POST-BREXIT EXPORT FIRST After months of meticulous planning, five precious elite stud males were loaded at Inca Alpaca in Dorset ready for their journey to new homes in Europe, writes Kevin Hamstra, Alpaca Logistics Europe.
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he young boys were set to travel to buyers in Finland and Germany. Following Brexit, the UK is considered a ‘third country’ instead of an EU member state. This means all live animals travelling from the UK must be inspected by an official veterinarian at a Border Control Point (BCP) as soon as they enter the EU. As EU veterinary inspection posts at any of the ports in mainland Europe were not ready to process alpacas no successful exports of alpacas from the UK to mainland Europe had taken place this year – until now. This group of alpacas had a 12 month quarantine period ahead of them after arrival in Finland and were set to become working studs by summer 2022 so their journey to Finland was time critical. Waiting for the Rotterdam BCP to open was not a satisfactory option. Calais BCP does not accept alpacas, and is not expecting to add alpacas to their certification anytime soon. Special permission was obtained from the government agency APHA and DAERA (Deprtment of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, Ireland,) to use the newly built Border Control Post (BCP) in Rosslare, Ireland. Here we were able to have the alpacas inspected and all paperwork signed off to continue their journey through Europe. DAERA was very helpful and considerate. The alpacas were unloaded into very clean and spacious stables to get some rest and stretch their legs whilst all paperwork was processed. The official vet performing the border inspection was impressed by how well the alpacas were traveling, how calm they were and gave credit for the thorough preparation of exporter and transporter. After the stopover in Rosslare, the alpacas were back on the next ferry to the
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