A fruit packing firm this morning (3 August) said staff found a woman and child inside a lorry with pallets of fruit “trodden on” and unfit for use as the Calais migrant crisis continues to disrupt the UK fresh produce industry.
Dartford-based packer and distributor Fresh Service discovered the pair this morning, and was consequently forced to discard three pallets of fruit that had been trodden on. Managing director Brian Porter said the two migrants were unwell following their journey in a temperature-controlled vehicle maintained at two degrees, and there was evidence that suggested they “may have been sexually-abused”. He said they were taken away by local authorities, but the company has not received any support in dealing with the issue. 'It causes disruption with our staff,' he said.
Porter said the company hasn’t seen an escalation in migrants appearing in lorries – he said it has been happening weekly over the past few months – but there has been an escalation of customers cancelling orders due to extensive delays.
“We’ve had up to 20 per cent of orders cancelled in a day. We give customers a time for when they can expect a delivery, but with the delays these timings are often wrong. It can make the days up and down,” said Porter, adding that he is losing money as a result. “We just feel for the customers. And it’s not the migrants’ fault – we’ve seen indications that it is English gangs who are threatening drivers and telling them to accept migrants.”
Porter said he has seen a video, taken by one of his drivers, which appeared to show an English-speaking gang in Calais who claimed that they decide which lorries would take migrants. He said that this may have been an isolated incident, but demonstrated how complex the situation is.
“I don’t know what the solution is,” he said. “These trucks cost around £65 an hour to run and they are just sitting there queuing.
“They need to go and sort out the problems in these countries – the migrants wouldn’t leave unless they have to.”
If produce importers start to divert deliveries through other ports, Porter said this would take away business from the Kent region, which would further the problem. “We’ve already lost the Belgian business as that has already been diverted. There is a political game being played elsewhere, and I can’t see that it’s going away.”
Disruption to supply chain
Although the wider supply chain does not seem to be affected, produce importers are struggling with disruption to one of the key trade routes between the UK and the continent. Senior commercial manager at Bradford importer Burbank Produce, Eddie Bowers, said it’s been “a total nightmare” and confirmed that customers are receiving orders a day late.
“We got most things through on Tuesday (28 July), but the disruption from Wednesday caused us all kinds of problems. We had lorries in the wrong areas due to the severe delays of Wednesday,” he said.
“Now we are hearing the Maritime Union are striking again in Calais. There seems to be no end to things.”
A driver for Burbank Produce, Jonny McCulloch, recently told news outlet 5 News that, if companies continue to lose money through order cancellations and delays, his job may be one of the first to go as he is the newest driver to the business.
Not all businesses are suffering - managing director of Evesham importer Hillfox Produce, David Parriss, said the disruption to Calais began several months ago, and believes that the industry is becoming used to it. “There was lots of disruption when the problem first started, but now more importers are using the Channel ports, like Plymouth and Portsmouth,' he said.
In a letter seen by FPJ, Eurotunnel commercial director, Jo Willacy, said the Calais issue is now being “prioritised at the highest level by the French and UK governments”.
“We have now completed the new high security fencing around our platforms; it became operational today. We have also witnessed the benefits of the additional French police presence last night when successful migrant intrusions were significantly reduced.
“We plan to continue in this positive direction.”
Willacy said that the focus of migrant activity has so far been on freight traffic. “We are not prioritising passenger traffic over freight traffic and we will always seek to operate the best timetable we can based on the real time situation,” she said.
David Cameron this week announced Britain is sending extra sniffer dogs and security fencing, as well as allowing queuing vehicles in Kent to use MoD land to relieve traffic jams.
Retail supply
Despite media reports that retail supply will suffer as a result of ongoing Calais disruption, the current issues seem to be primarily confined to packers, distributors and importers in the fresh produce supply chain.
A spokesperson for Lidl said: “As a UK supermarket that delivers fresh food to its stores daily, there have predictably been some delays in receiving stock from Calais.
“However, this is not the only port that we source our fresh produce through and our team has been working very closely with our suppliers to ensure that disruption to stock availability is kept to a minimum for our customers.”
A spokesperson for Aldi said: “As we source the majority of our products from the UK, the situation in Calais has had a minimal impact on our business. We are continuing to monitor this situation and are working closely with our suppliers to minimise any disruption.”
Other retailers were not available for comment at the time of writing.
