping that our scans were on the system, which negated the need to fingerprint again. I'd be interested to hear about others experiences at different ports.

 

[lustyd]

Ok checked in at Dieppe this morning so have an update.
Advice says “The customs office for Dieppe is reported to be in the ferry terminal” and to go when ferries arrive.
The Douane office is definitely in the ferry building, just go to reception and ask to check in, they will let the Douane know you’re waiting. The terminal is open all day until 8pm, DO NOT go when a ferry arrives or it’ll be busy. They also check in commercial sailors etc. so are happy to do this any time. They did ask if we’d emailed the form but didn’t need to see it.

EES changes - very little. He used a Thales branded (obviously not theirs, but they clearly set up the system) USB scanner to take our finger prints. No stamp needed or available. The whole process took 2 minutes for both of us, five including reception and waiting. Again, this is because the terminal wasn’t full of ferry passengers.

We checked in the day after arrival since we arrived late. Not an issue and everyone relaxed about it. We still have not checked in to the marina as they had computer issues, again not a problem and they freely gave us the code for facilities.

Quoting my experience from the other thread

 

[dolabriform]

Quoting my experience from the other thread

Thank you, it's really good news to hear that Dieppe is still as easy.