Mike Parr, CEO for the UK and Ireland at PML Seafrigo, tells Fred Searle why he wants to see the government make it “crystal clear” what its plans are for fresh produce border inspections – and finally stick to them
How would you like to see the new government support the logistics sector in the next few years?
I’d love for them to actually listen. That’s all we’re asking – for them to listen and look at the mistakes the previous government made. We want them to listen not just to the haulage and logistics industry, but to the end user as well.
It goes back to the farmer at the end of the day because if the customer in the UK doesn’t receive a product in good enough condition, the farmer in Spain simply doesn’t get paid. Meanwhile, there are no problems getting the product to France, so if you’re the Spanish farmer, who are you going to supply? Not the UK. There’s no incentive to supply the UK market at the moment.
I just want to see the government make it crystal clear what the plans are [for sanitary and phytosanitary checks on fresh produce at the UK border] and stick to them. Stop changing your mind every two minutes. If they say we’re going to implement inspections on this, this and this from 1 January, we can prepare, the customer can prepare, the supplier can prepare. But when you don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, you can’t be ready.
I do think we should be carrying out checks because we’re no longer in the EU. If we’re not going to do the checks, we might as well have stayed in there. The problem is that a lot of product that comes via the EU isn’t actually of EU origin. But once it’s cleared in the EU, it’s classified as EU product. So, there is a risk, and we need to manage that risk.
I also think there should be some funding for the logistics sector from the government. During Covid, they funded pubs, clubs, restaurants and everything else. Logistics got nothing, yet we kept the country moving. I think it’s time they looked at the artery that keeps everything flowing in the country, and support it a bit.
How hopeful are you that the new government will revise plans for border checks on fresh produce due to be introduced in January 2025?
I don’t know what they’re going to do to be honest. They were listening prior to being elected, and now they just seem to have gone the same way as the previous government. They have already started to bury their head in the sand. At the moment there are no signs this government will be more receptive to the needs of the logistics sector, but it’s still early days.
How likely does it seem that UK ports will be ready to carry out phytosanitary checks on fresh produce if the government does decide to go ahead with them?
There are already delays on a very small amount of inspections (of certain seeds and plants), so if you multiplied that by 10, it’d just be chaos. We’ve had two guys pass Level 2 of the training required to carry out our own inspections, but I’m not sure whether the government will ever actually let the trade do its own inspections. They just change their mind every other week. I’ve lost all confidence. We spent millions and millions on our facility in Kent, which is ready to go, and they keep putting barriers in the way.
The problem is if we hadn’t spent the money and the border checks had gone ahead, our customers would have suffered. So we spent the money, it hasn’t gone ahead, and we’ve suffered. What do you do? Do you prepare for what the government said it was going to do, or do you wait for it to happen and then react? We’re in a no-win situation. We’ve been left with a big lump of cash tied up in something that isn’t losing money, but isn’t doing what it should be either i.e. helping our customers get their product quicker.
Look out for the full interview in the next issue of FPJ, including Parr’s take on how border delays are affecting the UK tomato sector and how PML Seafrigo is helping more producers in Britain to export their products around the world.
