no good reason to stop trucks.........low risk........drivers are stuck
in their cabs
they are at it ("teaching us a lesson").............long distance lorry
drivers stuck in their cabs are low risk..........thousands of feral
infected jiggaboos the french are sending over in small boats are the
high risk
Only when driving. They are just as likely to mix with many dozens of
people at the delivery point, when obeying the call of nature or taking
a food break. 70,000 lorries a week through Eurotunnel and Dover - that
a lot of drivers.
In the days when I used to use the ferries, I often saw quite a few
unattached trailers loaded onto the ship by port owned tractor units.
Presumably they were to be collected on the other side. Do they not do
that any more?
Yes. Thats how that refridgerated trailer unit with 39 vietnamese
folk inside was moved from Zeebrugge to Harwich.
They have cabs like farm tractors since they are only used as
tugs for moving trailer units around the port.
On Tue, 22 Dec 2020 12:03:24 +0000, nightjar snipped-for-privacy@bignell.me.uk>
wrote:
I think Grant Shapps said 80% of freight was 'unaccompanied'. Not
sure about tractor units though. I thought the containers were lifted
on to the ship using large cranes.
Onto container ships, yes. But where the tractor units are used is to move the
cabless trailers onto a ferry. At the other end another tractor takes it off
and over to a waiting cab.
Well the DFDS ferries are just about 100% 'with driver' in my
experience and I travel[led] pretty frequently on the Dover ferries.
There might be one or two 'tractorless' trailers per crossing but
that's about all.
Which raises the question - couldn't they come to an agreement that
hauliers on both sides of the Channel cooperate to do that with all the
freight that is stacking up outside the ports now? It wouldn't solve the
problem of the foreign drivers on this side who want to get home for
Christmas, but it would get freight moving again.
I'm a bit dubious about that figure. I assume that's all sea-borne freight,
including things like bathroom suites from Italy, new whisky barrels from
France, etc, that's not very time-limited. Trans-oceanic container ships
often call at several European ports, eg Le Havre-Felixstowe-Rotterdam-Hamburg
and I assume containers are carried between those ports where there is
capacity, as well as on other coastal shipping.
On the other hand, time-limited goods like fruit/veg, medicines, parcels,
machine parts, etc are the ones that go by lorry on the ferries. These are
the goods that are most at risk if lorries are banned.
(Trains are generally only used if there's a whole train's worth going
between the same two places - a train of Evian water from France because
it's so bulky, or a train of Transit vans from Southampton to Italy. Tesco
have organised a train of fruit/veg from Spain to head off Brexit delays,
but I don't know if that's running yet)
Theo
Not so simple with a ro-ro ferry. An accompanied unit just drives on
and off. Tugs take much longer. That's why unaccompanied trailers are
mostly (was around 95%) from North Sea ports where turnaround times are
more relaxed. I expect it'll be done with schedules changed but I doubt
Dover and Calais have much spare tug capacity on hand.
It used not to be done at all on Le Shuttle. They were developing a new
facility at Folkestone to put trailers onto freight wagons but I've no
idea if that's yet working: the HGV drivers I know stopped going to
Europe some years ago.
On Tue, 22 Dec 2020 10:40:39 +0000, "jim.gm4dhj"
The timing of all this is also deeply suspicious - and the location.
SE England sounds like an unlikely place for a significant mutation to
arise. I know they can arise anywhere, but SE England on the eve of
the transition period expiring and the talks deadlocked? Hmmmm.
The French are just doing what's in their best national interest and
pretty soon, the UK will be able to do likewise, unfettered by EU
rules the French don't abide by if it suits them, anyway.
We just happen to be the leading experts, so are the most likely to
detect a mutation. Whether it actually started in Kent or came from
somewhere else and was simply found there first remains to be determined.
You think it is a plot by Boris to get people ready for the chaos of a
non deal Brexit? I can't see anybody else benefiting from us being
isolated from 50 countries.
Unaccompanied makes sense for say Rosyth to Zeebrugge - saves the driver
spending 18 hours on the boat doing nothing, so a bit of extra time
collecting doesn't matter. It makes little sense for Dover/Calais, because
the time on the boat fits the driver's rest hours so is 'free'. If the
driver didn't cross, they would have to spend the time resting anyway, and
of course it would take longer to pick up a trailer.
Ideally, you would put the trailers on the train near where they originated
rather than Folkestone, meaning you need many fewer drivers. Unfortunately
the UK railways aren't tall enough for that. (There was a proposal for a
wide-gauge route for trailers to/from the North which got turned down, and
eventually morphed into HS2)
Theo
Yes and most of them coming from here are not English, but then since the
new strain if it is a 'thing' at all was first seen in September, its had
plenty of chance to already be in Europe, indeed its in Germany. I have met
a lot of French people and I'd not say they hate anybody, particularly but
then they never have much good to say about their own leaders in fact.
Brian
On Tue, 22 Dec 2020 19:31:18 +0000, The Natural Philosopher
So they've decended to living in filth among pigs and chickens? Well I
guess we shouldn't be too surprised as it's been going that way for
quite a while. :(
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.