Somebody knows something, as the money spent by these guys is serious dosh, and would certainly not have been spent if it was all going ■■■■ up over here…
XPO buying N.D. may have been a good investment for them, and also for some of their depots, but it has seen much of their fleet “flagged out” to East Euro companies. Mostly EE reg trucks in Europe now, many fewer French etc ones.
Companies being bought may be a sign of investment, or equally could be asset strippers couldn`t it?
I seem to remember seeing a lot of Polish registered ND units pulling French registered trailers before XPO bought the company.
As for asset stripping, can hardly blame that on Brexit, been a problem in this country for decades, part of the global economic system which benefits a few, but rarely is good for the average worker.
Yes there certainly were EE trucks on the ND fleet before the XPO purchase. My point being that a US firm will have even less “nationalistic” scruples than a european one possibly? Maybe thats unfair though, EU and UK multinationals have as much (little!) national interest as any US ones. Asset stripping is little to do with Brexit of course. Buying a company isnt always a sign of good and noble intent by an honourable investor.
And it’s worth noting that without the award to Seaborne, the government would be in a position where the two beneficiaries of a no-deal Brexit were a Danish and a French firm - based, of course, in the EU.
All I can see is a “plan” which is so incompetant that they can turn round and say “if you don’t support our May sellout deal this is the alternative and it’ll all fall apart”.
Non of the people organising any of this have any interest in it actually working or appearing to be workable. The entire civil service management in London appears to be pro EU.
Bring on the queues as I guarantee people like BMW will be hammering on the German Government doors to sort things out due to their car parts getting stuck as they cross the channel 4x before being sold here.
trevHCS:
All I can see is a “plan” which is so incompetant that they can turn round and say “if you don’t support our May sellout deal this is the alternative and it’ll all fall apart”.
Non of the people organising any of this have any interest in it actually working or appearing to be workable. The entire civil service management in London appears to be pro EU.
Bring on the queues as I guarantee people like BMW will be hammering on the German Government doors to sort things out due to their car parts getting stuck as they cross the channel 4x before being sold here.
Really?
You think we should wait the German Gov are brought in to help out with overcrowded British ports? I don’t think that you really mean that do you ?
Watching the news on this fiasco, it was stated that this company has been vetted as a viable option, yet, they stated that in accessing companies house, they only have £66 pounds in the bank, so it doesnt seem a viable option to me. Looking at the other options of Brittany Ferries, and DFDS, who have received, or about to receive £90 million between them, to supply priority for British trucks, or priority goods being imported to the uk, in my opinion, unless they have spare boats parked up, i dont see how this will work, as surely this will in fact cause many queues at the ports, something they want to avoid… I smell a rat. !!
Somebody knows something, as the money spent by these guys is serious dosh, and would certainly not have been spent if it was all going ■■■■ up over here…
What we do know is Seaborne Freight has connections with one of the Tory party’s largest donors.
If a fella was cynical , he might read something in the bottom quote
trevHCS:
All I can see is a “plan” which is so incompetant that they can turn round and say “if you don’t support our May sellout deal this is the alternative and it’ll all fall apart”.
Non of the people organising any of this have any interest in it actually working or appearing to be workable. The entire civil service management in London appears to be pro EU.
Bring on the queues as I guarantee people like BMW will be hammering on the German Government doors to sort things out due to their car parts getting stuck as they cross the channel 4x before being sold here.
I should imagine German companies are already planning for a no deal Brexit to try and reduce the impact on them, and although no doubt they’ll still take a hit by a no deal Brexit, they don’t won’t want any deal that would encourage other countries and lead to the loss of frictionless movement of goods across the EU, that’s worth a lot more.
WhiteTruckMan:
What it looks like to me based on reports I’ve seen is that a bunch of spivs have managed to insert themselves into the process as middle men, increasing costs while ultimately bringing nothing new to the table.
A bit like a normal run of the mill 4PL outfit then ■■?
Link is from the BBC ,The ultimate in Project fear…Just behind Channel 4 .One of the reasons May was put as PM, was to delay brexit for as long as she could ,to cause more devide and conquer ,And reading this forums several threads relating to Brexit ,It is working .
