Fish Go To Thailand And Back As Scots Jobs Axed

[Jai Dee]

Fish go to Thailand and back as Scots jobs axed

A seafood firm is to cut 120 jobs at its processing plant in the south-west of Scotland in order to ship its langoustine catches on a 12,000-mile round trip to Thailand to be hand-peeled.

Environmentalists last night described the plans by Young's Seafood to transport hundreds of tonnes of Scottish langoustines annually to the Far East and back as the "madness of contemporary globalisation".

From February next year langoustines landed in Scotland will be frozen before being shipped from Annan in Dumfries and Galloway to Thailand, where they will be peeled then sent all the way back to Scotland to be turned into breaded scampi.

Currently the langoustine shells are removed mechanically at Young's plant in Annan but the company said that shelling by hand produces a superior quality scampi and cannot be carried out in Scotland because of prohibitive wage costs.

The announcement of so many job losses in a town of just 8000 people has raised concerns for the local economy.

John Holroyd, regional industrial organiser with the T&G union, said the job losses would be "absolutely devastating".

The Annan factory will remain open and continue to pack and distribute seafood. Young's said it had opened a 90-day consultation with union officials about the plans and that management hopes some of the workforce reduction could come from "natural wastage".

Duncan McLaren of Friends of the Earth Scotland said transporting the langoustines over such a distance would generate a weight of carbon dioxide which is almost half the weight of the seafood itself.

He added: "This for us sums up the madness of contemporary globalisation. It makes economic sense but makes absolutely no environmental sense."

Alasdair Morgan, SNP MSP for the South of Scotland, said: "This really seems to go against all the efforts we are making to protect the environment and tackling global warming."

Young's is the UK's largest specialist seafood processor and employs about 1800 people in Scotland, including 250 at the Annan site, which is the UK's biggest breaded scampi factory.

Shelling was done by hand in Annan until the 1980s, when the process was mechanised. However, the company said shelling by hand results in scampi of a significantly higher quality which justifies moving the operation to Thailand, where lower wages make it commercially viable.

The langoustines will be landed in Scotland then graded and frozen before being shipped to Thailand in a journey that will take three weeks. After being hand-peeled, they will be shipped almost 6000 miles back to Annan.

Young's expects to send about 25 shipments of between 20 to 24 tonnes of langoustines to Thailand annually.

Mike Mitchell, director of scampi for Young's, said: "This is an extremely difficult decision for us. However, the change forms part of our wider plan to grow the whole market."

"We must emphasise that we remain committed to Annan and fully expect that our development plans will result in long-term security for the site and even possible expansion in the future."

Source: The UK Herald - 15 November 2006

[Jai Dee]

The 17,000-mile round trip that costs the earth

Hard to digest business of globalisation: Scottish langoustine, which is at the centre of a row between unions, environmentalists and a seafood firm.

SCOTTISH langoustines are to be sent on a 17,000-mile round trip to Thailand for processing before being sold in the UK as scampi, in a move dismissed as "environmental madness" by critics.

Young's Seafood said it was cutting 120 jobs at its Scottish factory as part of plans to send 120,000 tonnes of langoustines - caught in Scottish waters - across the world, where they will be hand-peeled by cheap labour, re-packed and then shipped back to Scotland.

Unions reacted with anger yesterday at the threatened loss of jobs to Bangkok, where workers will be paid as little as 25p per hour, while environmentalists hit out at the cost to the environment of the unnecessary transport. It is estimated the scampi trade will produce 47,500 tonnes of CO2 based on the fuel consumed by an average freighter.

The cost of "offsetting" this with a carbon-trading scheme, which would fund renewable energy schemes, tree planting or other environmental improvements, would be about £350,000, but environmentalists said the real cost of the damage caused to the environment would be more like between £2 million and £2.5 million a year.

