Kent Action Against Live Exports (KAALE)
J62
KAALE REPORT on the LIVESTOCK SHIPMENT Wednesday 29th August 2012 from Ramsgate, Kent, England to Calais, France
VESSEL : M.V. JOLINE , still the same flat bottomed barge , totally unsuited for moving animals , especially in rough weather .
CONDITIONS : Dry, WITH A VERY STRONG SOUTH WESTERLY WIND AND ROUGH SEA . Sunny intervals.
ATTENDING .: KAALE monitors, TALE and KAALE members, RSPCA, DEFRA’s Animal Health . Kent Police with 3 marked and one plain car and three large vans.
At 22.10 hrs 28th August vessel Joline left Calais harbour (France) and berthed in Ramsgate port (England) at 04.00 hrs 29th August.
Two empty livestock transporters which had travelled across from Calais on the Joline then came off the ship and left the docks , one( registration BT JD 75 front / OD 39 DD rear ) travelling to nearby Lydden Court farm where it remained parked ; the other (De Jong) travelling to beyond the Dartford tunnel heading north . Neither returned to the docks at Ramsgate this day.
Animal transporters arriving at Ramsgate docks.
04.30 hrs (1) Registration BR 36 AW / BV 884 YJ Name displayed over windscreen ROCHE ET FILS (French ? ) dark blue cab with silver trailer loaded with sheep. The port staff did not allow this lorry to remain in the docks so it left and travelled a short way outside Ramsgate and stopped at the Co-op services in Minster ( Thanet ) and returned to the docks at 05.44 hrs .
It was eventually inspected by the RSPCA and Animal Health , issues were found with the water feeders which were adjusted before the lorry was allowed to load on to the Joline . Another black mark against the hauliers.
07.39 hrs. (2) Registration BZ HX 63 front / OF 68 RN rear . . DUTCH nationality but no name displayed . Dark blue cab with red and white griffin logo on the sides and a grey trailer which was loaded with x 4 tiers of sheep .
As the lorry came round into the docks at Ramsgate it was noticed that a tyre was flapping and noisy and was clearly defective having become flat .The roof of the trailer was also very uneven and looked badly aligned.
Kent traffic police came to the docks and inspected the defective tyre and ordered it to be replaced . They ALSO condemned the spare tyre as unsuitable which left this lorry unable to load on to the Joline.
When the RSPCA and Animal Health inspected the trailer and livestock they discovered that the roof was defective and not able to be raised properly, the gates between the pens on the tiers were not chained securely where the chain link pins had slipped and there was also an issue with water access.
THESE VEHICLES AND THE LIVESTOCK THEY CONTAIN ARE SUPPOSED TO BE MANAGED BY QUALIFIED STOCKMEN AND ALSO – ONE PRESUMES – BY COMPETENT, QUALIFIED DRIVERS – SO NOT A VERY GOOD PERFORMANCE ON EITHER COUNT . . THIS VEHICLE WAS REFUSED AND NOT ALLOWED TO LOAD ON TO THE JOLINE .
It is more than probable that even without the two defective tyres this lorry would still have been refused for a series of defects and non compliance with EU regulations proving that scant attention is paid by some drivers to maintaining their vehicles to acceptable required standards for transporting livestock .
Hardly suprising considering this trailer has been running with regularity week in week out on virtually every shipment since 2006 .The driver is putting profit over safety with defective tyres and substandard facilities on his trailer . It needs scrapping .
09.40 hrs Joline left Ramsgate port bound for Calais carrying just one transporter containing 600 sheep . Also on board was the camper van which had come over on it the previous shipment along with a woman and two children , with which the driver of the lorry (BZHX63) seems to have some association (see report J61 24th August )
Transporter BZ HX 63 was left waiting in the docks for new tyres which proved to very difficult to find and it was still there at 15.30 hrs with the sheep still loaded.
At sea the Joline was seen to be struggling against a strong wind ( up to force 7 ) and was making slow progress.
After she departed Ramsgate the vessel Joline immediately turned to starboard taking the inshore route (i.e. . hugging the Kent coast until just off Deal then turning to port to cross the sea traffic lanes to Calais therefore identifying this as a rough weather crossing )
It was reported that even inside the port of Calais large ferries were having difficulty holding their positions in their berths .
Joline eventually reached Calais at 16. 30 hrs almost SEVEN HOURS after she left Ramsgate – a journey which normally take four hours . Testament to the rough weather conditions which slowed the ship down and caused it pitch and roll all the way .
YET AGAIN JOLINE ‘S MASTER HAS CHOSEN TO FLOUT REGULATIONS WHICH STATE CLEARLY THAT IF LOADED WITH LIVESTOCK SHE IS NOT TO OPERATE IN WIND STRENGTHS ABOVE FORCE 6 .
HOW MANY MORE RULES DOES THIS VESSEL AND THE VEHICLES THAT USE IT HAVE TO BREAK, FLOUT AND TOTALLY IGNORE BEFORE AUTHORITY GETS OUT THEIR COLLECTIVE FINGER AND PRESS THE STOP BUTTON ????.
Eventually Animal Health decided that the refused lorry was to be allowed to return to point of origin (rather than an emergency facility closer , though not in Kent ) – in their opinion both the driver and the long suffering sheep having had sufficient “ REST” in the docks .
Allowance for sheep is 14 hours travel 1 hour rest another 14 hours travel and so on infinitum or until destination.
SURELY THE DRIVER MUST BE OUT OF HIS tacho TIME ???
His erratic driving once on the Kent roads again after leaving Ramsgate port and the tyre changes suggested he was TOO tired for another four hours on the road.
This is KAALE report J62 compiled on Wednesday 29th August 2012 .
Below – Tyre damage photo kindly supplied by Alan; for which we thank him.
And a truck fully loaded with sheep was driving in this condition on UK roads !!!
Visit KAALE at their website – http://www.kaale.org.uk
Please make sure you sign our petition calling for better signage for sealed transporters carrying live animals:
Filed under: CAMPAIGNS - Global Animal Welfare Issues, GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional, GLOBAL PETITIONS - Anything Animal, Anywhere !, PHOTOGRAPHS - **WARNING** (Animal Suffering)
Homo sapiens is frugivore animal species,has not enzymes for using meat/milk/eggs/bread like an own food.
There are many syntethic materials for clothes and for everything what we need- we need not wool because dead wool smells whatever you do with its .Then why homo sapiens do these horrible transports and horrible exploitation sentient beings ? Because PROFIT of smell profiters. “OWNERS“ OF THESE SHEEPS, OWNERS OF THESE TRUCKS ARE SMELL PROFITERS- they are harm not only to poor animals but for humans too.