Tires were burning again in Calais Tuesday (July 21). Disgruntled employees from MyFerryLink wanted to make their views known about the layoffs at the ferry by erecting barricades on the A16. Although the barricades at the entrance to the port were cleared by the authorities, traffic in the Eurotunnel was far from smooth, according to Chris Hans van der Hout from Freight-Line Europe: "Last night things seemed pretty calm but at around 2:00 am assaults by migrants started again. As a result, the waiting times at the tunnel quickly jumped to 4.5 hours and at the moment there are no departure times given for the Eurotunnel."
Eurotunnel wants to see money
The delays are costing the already ailing Eurotunnel a lot of money. According to the operator, 13 million euros in extra costs have already been made in the first half of this year. This is more than all of 2014. Two-thirds of this went to security and loss of revenue. "If a train is ready for departure and there is a suspicion that migrants are on board, the train has to stop and be searched. This creates additional costs for security and personnel and leads to revenue loss because the trains get delayed," says correspondent Frank Renout to NOS. "The company says that the problems are much larger than the French government suggests. According to official figures, there are approximately 2,000 migrants around Calais, but the company says that the number is closer to 5,000."
More understanding from the British
The actions taken by the disgruntled MyFerryLink employees is creating uncertainty in transportation via Calais: "The strikes are announced late so it is difficult to plan," says Chris Hans. "In the Netherlands, employees from Stena-Line are also threatening actions. Last night and this morning (July 22,23) we had contact with the companies that indicated they would enter into talks at 10:00 am. However, the organization cannot provide any guarantees regarding the crossings. We are asking our clients and their British customers to have a lot of patience. Because they understand that we are doing everything we can to deliver the products as quickly as possible, they have more understanding for the situation. The important thing is that the mutual trust remains intact. It is important to keep the customers and their recipients up-to-date on the current situation."
Costs due to uncertainty
According to Chris Hans, the question is when people's patience will run out: "This situation is taking too long." The media recently reported that there was a shortage of cucumbers in the British retail sector. Chris Hans believes that shortages will only increase: "The loss of sales and the costs to Freight Line are difficult to estimate. All the uncertainty is costing us extra personnel, overtime, higher freight costs, extra material and it has a negative effect on the occupancy rate of our trailers. These are all additional costs required to fulfil our obligations. Ultimately, we have to keep the customers satisfied as best as possible considering the situation. I cannot give exact figures but I estimate that the damage amounts to tons per month; and not only with us, but sector wide." Chris Hans thinks the government is being very quiet about this situation: "This could be because the Eurotunnel and ferry services are private enterprises. However, the safety of the drivers and the trade is a matter for all countries."
Crystal ball
"Planning for the next day is like looking in a crystal ball every night. The next day the planned schedule could be completely ruined from strikes or other incidents. We are doing what we can but transport to England is like Russian roulette right now."