The jobs are to go at Young's manufacturing plant at Annan, where until now all deshelling has been done by machine. The firm says it is planning to develop the market for langoustines, which reportedly taste better if shelled by hand. Under the new plans, the langoustines will be caught and graded in Scotland, then packed in frozen containers and shipped, most likely from Greenock, to Bangkok. There, Young's parent company, Findus, has a processing plant and the produce will be de-shelled by hand.

Afterwards, they will be shipped back to the Annan plant, where they will be cooked and breaded. The company argues that as scampi tails are always matured in cold storage for up to three weeks prior to being cooked and breaded, it is convenient for this to take place while at sea.

Last night, Duncan McLaren, chief executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: "Very little could better sum up the environmental madness of modern globalisation than the nearly 17,000-mile round trip that will be taken by Young's scampi before it even arrives at the supermarket distribution depot.

"The environmental impacts - even of sea-freight - stack up: in this case perhaps as much as 50,000 tonnes a year more emissions.

"According to the Stern report, the social costs of damage from are £50 a tonne - thus the public is picking up a £2.5 million-a-year bill because of the misguided trade and transport policies of Scotland and the UK's political leaders."

The move was also criticised by Jason Torrance, campaigns director at Transport 2000, a UK organisation that campaigns for sustainable transport. He said: "Local production of food is part of the solution in tackling climate change, preserving jobs and boosting our economy."

In September Dawnfresh, another Scottish seafood company, cut 70 jobs at its Uddingston plant and began shipping prawns to China for part-processing, before shipping them back to Scotland for sale.

Mike Mitchell, director of scampi for Young's, responded last night: "We are an international business committed to high standards of practices and wherever possible we will select seafood suppliers that are able to catch, farm and undertake primary processing locally round the world.

"In this particular case, I believe the decision to ship to Thailand will produce long-term benefits for one of the UK's best- managed fisheries - a benefit that in this case outweighs the environmental impact of transporting that product by sea."

However, John Holroyd, regional industrial organiser for the TGWU union, said: "We are devastated; the whole town will be because the factory is synonymous with Annan. My own view is that this is the politics of the absurd, it's global capitalism gone absolutely mad."

Elaine Murray, the local MSP, said: "While I understand that this makes commercial sense for the companies involved, it doesn't make environmental sense to ship shellfish caught in UK waters halfway around the world for hand-peeling and then ship the product back for sale here."

Dr Campbell Gemmell, chief executive of the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, said he did not know enough about this case to comment specifically, but added: "There is a bigger debate here which is about the price of carbon. The impacts on our environment aren't free - there is a cost, although that historically has been ignored. A real cost for the use for carbon might just help us to get more sensible decisions on resource-use and the impacts the environment has to bear."

Source: The Scotsman - 15 November 2006

[JR Texas]

Fish go to Thailand and back as Scots jobs axed

A seafood firm is to cut 120 jobs at its processing plant in the south-west of Scotland in order to ship its langoustine catches on a 12,000-mile round trip to Thailand to be hand-peeled.

Environmentalists last night described the plans by Young's Seafood to transport hundreds of tonnes of Scottish langoustines annually to the Far East and back as the "madness of contemporary globalisation".

From February next year langoustines landed in Scotland will be frozen before being shipped from Annan in Dumfries and Galloway to Thailand, where they will be peeled then sent all the way back to Scotland to be turned into breaded scampi.

Currently the langoustine shells are removed mechanically at Young's plant in Annan but the company said that shelling by hand produces a superior quality scampi and cannot be carried out in Scotland because of prohibitive wage costs.

The announcement of so many job losses in a town of just 8000 people has raised concerns for the local economy.

John Holroyd, regional industrial organiser with the T&G union, said the job losses would be "absolutely devastating".

The Annan factory will remain open and continue to pack and distribute seafood. Young's said it had opened a 90-day consultation with union officials about the plans and that management hopes some of the workforce reduction could come from "natural wastage".

Duncan McLaren of Friends of the Earth Scotland said transporting the langoustines over such a distance would generate a weight of carbon dioxide which is almost half the weight of the seafood itself.

