Northern Ireland Protocol: Haulage sector chief says Safeguarding the Union deal will not help haulage, logistics or manufacturing companies in NI

He says the NI Protocol added 50 hours a week of administration onto his three employees, and can add up to 25% in costs per pallet, depending on volume.

Mr Tait has given evidence extensively at Westminster on the impact of the NI Protocol.

After Brexit the EU retained NI within the EU Single Market. As a result, the UK agreed that all goods coming into NI from GB should be subjected to full EU customs checks.

The Windsor Framework deal last year lessened the red tape on goods coming for retail sale by creating a notional Green Lane for them.

A Red Lane was created for all other goods that would remain subject to full EU customs checks.

The DUP and UK Government say their new deal eliminates red tape for all goods coming into NI using the Green Lane.

However Mr Tait does not believe there will be any improvements for haulage, logistics or manufacturing companies in NI.

"There are definitely no changes for the Red Lane," he said of the new deal. "In my opinion there will be no changes for the haulage or logistics companies for the green/UK Internal Market Scheme lane either, possibly for the trader, but we will have to wait and see.

"There are too many complexities as we delve further into the outworkings of what is to come - and because we have no clear information from the government as to what the systems will look like or how it is intended to work in practice.

"September 30th is when the UK Internal Market Scheme [the latest deal] comes into effect for all other businesses, at present it only applies to retail.

"So things will most likely become clearer as we approach the deadline of 30 September this year, but, as we are drawing ever closer to that deadline, we are worried that we will not have enough time to make the necessary preparations."

The key change - according to what he is being told - is that 30 September will see red tape all but disappear for companies using the green lane, though he doesn't actually know if that will be the case.

"Supplementary declarations are supposed to go for the trader/importer but again, for haulage all the bureaucracy to move goods is likely to remain.

"But until we get to see what this system is going to look like in practice we really are only making assumptions."

Green Lane goods are primarily goods destined for retail in NI, while all other goods go through the Red Lane, including all materials coming from GB for manufacturing in NI.

This is because the EU holds that any products emerging from NI manufacturing could, in theory, leak into the single market in the Republic of Ireland market and bypass EU customs checks.

The Northern Ireland Office has not offered any response.