The Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation (SSPO), the trade body for the UK sector, called for time-critical perishable seafood products to be given priority access after France’s decision to reopen routes into the country for freight.
SSPO appealed to both UK and French governments to prioritize the movement of fish and seafood from Scotland, which has a limited shelf-life according to the trade body.
The Scottish salmon group called on the UK government to bring forward its plans to prioritize fresh goods if routes become delayed following the end of the Brexit transition on Jan. 1 to help mitigate queues on Dec. 22, as Undercurrent News previously reported. The contraflow traffic system plan, named Operation Brock, is set to launch on Dec. 27.
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According to the trade body, this could help seafood deliveries getting to France before losing their value.
“The UK government has, rightly, got a clear plan to prioritize perishable seafood products for the Channel crossing in the event of queues forming after Brexit comes into force at the end of this year. We need to have those plans put into operation now. Our producers have lost millions of pounds since the border was closed on Sunday night,” Tavish Scott, SSPO’s CEO, said on Wednesday (Dec. 23).
“They [producers] need urgent action to be taken now to prevent this crisis [from] turning into a disaster. Drivers of seafood consignments, particularly those that have traveled the length of the UK to get to the Channel, need to be given priority early access, both to the Covid tests and to the Channel crossings.”
The decision made by the French authorities will now mean that accompanied freight deliveries can now resume but the huge backlog on the UK side of the Channel means it will be some considerable time before operations return to normal, SSPO stated.
Christmas is a vital time for salmon exports to the EU but the period leading up to New Year is almost as important as around 3,800 metric tons of whole, fresh or chilled salmon worth £28 million (€30.8m/$37.6m) is exported to the EU.
Other salmon products like fillets, sides of salmon and smoked salmon account for £10m of sales in December, approximately £400,000 per day of sales.
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Also, the Scottish shellfish sector is likely to be the worst hit by the 48-hour UK-France border closure, which has decimated sales of fresh seafood to the continent during their busiest week of the year, Undercurrent also reported.
“Therefore, it is vital operations return to normal as soon as possible and it is time for the UK Government to consider the issue of compensation and the losses salmon farmers have had to endure because of this closure in the busiest week of the year,” Scott said.
“Our members have lost market share and money for reasons entirely outside their control and this has come on top of the most difficult trading year our sector has ever experienced,” he added.
“A conservative estimate puts the losses for our members at several million pounds, just from these last two days of deadlock. We expect the UK government to consider seriously the issue of compensation.”
Jimmy Buchan, CEO of the Scottish Seafood Association, previously told Undercurrent the sector faces losses of roughly £5m for every day that the French border remains shut.