He added: "This for us sums up the madness of contemporary globalisation. It makes economic sense but makes absolutely no environmental sense."

Alasdair Morgan, SNP MSP for the South of Scotland, said: "This really seems to go against all the efforts we are making to protect the environment and tackling global warming."

Young's is the UK's largest specialist seafood processor and employs about 1800 people in Scotland, including 250 at the Annan site, which is the UK's biggest breaded scampi factory.

Shelling was done by hand in Annan until the 1980s, when the process was mechanised. However, the company said shelling by hand results in scampi of a significantly higher quality which justifies moving the operation to Thailand, where lower wages make it commercially viable.

The langoustines will be landed in Scotland then graded and frozen before being shipped to Thailand in a journey that will take three weeks. After being hand-peeled, they will be shipped almost 6000 miles back to Annan.

Young's expects to send about 25 shipments of between 20 to 24 tonnes of langoustines to Thailand annually.

Mike Mitchell, director of scampi for Young's, said: "This is an extremely difficult decision for us. However, the change forms part of our wider plan to grow the whole market."

"We must emphasise that we remain committed to Annan and fully expect that our development plans will result in long-term security for the site and even possible expansion in the future."

Source: The UK Herald - 15 November 2006

JR Texas (51, USA, in China): Reply to Jai Dee post:

Catch the langoustines in Scotland, freeze them, then ship them (via container cargo?) 6000 miles to Thailand. Then thaw them out and hand peel them. Then refreeze them? Then 6000 miles back again via container cargo to Scotland. All because the company has determined that it can save money on labor and increase its profit margin. Right?

The comment was made "This for us sums up the madness of contemporary globalisation. It makes economic sense but makes absolutely no environmental sense."

I would add that it only makes economic sense if the environmental costs are not included in the cost-benefit analysis.

It is unfortunate that at this late date (2006) we are still ignoring the cost to the environment when estimating "profitability." My guess is that the actual cost (shipping, labor, cost to environment, etc) of shipping them to Thailand and back will be much greater and not really profitable at all. But the actual cost is never calculated.

The same problem exists with all calculations of GNP worldwide.....the cost to the environment is ignored and our environmentally unsound economic activities (production and consumption) appear to be profitable. Tell that to future generations............tell that to the 120 people that just lost their jobs.

[womble]

Fish go to Thailand and back as Scots jobs axed

A seafood firm is to cut 120 jobs at its processing plant in the south-west of Scotland in order to ship its langoustine catches on a 12,000-mile round trip to Thailand to be hand-peeled.

Environmentalists last night described the plans by Young's Seafood to transport hundreds of tonnes of Scottish langoustines annually to the Far East and back as the "madness of contemporary globalisation".

From February next year langoustines landed in Scotland will be frozen before being shipped from Annan in Dumfries and Galloway to Thailand, where they will be peeled then sent all the way back to Scotland to be turned into breaded scampi.

Currently the langoustine shells are removed mechanically at Young's plant in Annan but the company said that shelling by hand produces a superior quality scampi and cannot be carried out in Scotland because of prohibitive wage costs.

The announcement of so many job losses in a town of just 8000 people has raised concerns for the local economy.

John Holroyd, regional industrial organiser with the T&G union, said the job losses would be "absolutely devastating".

The Annan factory will remain open and continue to pack and distribute seafood. Young's said it had opened a 90-day consultation with union officials about the plans and that management hopes some of the workforce reduction could come from "natural wastage".

Duncan McLaren of Friends of the Earth Scotland said transporting the langoustines over such a distance would generate a weight of carbon dioxide which is almost half the weight of the seafood itself.

He added: "This for us sums up the madness of contemporary globalisation. It makes economic sense but makes absolutely no environmental sense."

Alasdair Morgan, SNP MSP for the South of Scotland, said: "This really seems to go against all the efforts we are making to protect the environment and tackling global warming."

