Seven Moroccan lorries carrying fruit & veg were held up at Motril Port over a whole weekend owing to a lack of customs staff.
One of the major Moroccan exporters had agreed to use Motril Port via Tangiers, sending 20% of their good this way… now their thinking twice about it.
This fleet of lorries had arrived at the port at 14.25h, rolling off the Tangiers’ car ferry yet they ended up stuck there the whole weekend, not being able to move out until Monday morning a full 44 hours later.
The Motril Port Authorities have spent years complaining about the lack of customs officers over the weekends to deal with plant products.
At present, the customs officials only work Monday to Friday and it is the Ministry of Agriculture which has the responsibility to provide the staffing.
In the meantime, this major horticulture & fruit exporter has threatened to send their goods via elsewhere after this 44-hour delay of a cargo valued at 400,000 euros.
Motril Port explained that the ferry arrived late owing to the adverse sea conditions but the customs officials weren’t prepared to stay around to wait for them, leaving seven lorries stranded.
The port authorities phoned the provincial customs office in Granada and the Sub-Delegate for the Central Government but to no avail.
It was back in June when the port authorities requested a temporary inspector to cover the eight months of the horticultural growing season, providing weekend coverage, but they received no response.
Málaga Port, of course, enjoys weekend coverage even though they move less horticultural produce than Motril.
(News: Motril, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)