The airfreight of fresh produce is mainly back on track after the chaos created by the eruption of the Eyjafjallajoekull volcano in Iceland two weeks ago.
Although the UK only imports around five million tonnes of airfreighted fresh produce a year, some considerable disruption was caused to the import of high-end products such as Kenyan veg and fresh-cut pineapple from Ghana.
TSA International, which deals in Kenyan produce, reports that business is now back to normal, but product had to be discarded and labour reallocated during the six-day airfreight ban.
The business said it had to stop the harvesting of some product and reassign duties, getting workforces to maintain and prepare farms instead.
The company used routes via Spain to plug the gap with some volumes, but as most of its products are specifically grown for western markets and have no demand or use within the local community, there was wastage.
Rajesh Dodhia, general manager of TSA, told freshinfo: “Because of loss of business there will be short-term financial implications that it will take six to nine months to recover from.
“Long term, we do not see any adverse impact because of the unique position that Kenya occupies in the EU supply base...
“We feel there is a certain amount of necessity for airfreight business as it enhances the standard of living in the developing world.”
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