Young's is the UK's largest specialist seafood processor and employs about 1800 people in Scotland, including 250 at the Annan site, which is the UK's biggest breaded scampi factory.

Shelling was done by hand in Annan until the 1980s, when the process was mechanised. However, the company said shelling by hand results in scampi of a significantly higher quality which justifies moving the operation to Thailand, where lower wages make it commercially viable.

The langoustines will be landed in Scotland then graded and frozen before being shipped to Thailand in a journey that will take three weeks. After being hand-peeled, they will be shipped almost 6000 miles back to Annan.

Young's expects to send about 25 shipments of between 20 to 24 tonnes of langoustines to Thailand annually.

Mike Mitchell, director of scampi for Young's, said: "This is an extremely difficult decision for us. However, the change forms part of our wider plan to grow the whole market."

"We must emphasise that we remain committed to Annan and fully expect that our development plans will result in long-term security for the site and even possible expansion in the future."

Source: The UK Herald - 15 November 2006

JR Texas (51, USA, in China): Reply to Jai Dee post:

Catch the langoustines in Scotland, freeze them, then ship them (via container cargo?) 6000 miles to Thailand. Then thaw them out and hand peel them. Then refreeze them? Then 6000 miles back again via container cargo to Scotland. All because the company has determined that it can save money on labor and increase its profit margin. Right?

The comment was made "This for us sums up the madness of contemporary globalisation. It makes economic sense but makes absolutely no environmental sense."

I would add that it only makes economic sense if the environmental costs are not included in the cost-benefit analysis.

It is unfortunate that at this late date (2006) we are still ignoring the cost to the environment when estimating "profitability." My guess is that the actual cost (shipping, labor, cost to environment, etc) of shipping them to Thailand and back will be much greater and not really profitable at all. But the actual cost is never calculated.

The same problem exists with all calculations of GNP worldwide.....the cost to the environment is ignored and our environmentally unsound economic activities (production and consumption) appear to be profitable. Tell that to future generations............tell that to the 120 people that just lost their jobs.

Absolutley!!!

And the sooner the US realise this the better.

Unfortunatley for them their whole economy is based on consumption. What a ridiculous country it must be that roofs on houses are only meant to last 15-20 years!!!

And cars that do 8 miles to the gallon.........

[sriracha john]

ahhhh... the ever-educational thaivisa...

so, not being European and thusly unfamilar with langoustines (Nephrops norvegicus) ,

,

how do these buggers stack up against say... Tiger prawns or lobster?

better/worse/equal??

[The Dan Sai Kid]

ahhhh... the ever-educational thaivisa...

so, not being European and thusly unfamilar with langoustines (Nephrops norvegicus) ,

,

how do these buggers stack up against say... Tiger prawns or lobster?

better/worse/equal??

Fresh Langoustines are very nice. They are not as meaty as Lobster. Actually, they are pretty similar to TIger Prawns.

[PhilHarries]

The Annan factory will remain open and continue to pack and distribute seafood. Young's said it had opened a 90-day consultation with union officials about the plans and that management hopes some of the workforce reduction could come from "natural wastage".

Just love that euphenism "natural wastage" almost as offensive as "collateral damage"in this context.

We are talking about human lives here, you don't waste people unless you are a gangster.

Definition : Natural wastage.

Voluntary relocation to another plant : move your entire family or lose your job.

Voluntary redundancy : take redundancy on our slightly improved terms or lose your job.

Early retirement : take the pension early and join the scrapheap or lose your job.

This is a classic example of overstuffed, overpaid, MBA executives thinking outside the box. Their arguement that hand peeling produces better quality scampi is absolute bovine excrement. I bet 99.9% of their customers couldn't tell the difference between hand and machine peeled. Scampi is hardly the food of the discerning classes anyway, most of it ends up as pub grub washed down the neck by crap beer or cheap wine.

My gut feeling is that mechanical peeling has a high reject rate which adds to the cost therefore this is, almost without doubt, a cost cutting exercise and to hel_l with the environment.

