Watford, UK: Energy prices are now so high that one seafood storage and distribution company has been forced to close its UK operation and move to the Netherlands.
Speaking to LBC’s radio show with Eddie Mair this week, one caller said his company had been storing and transporting expensive fish, such as langoustines and crab abroad, for 40 years. The company ran 11 storage and distribution centres for fresh seafood across the UK.
“We just gave up,” said Lee, who did not give his surname or business name.
He said the business “literally cannot pass on 260% energy price rise to restaurants and private clients”. The business owner said that, by relocating the company’s centres to Rotterdam, he could get a 5.5% price cap on energy, and avoid going bankrupt. He announced the closure of the UK business last Friday (12 August). “We’re looking at 900 redundancies plus,” he said.
Lee said that the company had managed to navigate through Brexit, Covid and the cost of living crisis, by spending £6m but the latest energy price crisis had brought matters to a head.
“We’ve got no help. There’s nothing coming from Rishi, Liz, Boris, whatever. There’s no direction at all on what this policy’s going to look like in the next 18 months. You can’t plan a business without some kind of support on that basis.”
And he warned that there would be many more business closures without government support.
