There is no immediate change today, but freight teams using Dover, Eurotunnel or Holyhead should treat early 2027 as a workflow-change deadline. The main task is to map where transit movements are currently started or ended and decide whether future processes should use port facilities, an Authorised Consignor/Consignee or transit simplifications.
What HMRC is changing
Government-funded inland border facilities were introduced after the UK left the EU to provide customs capacity where ports did not yet have enough infrastructure. HMRC's September 2026 update says that model is now moving toward the standard UK approach, where border locations themselves provide the infrastructure for customs and border processes.
At Sevington, customs checks are expected to transition to alternative locations provided by the Port of Dover and Getlink, operator of Eurotunnel, from early 2027. HMRC says the exact timing is still subject to final confirmation. At Holyhead, the intended approach is also to move customs checks from the existing inland border facility to infrastructure within Holyhead Port from early 2027.
The biggest operational change is transit
Sevington currently acts as an office of departure and destination for Common Transit Convention movements. HMRC says that from early 2027 these transit services will no longer be provided at Sevington.
Traders and freight operators that need to start or end transit movements will instead need to use facilities provided by the border locations, commercially provided Authorised Consignor or Authorised Consignee services, or the transit simplification process. Port of Dover is expected to provide transit facilities for Dover traffic, while Getlink's existing transit facilities will remain in operation for Eurotunnel movements.
What is not changing
There are no immediate changes to current customs procedures. HMRC says operators should continue using Sevington and Holyhead inland border facilities as usual until further notice.
The Sevington Border Control Post used for sanitary and phytosanitary checks is not part of this customs transition and is expected to remain operational until further notice. That distinction matters because customs and SPS processes may continue to take place at different locations.
Why this matters for UK–EU freight planning
The change is important because Sevington has become embedded in many Kent-based cross-Channel customs workflows. Moving functions back toward Dover and Eurotunnel changes where drivers may need to report, where transit procedures are completed and how dispatch instructions are written.
Cross-Channel freight volumes also remain operationally significant. Getlink reported that LeShuttle Freight carried 90,033 trucks in August 2026, up 5% year on year, with more than 780,000 trucks carried in the first eight months of the year. Even small changes in customs routing can therefore affect a large number of movements.
What freight teams should do before 2027
Freight forwarders, hauliers and customs teams should map which movements currently depend on Sevington or Holyhead for offices of departure or destination, ATA or TIR processing, or customs checks. They should then identify the future port-based process for each lane and customer.
Businesses with recurring transit volumes should also assess whether Authorised Consignor or Authorised Consignee status, or use of a commercial provider with those authorisations, would reduce dependence on physical border facilities. Driver instructions, routing notes, customer SOPs and customs escalation procedures should be updated once operators publish final site details.
The key point is timing: the change is not active yet, but the implementation window is now close enough that leaving process design until the final announcement could create avoidable disruption.