4 Nights at a French Truck Halt: Stranded by COVID Border Closure | Planet News

By Caroline Pailliez and Thierry Chiarello

CALAIS, France (Reuters) – Ali Kansu, a 54-year-aged truck driver from Turkey, was on Friday hunkering down for an additional evening sleeping at a truck cease in the vicinity of Calais, just one of the a lot of truckers stranded by the halting of traffic flows from Britain to France.

Kansu arrived in Calais with a cargo from Germany, in planning for a prepared handover on Monday to a colleague who would take the consignment the relaxation of its journey, across the Channel and into Britain.

But with France – alongside with several other international locations – stopping arrivals from Britain simply because of fears of a new pressure of COVID-19 there, the colleague did not demonstrate up, and is now incommunicado.

Kansu now has to wait around Calais. He arrived on Thursday, and now spent the weekend at the truck cease, so Monday will be his fourth night time there, sleeping in his taxi.

“But it can be not a dilemma,” he told Reuters. “I am alright in the truck.”

When the border was shut, 1000’s of Europe-bound truck drivers had been still left stranded in Britain, some concerned they would miss Xmas with their family members.

Even even though trucks are nonetheless authorized to cross from the French aspect to Britain, in many conditions they are not able to make the trip since the intricate logistics chain that retains the merchandise moving has been thrown out of kilter.

Dmitri, a Ukrainian truck driver, experienced previously supplied up waiting around at Calais and was preparing to head back to Germany with his cargo undelivered.

He way too experienced been due to swap his cargo with a driver coming across to Calais from Britain, but the border closure stopped the colleague arriving.

“It really is not great for enterprise, which is for guaranteed,” he mentioned at the truck prevent in close proximity to Calais, ahead of heading back.

(Supplemental reporting by Laurence Frost Creating by Christian Lowe Editing by Giles Elgood)

Copyright 2020 Thomson Reuters.