Interesting point about the refreezing. One thing we are always told is you must NOT refreeze food once it is defrosted.

[Thaddeus]

ahhhh... the ever-educational thaivisa...

so, not being European and thusly unfamilar with langoustines (Nephrops norvegicus) ,

,

how do these buggers stack up against say... Tiger prawns or lobster?

better/worse/equal??

Street-fight or Queensbury Rules?

[chownah]

How much fuel does it take to send one ton of frozen product from Scotland to Thailand and back by boat?....probably not alot.

Pray tell why must we NOT refreeze food once its defrosted?

Chownah

P.S. I have no opinion on whether its a good idea or not....I just have some questions about the particulars.

Chownah

[sriracha john]

ahhhh... the ever-educational thaivisa...

so, not being European and thusly unfamilar with langoustines (Nephrops norvegicus) ,

how do these buggers stack up against say... Tiger prawns or lobster?

better/worse/equal??

Fresh Langoustines are very nice. They are not as meaty as Lobster. Actually, they are pretty similar to TIger Prawns.

mmm... sounds good. I wonder exactly where they'll be shipped to over here for processing. If's it processed in Nong Khom, might have to go out there and see if out of those 20 ton shipments, some of them end up at "back porch market." Probably make good scampi, eh?

how do these buggers stack up against say... Tiger prawns or lobster?

better/worse/equal??

Street-fight or Queensbury Rules?

well... Muay thai, of course...

should be pretty good, though as those langoustines look lean and strong.

[PhilHarries]

How much fuel does it take to send one ton of frozen product from Scotland to Thailand and back by boat?....probably not alot.

Pray tell why must we NOT refreeze food once its defrosted?

Chownah

P.S. I have no opinion on whether its a good idea or not....I just have some questions about the particulars.

Chownah

Not a clue why not, Chownah, it was just one of those culinary mantras. Personally as long as it's kept cool and the period not too long I can't see why not. Was just interested whether they'd fess up to it on the packaging. "Warning this seafood has been frozen within hours of being caught, shipped three weeks to Thailand, defrosted and peeled, refrozen and shipped three weeks back to UK. This is in contravention to all advice regarding refreezing foodstuffs and shoves an index finger up to the Kyoto treaty".

Another mantra is that if you are going to get food poisoning dodgy seafood is the prime candidate. Having said that the worst case of bad guts I can recall was put down to the milk in a 4 (?) star Pattaya hotel.

[Thaddeus]

The freezing process would kill the bacteria and as long as they were not allowed to completely defrost and the conditions were clean ........ wait a minute... TIT

I would expect those Scottish workers to get a short holiday and then re-employed when all the food poisoning complaints flood in.

(btw Chownah, the one from milk would probably have been campylobacter, very nasty, I've had it, lost 16lbs in two weeks)

[PhilHarries]

The freezing process would kill the bacteria and as long as they were not allowed to completely defrost and the conditions were clean ........ wait a minute... TIT

I would expect those Scottish workers to get a short holiday and then re-employed when all the food poisoning complaints flood in.

(btw Chownah, the one from milk would probably have been campylobacter, very nasty, I've had it, lost 16lbs in two weeks)

Sounds right, the two guys were on visit from our UK office ate and drank only in the hotel. It hit them when they got back and one was so bad he was hospitalised for a few days. Suppose they were lucky it didn't manifest itself while on the plane.

[Spenthouse]

looks like its time to exploit some more burmese labourers on the south-eastern coastline.

[jaidam]

Does it really take 120 Scots to operate an automatic shrimp peeling machine? Some antiquated union rule perhaps ?? I can see why Youngs are moving that side of the operation affshore.

[bkkandrew]

JR Texas (51, USA, in China): Reply to Jai Dee post:

Catch the langoustines in Scotland, freeze them, then ship them (via container cargo?) 6000 miles to Thailand. Then thaw them out and hand peel them. Then refreeze them? Then 6000 miles back again via container cargo to Scotland. All because the company has determined that it can save money on labor and increase its profit margin. Right?

