SIX years of Brexit-related frustration was resolved, in part at least, last week as the opening of a new border inspection facility enabled oysters from Jersey to be exported to the Normandy port of Granville.
A shipment from the Jersey Oyster Company was transported to the port on the Cherbourg Peninsula aboard the Normandy Trader on Wednesday and successfully unloaded, prior to a return journey to the Island carrying French freight.
This marked the first time that the route had been used in this fashion since changes resulting from Brexit came into force in 2020, with exports of oysters and mussels having to be landed at St Malo since then.
Chris Le Masurier of the Jersey Company said that after oysters had been successfully exported to Granville for around 15 years prior to 2020, the subsequent changes had been very damaging.
“We could make a whole round-trip in around ten hours, and then it went up to two-and-a-half days in order to unload in St Malo, wait there for the tide, travel empty to Granville to pick up freight and then return to Jersey,” he said.
Mr Le Masurier said modifications to the boat for the longer route had cost an estimated £150,000, while the additional running costs had been around £100,000 per year.
The new facility is a Veterinary and Phytosanitary Border Inspection Office, referred to in French as a SIVEP. Currently, its operations are restricted to oysters and mussels, but it is hoped that this scope can be extended in future to include other bivalves such as scallops and clams.
Opening the SIVEP formed one of the outcomes of the new Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) agreement signed last year between the UK and the EU, described as providing a partial reset of issues arising out of Brexit.
Jersey’s head of marine resources Francis Binney welcomed the news of the successful return to the old route.
“We’ve been asking for this since Brexit – it’s been a long process and it’s really pleasing to have it in place, it’s very good news for the Port of Granville and the agricultural industry.
“We hope this will form part of an opening up of trade movements between the British Isles and continental Europe.”
Mr Binney said a productive meeting had taken place last week with representatives from the French fishing industry and that it was hoped further collaborative work would result from the “healthier relationship between the Island and our nearest neighbour”.
