Watch: Company diverts freight over damage from stowaways

A shipping agency in Dublin has stopped accepting deliveries that have come through Cherbourg because of the number of loads and lorries damaged by migrants stowing away last week.

Hyland Shipping said it received 90 loads last week which had come through the French port and nine of those were damaged by people stowing away and on one of those lorries six migrants were still onboard and emerged when it was opened for unloading at its warehouse in Dublin.

The company said the stowaways access the trucks by cutting holes in the roof or the sides of lorry trailers and once inside try to hide themselves inside loads, in case the trailer is opened for inspection.

This means they open up the loads to make space for themselves inside, causing thousands of euro of damage to the goods. The damage to the lorries also costs thousands to repair.

The company believes people may be moving from one trailer to another when on board ferries because some of the units involved are refrigerated and people would not have survived a 20-hour ferry journey inside a refrigerated unit.

It said the decision to divert freight from Cherbourg to other ports is costing it money and causing delays, but the scale of the problem is such that it will not accept loads which have come via Cherbourg until it has received reassurances that security has been improved at the port.

RTÉ News has contacted the Port of Cherbourg about the concerns expressed by Hyland Shipping.