Lufthansa transports fresh food to England as chaos at UK border continues

A Lufthansa (PRESSURES) A spokesperson told CNN Business that a Boeing 777 carrying 80 tons of perishable cargo would leave Frankfurt at 6.30am ET and arrive at Doncaster-Sheffield Airport around 90 minutes later. The airline works with freight forwarders to supply goods from Egypt, Spain and other countries.

France and the UK agreed on Tuesday evening to reopen ferry ports and the Eurotunnel rail link, but at least 3,000 trucks were stranded Wednesday morning with their drivers awaiting negative Covid-19 tests they need to travel . Only two trucks had arrived in Calais from the English port of Dover, a spokesperson for the port of Calais told CNN.

Major UK supermarkets such as Tesco (TSCDY) and Sainsbury’s (JSAIY) warned earlier this week that they would start to run out of fresh items such as lettuce, salad greens, broccoli, cauliflower and citrus within days if the harbor chaos was not resolved quickly . The industry association responsible for cold distribution also warned that a prolonged blockade would cause “significant problems” to supply chains in January.

A Tesco spokesperson told CNN Business on Wednesday that the company had nothing to add to its previous statement.

The backlog of trucks that is building up around Dover will take days to clear, a British minister said on Wednesday.

“I hope the heavyweights [Heavy Goods Vehicles] will cross the Channel this morning, so the situation will start to improve gradually, but I think that will take time, “UK Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick said. Speaking to Sky News, he said that” he does not dispute that the delays caused problems for the supply chain, but asserted that there was “no material shortage of food.”

The British Retail Consortium, which represents more than 170 major UK retailers and thousands of small businesses, said it was “essential” for trucks to start moving quickly now that the border has reopened.

“Until the backlog is cleared and supply chains return to normal, we anticipate issues with the availability of some fresh produce,” said Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at BRC.

The freight crisis comes at the worst time for retail businesses as they attempt to meet peak holiday demand and build up additional inventory in case Britain crumbles out of the single market EU and customs union within days without a post-Brexit trade deal.

Lufthansa said it is considering whether additional special cargo flights could be offered over the next few days.

“We are also checking whether a scheduled flight is possible,” said the spokesperson. “It could be with a freighter, but we are also looking at whether we could use passenger planes only for cargo flights.”

The German flag carrier took a similar step at the start of the pandemic in March when he launched “an airlift for all of Germany” to ensure the supply of goods across the country. The move referred to the Cold War operation led by American and British planes to keep West Berlin supplied with food and other essentials during a Soviet blockade in 1948 and 1949.

– Rob North, Sharon Braithwaite and Fanny Bobille contributed to this article.