Exports of apples and pears have been disrupted at various French ports due to strikes and blockades, Fruitnet reports. Blue Whale estimates losses at €150,000.
Specifically, the ports of Calais, Dunkirk, Le Havre, Rouen, Nantes-Saint-Nazaire, La Rochelle and Marseille report significant decreases, while container terminals at Le Havre and Marseille are the worst hit, according to Fruitnet.
Blue Whale president Christophe Belloc said:
“We are used to dealing with technical or weather problems that block our boats every year. This is part of the risk of exports. Generally, when there is one week of strike, we manage to compensate with the next. The problem here is that the first boats cancelled were in mid-December and our customers cancelled their orders. Over the last month, between the cargoes that remained at the terminal and the transfers of our goods to other European ports, we lost €150,000.”
