One of the largest mussel exporters in Britain lose £150,000 after three lorries were prevented from entering the EU
One of Britain’s largest mussel exporters has suffered a £150,000 loss, after three of its shipments to the EU were rejected in recent weeks by French customs.
Family-run business Offshore Shellfish, based in Devon, has continued exporting blue mussels to its European customers since Brexit, despite the administrative burden and onerous paperwork requirements.
However, the past month has seen three out of four lorries prevented from entering the EU by customs officials at the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer for various reasons, which the company’s commercial director Sarah Holmyard called “subjective and inconsistent”.
“We have sent hundreds and hundreds of loads since Brexit. We’ve never had a single one rejected,” Holmyard told the Guardian. “We’ve had a couple of paperwork issues, but we’ve never had our mussels rejected and now in the last month we’ve had three loads rejected.”
