NEWS\\\


Issue 7 2014 - Freight Business Journal


Import Services to run London Gateway common user site


DP World has appointed Import Services


as operator and


manager at its Common User Facility (CUF) now being built at London Gateway Logistics Park and due to open in mid-2015.


Southampton based Import


Services will initially take on a significant portion of the new 386,000sq ſt development and provide a menu of logistics services on a ‘pay-as-you-go’


basis. These will range from basic devanning to cross-docking, storage and value-added activities such as pick-and-pack, labelling, pre-retail and distribution. DP World London Gateway


Now Police join Calais protests


The migrants crisis in Calais took a bizarre turn on 13 October when the local Police mounted their own road blockade to protest against inadequate resources


to cope with the


influx. The Police, together with farmers and lorry drivers staged a “go slow” protest between the Port’s exit roundabout and the Calais bypass. A spokesman for P&O


Ferries said however that the demonstration had not materially affected traffic flows to and from the port. Freight operators using Calais


have been under virtual siege from camps of migrant refugees – many of them fleeing conflicts in the Middle East and Africa - trying to steal aboard UK-bound trucks in search of what they believe will be better


living


conditions in England than in the rest of Europe. According to press reports, the local Police are complaining that at times, as few as four officers have to fend off perhaps 200 or more determined migrants desperate to get to England.


In response to mounting


pressure from the freight industry, the UK Home Office and the French government pledged £12m for a three-year joint intervention fund of which £4m would be committed in phase one. This would be used to strengthen security, with improved fences in or near the port. FTA’s international manager,


Don Armour told FBJ: “But what is really needed is action at EU level to dissuade migrants from coming in the first place.” He acknowledged, though, that this was a lot to ask considering that even the appalling conditions of the makeshift camps of northern France “are 100% better than what they have left behind, in many cases.” So far at least, the problems


have impinged mainly on Calais Port. The better-secured Eurotunnel terminal has direct access from the motorway, making it much harder


Tunnel are not immune; there have been reports of migrants trying to get on board vehicles at motorway service areas miles


from the port. Many


drivers have been instructed not to halt within 200km of Calais. Meanwhile,


a police


operation with the backing of the Italian EU presidency, has mounted an operation against illegal human trafficking. Mos Maiorum involved thousands of police officers from the Schengen zone – which includes 26 countries, but not the UK - at border crossings, transport terminals and other locations. While


the target some of the


programme was ostensibly the criminal networks that exploit refugees,


European


politicians are concerned that migrants may be imprisoned for entering the EU without a visa. Amnesty


International for


migrants to leap aboard trucks moving at up to 90kmph. However, truckers using the


and Human Rights Watch are also calling for the EU to create more legal routes to Europe for refugees seeking protection.


Agadir-Tilbury link


OPDR Maroc, the new daughter company of Schulte Group short-sea specialist OPDR Group, has launched a new service between Agadir, Tilbury and the North Continent. The Argan Express will call Agadir every Thursday and will directly serve ports in Spain (one transit day), then Tilbury (five days) and Rotterdam. OPDR will use three of its own 700 teu ships and there will be space for up to 120 reefer containers. OPDR Maroc has also opened an office in Agadir port.


and Import Services have already been working together to fit out the CUF building and establish processes such as internal shunting of containers from the quayside to the logistics park. Import Services (IS) managing


director, John Eynon, told FBJ that his company had been set up in Southampton 30 years ago and now operated 425,000sq ſt of space there, including 225,000sq ſt next to the port’s container terminal. IS’s main activity is the unloading of inbound containers, storage and redistribution. Most IS clients in Southampton tend to be suppliers to major retailers, he added. Eynon explained: “When


we started talking to London Gateway, we explained that what we do in Southampton is exactly what they wanted to do


at their Common User Facility.” The London Gateway CUF will however handle a larger range of products than the Southampton site, mainly because shipping services into the latter port are mainly from the Far East and certain types of product, such as wine or food, do not figure very much on those trades. IS uses sophisticated soſtware


and database to manage its operations – for example, to label pallets according to retailer distribution centre or how it should be stacked. The same technology will be available to London Gateway CUF clients. London Gateway is an


attractive location, Eynon continued, partly because it has abundant space for logistics operations. IS has no immediate plans to set up operations at other


5


UK ports, not least because of the unique way in which it buys road haulage capacity – trucks that have delivered into local retailers in the area call at IS for reloads back to inland locations. London and Southampton have large numbers of retailers in the immediate area; Felixstowe on the other hand does not, says Eynon. “The retailer is pleased


because they get a backhaul and it’s very convenient for us too,” Eynon states. IS also moves large amounts of product to Continental European destinations, taking advantage of the ample empty space on trucks out of the UK. It also has contracts with


logistics companies like DHL, UPS and TNT but does not operate its own haulage.


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