A COMBINATION of the effects of Brexit, coronavirus and inclement weather has gridlocked the A55 towards Holyhead in the last couple of days.
Motorists have been queues which stretched for miles on Thursday and Friday as they towards Holyhead Port.
On Thursday, North Wales Police urged motorists to avoid the area while work was carried out to clear the huge delays.
Stena Line Ports confirmed that the delays had been sparked by recent inclement weather conditions, the "huge volume of Brexit stockpiling from freight companies" and traffic diverting from Birkenhead, due to Stena Edda being currently out of service.
The Stena Edda service, which runs between Birkenhead and Belfast, was taken out of action until Thursday night after six crew members tested positive for Covid-19 earlier this week.
Ferries running between Holyhead and Dublin were hit by severe delays on Thursday, which helped cause the massive queues to build up.
There has been long traffic queues into Holyhead today, due to the knock-on effects of disruptions caused by bad weather, combined with heavy freight traffic and diversions from other services. Please allow for extra time if using any of the ferries from Holyhead. https://t.co/WIhDf6Cx12
— Stena Line Group (@StenaLine) December 17, 2020
Simon Palmer, Stena communications manager for the Irish Sea and the north sea, said there are currently record levels of freight being shifted in both directions across the Irish Sea, ahead of the post-Brexit trade rules which come in on January 1, 2021.
He said this stock was "everything that can be stored" such as supermarket goods, hardware and construction materials.
"We've broken our freight records in the past three weeks in a row," he said.
"The delays have been compounded by record levels of freight being moved across the Irish sea, due to companies stockpiling before Brexit."
Traffic Wales officers and police were seen on the A55 as work was carried out to alleviate the issues.
A Welsh Government spokesman added: "Holyhead Port is currently experiencing high levels of freight traffic.
"This is due to disruption on the Birkenhead to Belfast Stena service with traffic diverted to Holyhead.
"Agreed traffic management measures have been implemented to deal with the increase in traffic.
"We would ask that people check Traffic Wales to keep up to date with the situation.”
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