FTA counts the cost of Calais
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• The Freight Transport Association is to complain to Transport Minister John Spellar after a one-day dockworkers strike in Calais last week caused chaos to British hauliers and deliveries.
An ETA spokesman describes the strike as "completely unacceptable" arid estimates that trucks sitting on the M20 waiting to get across to France lost £.250 each that day.
He says: "France has a duty to allow the free movement of goods. We intend to write to the Transport Minister to complain about this continuing problem."
The RHA's international department says it received only a "few calls" from its members during the action, despite the implementation of the Operation Stack parking system on the M20 and the cancellation of ferry services to Calais.
However, Dave Smith of Guildford-based Classic Vehicles claims that P&O Stenahe added to the chaos when it turned a Calais-bound ferry back to Dover, causing his driver to make a late delivery on the Continent, "My driver disembarked at Dover, then re-embarked onto the same boat which then sailed onto Zeebrugge" he says. "Why didn't it just go straight to Zeebrugge in the first place?"
A MO spokeswoman says that if any haulier involved wants to discuss the decision they should contact P&O's freight division.