The comment was made "This for us sums up the madness of contemporary globalisation. It makes economic sense but makes absolutely no environmental sense."

I would add that it only makes economic sense if the environmental costs are not included in the cost-benefit analysis.

It is unfortunate that at this late date (2006) we are still ignoring the cost to the environment when estimating "profitability." My guess is that the actual cost (shipping, labor, cost to environment, etc) of shipping them to Thailand and back will be much greater and not really profitable at all. But the actual cost is never calculated.

The same problem exists with all calculations of GNP worldwide.....the cost to the environment is ignored and our environmentally unsound economic activities (production and consumption) appear to be profitable. Tell that to future generations............tell that to the 120 people that just lost their jobs.

More likely that an exec of the company has a thai g/f he met on holiday...

Edited November 15, 2006 by bkkandrew

[Steph1012]

JR Texas (51, USA, in China): Reply to Jai Dee post:

Catch the langoustines in Scotland, freeze them, then ship them (via container cargo?) 6000 miles to Thailand. Then thaw them out and hand peel them. Then refreeze them? Then 6000 miles back again via container cargo to Scotland. All because the company has determined that it can save money on labor and increase its profit margin. Right?

The comment was made "This for us sums up the madness of contemporary globalisation. It makes economic sense but makes absolutely no environmental sense."

I would add that it only makes economic sense if the environmental costs are not included in the cost-benefit analysis.

It is unfortunate that at this late date (2006) we are still ignoring the cost to the environment when estimating "profitability." My guess is that the actual cost (shipping, labor, cost to environment, etc) of shipping them to Thailand and back will be much greater and not really profitable at all. But the actual cost is never calculated.

The same problem exists with all calculations of GNP worldwide.....the cost to the environment is ignored and our environmentally unsound economic activities (production and consumption) appear to be profitable. Tell that to future generations............tell that to the 120 people that just lost their jobs.

More likely that an exec of the company has a thai g/f...

There is a lot of it about!

A lot of people do re-locate here with the thought of the Thai G/F or the fun and frolics in mind.

Its a serious point and BKK should ensure it always remains a place that is fun to do business.

I did like the post about the packaging and wonder how the advertising agency is ever going to sell this product now this is out in the open.

"Like your seafood well travelled and worldy wise? Check out the hand finished product as you lovingly de-frost it for the third time since it died... etc."

[manjara]

The marketing would be far better if it just played up the Thai angle. Picture a scantily clad Thai model with a caption underneath:

Young's Scampi, frozen from Scotland, coaxed from their shells in Thailand - Is that Spicy enough for you?

The calendars would go down a treat in Scottish pubs!

Seriously, it could all be a means to get out of a union agreement (as someone hinted at). The history (purely conjecture on my part) could be:

- Hand peeled in Scotland by 180 workers

- Mechanisation introduced on condition from the Union of no more than 30% redundancy

- Youngs decide to close the plant as cheaper to send overseas

- Re-open plant with 30 workers after Thailand 'experiment' fails due to food safety and quality concerns

Edited November 15, 2006 by manjara

[JR Texas]

Fish go to Thailand and back as Scots jobs axed

A seafood firm is to cut 120 jobs at its processing plant in the south-west of Scotland in order to ship its langoustine catches on a 12,000-mile round trip to Thailand to be hand-peeled.

Environmentalists last night described the plans by Young's Seafood to transport hundreds of tonnes of Scottish langoustines annually to the Far East and back as the "madness of contemporary globalisation".

From February next year langoustines landed in Scotland will be frozen before being shipped from Annan in Dumfries and Galloway to Thailand, where they will be peeled then sent all the way back to Scotland to be turned into breaded scampi.

Currently the langoustine shells are removed mechanically at Young's plant in Annan but the company said that shelling by hand produces a superior quality scampi and cannot be carried out in Scotland because of prohibitive wage costs.

