From Tuesday, 4.30 pm, Eurostar Le Shuttle trains started running between the United Kingdom and France. Thirty MyFerryLink employees set fire to three stacks of tyres at around 300 metres from the French entrance to the Channel Tunnel, and blocked the railway with concrete slabs. Due to the delays, the Eurostar had to cancel 20 trains, according to Eurostar spokeswoman Julie Kerremans.
France: Calais strike suspended until Tuesday, July 7
The strike action in the port of Calais have been suspended until Tuesday, July 7 for the time being, Dutch motoring association ANWB reports. The timetable of ferry crossings between Calais and Dover thus returns to normal. There are, however, still hundreds of trucks waiting on both sides of the Channel. According to transport authorities, it could take 48 for those long lines to be cleared.
"Transport to the UK is like Russian roulette"
Tires were burning again in Calais Tuesday (July 21). Disgruntled employees from MyFerryLink wanted to make their views known about the layoffs at the ferry by erecting barricades on the A16. Although the barricades at the entrance to the port were cleared by the authorities, traffic in the Eurotunnel was far from smooth, according to Chris Hans van der Hout from Freight-Line Europe: "Last night things seemed pretty calm but at around 2:00 am assaults by migrants started again. As a result, the waiting times at the tunnel quickly jumped to 4.5 hours and at the moment there are no departure times given for the Eurotunnel."
Greek 'no' divides EU
Last night's Greek 'no' brings Europe even further into unknown territory. Nobody knows exactly what will happen. This morning, the Greek parliament will convene to discuss the results, and for European leaders, a meeting is planned as well. In the entire Greek dossier, more factors play a part than the Greeks' too high burden of debt alone.
Greece stays in euro
Yesterday, the Greek parliament approved the reform and austerity measures brought back from Brussels by Prime Minister Tsipras on Monday. Although Tsipras called the deal "bad in many respects", he did get a majority on his side. Within Syriza, the prime minister's party, not everyone voted for the proposals.
UK: Pink Lady®, Asda launch apples for children
Coregeo®, the master Licensor for Pink Lady® in the UK, has this week launched an exciting new brand extension into ASDA stores across the country. Pinkids® sees a pack of eight smaller Pink Lady® apples perfect for smaller mouths, but with exactly the same great Pink Lady® taste.
Low lime prices in Europe
Big supplies of imported limes in Europe have caused prices there to dip. But as summer is the time of year when the most limes are consumed, importers are expecting prices to increase in the coming weeks.
Avocado market 'emptied' by the warm weather
The summer is a good season for the avocado. "Particularly when it's warm, you notice demand is very high," says Ive Lambert of Starfruit. "At the moment, avocados are mainly coming in from South Africa and Peru. We even have some flown in from Kenya now. Due to a shortage in 'greenskin', the Hass market has now also increased. Because the market has been 'emptied', there's a shortage of RTE avocados since late last week. In addition, a shipment from South Africa has been delayed. The boat only came in yesterday, which drained the market somewhat. The shipment has now been unloaded, but it will take two to three days for them to be ripen. For the ready-to-eat story, it will be difficult in the coming days, but it will bounce back." Due to the shortage, the prices have gone up sharply in a few days. "It depends on the size. For the bigger Hass, it's around 10 Euro for the non-ripened fruit. For smaller sizes, a few Euro less are offered."
Stable prices for South African citrus
Less rain during harvesting has made the process faster and easier according to South African citrus producers and marketer Rob Gunning from Lona.
"At the moment we are harvesting Navelate, clementines, Star Ruby, Marsh and lemons," explains Gunning. "Volumes have been slightly higher than expected but not very noteworthy. Size and quality are very good, skin finish is looking very good too and even the local market is benefiting."
Aus grapes back in Vietnam from October
Table grape exporters are keen to get back to ‘business as usual’ following the reopening of the Vietnamese market to Australian imports. “Most importers have been very understanding I would suggest. As an industry we would have missed out on sending maybe 12,000-15,000 tonnes of grapes to Vietnam since the market closed in January,” says Jeff Scott, CEO of the Australian Table Grape Association. ”We’re very happy with the decision, and we’re doing everything we possibly can to reestablish relationships between growers and importers.”
"It is expected that our trade will get back to the level is was prior to the suspension."
Bonduelle aiming takeover Green Giant
French food group Bonduelle SCA is in discussions to team up with Centerview Partners in a bid to acquire General Mills' Green Giant frozen and canned vegetable business, according to people familiar with the matter.