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farmers aren't the only victims

16th August 2007, Page 28
16th August 2007
Page 28
Page 29
Page 28, 16th August 2007 — farmers aren't the only victims
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

With three cases of foot and mouth disease discovered

in the past couple of weeks, Dylan Gray and Louise Cole

investigate the impact it has on hauliers carrying anything from livestock to ice cream.

The, current foot and mouth (FMD) outbreak has been devastating for farmers who have lost herds of cattle that took decades to develop. But the ban on livestock transport and tough restrictions on the export of food products have also been a body blow for the hauliers that specialise in this work.

One of these is Cheltenham, Glos-based Gordon Gilder Transport which runs 10 trucks on livestock work and has another 20 reefers for hanging-meat exports to the Continent. Transport manager Sean Gilder reports: "The restrictions stopped three quarters of our business overnight. We've had the double whammy of the UK livestock movement ban which took l 0 vehicles out; then we also export hanging meat so that was another 20 vehicles.

"It is very difficult to have a contingency [plan] because suddenly you are looking on the general market for general haulage work with very expensive, very specialised vehicles. it really isn't viable. We're always the last to be thought of in terms of compensation. We've investigated it and we'll speak to the trade associations but I'm not hopeful. It isn't the sort of thing you can insure yourself against."

Lost revenue "For the 10 vehicles that transport livestock I'd say we lose £50,000 a week in lost revenue if they can't work: for the fridges it's about £100,000 in lost revenue," he adds. "In total we've been out of action now for five days with the UK movements, and [even when they resume] we will be out indefinitely with the fridges—I would expect about one month."

The ban on exporting meats and livestock from England, Scotland and Wales will not be lifted until 25 August at the earliest:EU vets are due to review the situation on 23 August. Gilder remembers the last FMD outbreak: "There are in the region of 10 or 15 big regional hauliers that export hanging meat in the UK. Last time it was about six months that we couldn't take hanging meat abroad. But we fully recovered from that — we were flying along, confident, expanding the business and very pleased with the amount of work we had."

Defra reaction

Gilder has mixed feelings about the way the outbreak has been handled by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra): "Defra has contained this quickly, but I believe that's a mixture of luck and experience gained last time round. I think the restrictions could be lifted quicker, but Defra is terrified of being held accountable."

Mark Payne, MD of Plymouth-based Armoric Freight International, whose reefers carry meat throughout Europe, heading as far south as Spain and Portugal, admits that the crisis could not have happened at a worse time:"Now is the busiest six months of the year. Then all of the sudden everything is completely wiped out. We've not done one single export this week. At the moment we're just doing UK work.

"This is the third time we've been in this situation and it's still pretty devastating."

Like Gilder, Payne believes Defra has done what it can but hopes things will be resolved soon:"If the EU can agree that FMD is contained in one area maybe exports can resume on a local level."

Hauliers carrying dairy products have also taken a hit.NevilleBrooker,operations director for Dover-based Heritage International Transport, says: We do a lot of dairy products and have therefore lost a lot of our work. We now have to run empty from the UK to collect our EU shipments."

Ban exemptions

Defra has been criticised for failing to supply the correct health certificate in time— this allows the export of goods that are exempt from the ban (see panel).A Defra spokesman confirms: "The certificate was available from 8 August." He was unable to explain why the certificate had not been issued earlier.

Brooker adds: "We're looking for other work to do and are currently in the process of getting [health] certification. From Monday morning [6 August] they wouldn't let anything shift. Their knee-jerk reaction was too quick. We'll lose thousands of pounds because of this."

The emergency rules have stopped a lot of exports but that doesn't mean ferries are running empty. A P&O spokesman points out: "In the grand scheme of things it doesn't register. The vehicles affected make up less than 1% of our business.

"Of course we want all the business we can get, though looking at the statistics it doesn't have much of an impact at all." me


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