Angry
French truckers strike over migrant threat
Sometimes
violent migrants at ‘The Jungle’ disrupt one of Europe’s
biggest trade routes.
By JOSHUA POSANER
9/5/16, 10:39 AM CET Updated 9/5/16, 12:41 PM CET
CALAIS, France —
Freight drivers blockaded the main road leading to the port of Calais
on Monday, demanding that French authorities shut down a nearby
migrant camp known as the Jungle.
Truckers want to
force the government to more quickly address what they say are
increasingly violent roadside attacks and rising human and economic
costs associated with stowaways trying to get to the U.K.
The disruption of
freight traffic at Calais threatens the £100-billion-per-year flow
of trade between the Continent and the U.K., which trucking companies
say has already been affected by the problems around the migrant
camp. The blockade also creates a political headache for London and
Paris as they grapple with border control and migration issues in the
uncertain relationship between the EU and Britain after the Brexit
vote.
“We get tire irons
swung at us, branches; people get bricks through their window,”
said Steve Hughes, leaning out of the window of his cab as he waited
Friday to take his cargo of Belgian chips through the 14 steps of
security checks at the port.
The transport
industry is upset by the chaos the Jungle has caused. The camp houses
about 10,000 people fleeing the Middle East, Africa and Asia, many of
whom want to hitch an illegal ride on one of the 1.85 million freight
vehicles that pass through Calais every year on the way to Britain.
The area is one of the prime entry points for cargo traveling to and
from the U.K.
Paris has pledged to
close the Jungle in phases and post more police to Calais. That won’t
happen fast enough to forestall Operation Snail, as Monday’s
protest is known, said David Sagnard, a Calais-based truck boss and
president of the local transport association.
“They don’t
understand what transporters are facing. They are turning a blind eye
to everything. All the attacks … they are just ignoring it,”
Sagnard said.
“Bernard Cazeneuve
heard that business is suffering but nothing changes,” he said
after a meeting with the French interior minister.
Sagnard wants the
Jungle gone, better security for drivers on the road, tougher action
from local prosecutors on migrants who attack drivers and an end to
the £2,000 fine per person for drivers found to have stowaways on
board even after submitting to the multiple checks at Calais port.
“What is really
crucial is how quickly this happens. In the meantime, we still need
security for drivers and operators,” said Stuart Colley, who has
been out at Calais port for the International Road Transport Union
association.
The cost of Calais
The migrants trying
to get into the U.K. have made for a compelling human interest story,
but their presence has battered the European transport industry.
Under the 2003
Anglo-French Le Touquet agreement, the U.K. Border Force carries out
immigration checks on French soil, and pays for the X-ray scans of
truck trailers, heartbeat tests, and CO2 detectors that probe a
resting vehicle for signs of life. French authorities do the same in
Dover.
The Freight
Transport Association estimates that disruptions caused in part by
migrants in Calais cost the U.K. industry £750,000 a day last year.
U.K. authorities
also pay private companies to use sniffer dogs as another way of
rooting out stowaways inside the port, officials said. Migrants
seeking passage to the U.K. are found daily, sometimes by the
hundreds.
But these checks
have lengthened waiting times for crossings — costing haulers
around €50 per truck per hour, the IRU estimates.
The Freight
Transport Association, the lobby group for British truckers,
estimates that disruptions caused in part by migrants in Calais cost
the U.K. industry £750,000 a day last year.
“Our job is to
organize transport and to ease the fluidity of loadings between road
transport and maritime transport … not to control the border,”
said Anthony Pétillon, who works on strategy and development at the
Calais port authority.
The situation at the
port has some French officials calling for border controls to be
shifted back to the U.K., which could create new problems.
“Sending the U.K.
border controls back to Kent would create chaos for cross-Channel
freight traffic,” said James Hookham, deputy head of the FTA.
Despite efforts by
French and British authorities to bring order to the port, a CCTV
control room in the port buildings shows the situation isn’t under
control. A live feed displayed migrants running at the fence. Up to
30 faced off against police through a cloud of teargas.
Pétillon said the
port has to spend €80,000 a week to repair and maintain the fence.
Night terrors
Late at night, the
darkness of the unlit roads heading toward Calais is punctuated by
flashing blue police lights. Night is where the real danger lies for
drivers converging on both the port and the Eurotunnel further down
the A16.
“Night is the
worst time, but if you’ve got to pick up a load at say 11 p.m.,
it’s got to be delivered. You don’t have a choice,” said
Hughes, the truck driver.
The problems at
Calais have a knock-on effect deeper into Europe.
Port officials said
attacks on drivers and attempts to board trailers heading in to
Calais tend to peak at 4 a.m.
“In the last
couple of months it’s got very bad,” said Steve McCeve, waiting
as his truck was being monitored for the faint vibration of a hidden
heartbeat. “Attacks, stuff getting thrown at you, threatening you
with hammers, knives, everything they have,” he said. “We try and
avoid here at night if possible.”
One driver who gave
only his first name, Bjoern, said he had been dragged from his cabin
around 3 a.m. and kicked after calling the police when a barricade
was thrown in front of his truck near the Eurotunnel approach.
“They are getting
really violent. Next time I won’t brake,” he said.
The problems at
Calais have a knock-on effect deeper into Europe.
“I was in Brussels
last week and I woke up at three in the morning and there were
immigrants going round the back of the trailer,” McCeve said.
Some operators now
tell their drivers not to stop anywhere from Antwerp down to Calais,
while others are nervous about sending their drivers to the coast at
all. Rest stops along the way have been boarded up, drivers say.
Some shippers say
they have looked at other ports to get their goods across the
Channel, but sheer capacity at Calais forces them back. Alternative
ports at the Hook of Holland and Dunkerque are booked out weeks in
advance, said one driver taking sports cars from the Netherlands to
the U.K.
For Sagnard, the
problems do not stop at driver safety and delays. Profits for his
60-truck business are also in peril.
Showing pictures of
trailers in disarray, he said insurers only cover the portion of
goods damaged by stowaways, even though buyers often refuse the whole
affected cargo. Sagnard estimated those kinds of issues cost his
company €250,000 last year.
Authors:
Joshua Posaner
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