Eurotunnel CREDIT HAKZELF

Congestion has eased at the Port of Dover following the dismantling of the ‘Jungle’ refugee camp at the end of October, fresh produce distributors have reported.

Wholesaler and distributor Burbank Produce imports from its base at Rungis wholesale market via the Eurotunnel. The firm’s commercial manager Eddie Bowers said congestion has eased in the past few weeks, adding that before the Jungle was dismantled, the company’s vehicles were delayed by “eight, nine, ten hours at a time.”

In January the port was closed completely for several hours after migrants and protestors occupied a P&O ferry, and hold-ups like this caused logistical difficulties for logistics companies.

“We always make contingency plans to get the truck back if it is running late so that we can still distribute our product,” said Bowers. “But sometimes we couldn’t plan like this because we just didn’t know how long it was going to take to cross the channel.”

Despite the reduction in waiting times, Bowers said there are still delays at the port, which he believes are partly related to poor weather at this time of year. “The migrant situation is fine now,” he said. “There are still some traffic problems but it’s got nothing to do with migrants now – the poorer weather at this time of year means that fewer boats can cross.”

Recent government figures revealed that freight traffic at the Port of Dover decreased by 3.7 per in the first half of 2016, with some importers switching to other UK ports to avoid disruption. Freight traffic at Grimsby and Immingham increased by 5.5 per cent, Southampton was up 5.8 per cent and Bristol grew by 21.3 per cent.