And after the boats are found, ports dredged , the linkspans adapted, office and security staff trained, where are the extra immigration and customs officers coming from to be deployed in these new ports?
I seem to remember the Dutch started training 3,000 this year? How many extra we got?
truckyboy:
Watching the news on this fiasco, it was stated that this company has been vetted as a viable option, yet, they stated that in accessing companies house, they only have £66 pounds in the bank, so it doesnt seem a viable option to me. Looking at the other options of Brittany Ferries, and DFDS, who have received, or about to receive £90 million between them, to supply priority for British trucks, or priority goods being imported to the uk, in my opinion, unless they have spare boats parked up, i dont see how this will work, as surely this will in fact cause many queues at the ports, something they want to avoid… I smell a rat. !!
Worse than that, their last balance sheet/accounts from April show that they have liabilities of almost £400,000. All of their ‘officers’ seem to be involved in companies that set up and run up liabilities and then fold, or in one case are struck off by Companies House. I’m not an expert( this may be common practice) but it doesn’t strike me as worthy of any contract let alone 14 million.
Franglais:
You think we should wait the German Gov are brought in to help out with overcrowded British ports?
The plan is they get to mid Jan amd get “the deal” thrown out. Then the likes of say BMW and 1000s other large Euro companies realise they will get impacted.
At that point they start “talking” to their respective governments to tell them in no uncertain terms that the EU has to sort this customs thing out.
The EU is forced by its members to get their arses into gear, come up with a sensible option to allow only movement of goods (not people) without all sort off complicated paperwork or keep a similar to existing system temporarily until we can sort out a proper arrangement.
If they don’t then their businesses suffer which affects jobs, economies etc and France especially really camt afford to ■■■■ its people off right now… and neither can the EU.
Odd days:
I remember when they used to bring VW cars in there and park them up at manston, I cannot imagine them wanting all that traffic there again now.
They didn’t bring them in at Ramsgate , they brought them in by transporter ships to Richborough and then into one of two yards at Sandwich .
These days there is a purpose built road and tunnel into the Ferry dock at Ramsgate so HGVs and ferry traffic avoid the edge of the town centre and the seafront / marina area .
toonsy:
Interestingly… The company involved is something to do with the brother of the guy who owns JCB - am ardent Brexiteer and large Tory party donor…
What’s the basis for that? I’ve seen it mentioned elsewhere that the registered address of Seaborne Freight is also that of a law firm of which Mark Bamford is a director, he being Sir Anthony Bamford’s brother. In the first place, Mark Bamford is no mate of his elder brother Tony - they had (probably still have) a very long running (a couple of decades) and acrimonious legal dispute over ownership of part of the JCB empire. In the second place, the Mark Bamford who is director of the law firm CJC is a good 20 years younger than the Mark Bamford whose brother heads JCB - I’m not sure they are even related. In the third place, there are loads of companies whose registered address is 59 Mansell Street - largely due to it being the London office of the aforementioned CJC Law firm. In short, I suspect that someone somewhere is adding 2 + 2 and coming up with a very large, odd number…
Franglais:
You think we should wait the German Gov are brought in to help out with overcrowded British ports?
The plan is they get to mid Jan amd get “the deal” thrown out. Then the likes of say BMW and 1000s other large Euro companies realise they will get impacted.
At that point they start “talking” to their respective governments to tell them in no uncertain terms that the EU has to sort this customs thing out.
The EU is forced by its members to get their arses into gear, come up with a sensible option to allow only movement of goods (not people) without all sort off complicated paperwork or keep a similar to existing system temporarily until we can sort out a proper arrangement.
If they don’t then their businesses suffer which affects jobs, economies etc and France especially really camt afford to ■■■■ its people off right now… and neither can the EU.
This could be wishful thinking though.
I think it’s dangerous to assume that other EU businesses are going to fall over themselves to ensure UK businesses stay afloat, nor safe to assume foreign businesses operating over here won’t consider moving facilities should things go completely belly up. The likes of BMW & VW won’t be holding blind faith in “oh its just project fear” & I would think will have contingency plans in place for their supply chain, plans that won’t necessarily benefit UK workers. Demand for their cars from the UK public is hardly likely to fall off a cliff after March.
