With just 31 days to go until the UK’s exit from the EU is finalised, Isle of Wight companies are being told to make sure they are ready.

Television adverts and the government’s website are urging firms to ‘act now’, because ‘time is running out’.

But what does that mean for Island businesses?

Scroll down for a link to the government's Brexit transition website...

East Cowes-based Wight Shipyard makes boats and exports them around the world.

Its competitors are mainly in the Far East and Turkey.

The future looks positive - after the short-term challenges - says its CEO.

Peter Morton told the County Press: “There aren't actually many companies in Europe who are building ferries. Our competition is Turkey, Vietnam, the Philippines, China and Australia.

"Even within the EU, there’s no import duty, or taxes, on commercial vessels from anywhere. Unless the EU specifically marks out the UK for punishment, we'll be treated the same as the other places in the world.”

But he is critical of the lack of information available to those firms urged to prepare - as they also tackle the joint challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic and the countdown to Christmas.

He said: "It's pretty ironic. You've been asked to prepare for something, but you don't really know what you're being asked to prepare for. Here we are, with a month to go, and the government hasn't got a deal.

"If they get a deal and we get a tariff-free zone, presumably you don't have to do anything. If they get no deal and we're going to be treated as if we are from a different planet, then there are going to be duties and trade restrictions. We would need to make a plan."

Isle of Wight County Press:

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Sharing those concerns is Karen Lucas, the managing director of a world-leading oil spill containment firm, based in East Cowes.

Vikoma is used to importing and exporting around the world and more than half its business is outside the EU.

A rule change will mean more admin - but it’s doable.

The challenge, says Karen, is the uncertainty: “We don't know what the rules are going to be, because we don't know whether we're having a deal or not. We don't know what the tariffs will be. Until we know what the rules are, it’s still up in the air.

"We don't know if they're going to strike a deal. We're just waiting. When we know, we will react accordingly."

For Karen, that not-knowing also extends to making plans for the future: “There is this concern that Brexit will be used as an excuse to put the prices of goods up. There could be increased duties. It's whether people put their prices up reflecting the duty, or whether they use it as an excuse to do something else.

"Until we see prices, we won't know. Around January, there are typically price reviews anyway. I guess we'll wake up on New Year's Day and know what the rules are."

"I don't see how anybody can make a plan because we don't know what we're going to be dealing with,” Wight Shipyard Co’s Peter Morton told the County Press.

"Are we going to be dealing with closed borders? Are we going to be dealing with open borders? Are we going to be dealing with free travel? Are we not going to be dealing with free travel? Are we going to be dealing with import duty, or aren't we going to be dealing with import duty?

"It's just typical of this government to leave everything to the last minute and then expect the rest of us to have to pick it up. Meanwhile, Vikoma must wait before it can advise its customers of its future plans.

"We need those final rules and then we'll assess it,” said Karen Lucas.

"We will talk to our supply chain. Then we'll wait to see the impact on the customer.

"We don’t know what tenders we’re still able to take part in - which things are going to be European-only tenders. We may be excluded from some tenders that we can currently win business under."

Peter Morton is optimistic about Brexit - once the short term hurdles have been jumped.

He said: "I was in the supermarket the other day. There were beans from Guatemala, sweetcorn from Mexico, something else from Egypt, flowers from Kenya. I don't think it's the big elephant in the room that people think it is. Europe is an important trading partner, but we import goods from all over the world.

"We import goods direct from China to the factory. We import goods from Japan, USA, Australia. We also import goods from the EU. The EU, for us, is just one of a number of suppliers and it's not exclusive, so I don't really see the problem.

"There will be short-term problems, but I don't see the long-term problems that all these doom-mongers are predicting."

"I think there's a lot of scaremongering, but I think the government needed to do a better job to tell us what to expect. We don't know what to expect."

For Peter, it’s a chance to rebuild relationships with Commonwealth countries and look further afield when it comes to business.

Visit the government’s transition website HERE.

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