Is the Calais crisis really costing the UK £250m a day in lost trade?

03/08/2015

The weekend saw more reports about the so-called “Calais crisis” – with blame being laid firmly at the door of politicians. However, according to this analysis in The Guardian, the much-bandied about figure of £250m in lost trade per day – a number cited by the Freight Transport Association – is “vastly improbable”. What is more certain is the cost to hauliers and the automotive industry, which has been forced to charter aircraft. One of those companies tasked with keeping supply chains moving is Priority Freight, which has published a thoughtful blog noting that the government’s measures so far have amounted to a “sticking plaster” for what is a “humanitarian crisis”. It calls for a “compassionate solution to remedy the ceaseless misery”.

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Alex von Stempel
August 03, 2015 at 4:44 pm
The term ‘Calais Crisis’ is a bit ‘Little England’. All European countries are looking at how the issues of refugees or to use the politically charged terminology ‘migrants’ is affecting their economies.
An interesting subject would be to establish how as a result of the effective road blocks container trade is being affected, and reefer containers in particular. Could there be a new ‘modal shift’ in the making, i.e. from ‘roro’ to ‘lolo’? This may be worth looking at not just in terms of short sea movements, but also the potential of deep sea (reefer) box diversion.

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