The announcement of so many job losses in a town of just 8000 people has raised concerns for the local economy.

John Holroyd, regional industrial organiser with the T&G union, said the job losses would be "absolutely devastating".

The Annan factory will remain open and continue to pack and distribute seafood. Young's said it had opened a 90-day consultation with union officials about the plans and that management hopes some of the workforce reduction could come from "natural wastage".

Duncan McLaren of Friends of the Earth Scotland said transporting the langoustines over such a distance would generate a weight of carbon dioxide which is almost half the weight of the seafood itself.

He added: "This for us sums up the madness of contemporary globalisation. It makes economic sense but makes absolutely no environmental sense."

Alasdair Morgan, SNP MSP for the South of Scotland, said: "This really seems to go against all the efforts we are making to protect the environment and tackling global warming."

Young's is the UK's largest specialist seafood processor and employs about 1800 people in Scotland, including 250 at the Annan site, which is the UK's biggest breaded scampi factory.

Shelling was done by hand in Annan until the 1980s, when the process was mechanised. However, the company said shelling by hand results in scampi of a significantly higher quality which justifies moving the operation to Thailand, where lower wages make it commercially viable.

The langoustines will be landed in Scotland then graded and frozen before being shipped to Thailand in a journey that will take three weeks. After being hand-peeled, they will be shipped almost 6000 miles back to Annan.

Young's expects to send about 25 shipments of between 20 to 24 tonnes of langoustines to Thailand annually.

Mike Mitchell, director of scampi for Young's, said: "This is an extremely difficult decision for us. However, the change forms part of our wider plan to grow the whole market."

"We must emphasise that we remain committed to Annan and fully expect that our development plans will result in long-term security for the site and even possible expansion in the future."

Source: The UK Herald - 15 November 2006

JR Texas (51, USA, in China): Reply to Jai Dee post:

Catch the langoustines in Scotland, freeze them, then ship them (via container cargo?) 6000 miles to Thailand. Then thaw them out and hand peel them. Then refreeze them? Then 6000 miles back again via container cargo to Scotland. All because the company has determined that it can save money on labor and increase its profit margin. Right?

The comment was made "This for us sums up the madness of contemporary globalisation. It makes economic sense but makes absolutely no environmental sense."

I would add that it only makes economic sense if the environmental costs are not included in the cost-benefit analysis.

It is unfortunate that at this late date (2006) we are still ignoring the cost to the environment when estimating "profitability." My guess is that the actual cost (shipping, labor, cost to environment, etc) of shipping them to Thailand and back will be much greater and not really profitable at all. But the actual cost is never calculated.

The same problem exists with all calculations of GNP worldwide.....the cost to the environment is ignored and our environmentally unsound economic activities (production and consumption) appear to be profitable. Tell that to future generations............tell that to the 120 people that just lost their jobs.

Absolutley!!!

And the sooner the US realise this the better.

Unfortunatley for them their whole economy is based on consumption. What a ridiculous country it must be that roofs on houses are only meant to last 15-20 years!!!

And cars that do 8 miles to the gallon.........

JR Texas (51, USA, in China): Reply to Womble: Yes......as an American I must agree with you. We are behaving like dumb rocks. And the rest of the world's population wants to behave just like us. So, what does that make them?

Speaking of dumb rocks. I have a question: Am I correct that scampi is made by crushing the shrimp (aka. langostinostados....whatever the hel_l they are called)? I think you crush them and form them into a thin patty, dip them in egg and milk, cover them in bread crumbs, and then fry them up. Yes? No?

If yes, why do they need to be treated like precious diamonds? Where is the chef?

[veteran]

: Its done in other eu contries as well, fished in the n.atlantic shiped out to asia, then back

to eu.

[khaosai]

Hi,

Why not buy a factory ship and anchor it in some appropriate location and fill it with workers willing to work there. Similar to the Klondikers moored in Loch Broom, Ullapool.

Rgds.

[Diablo Bob]

Fish go to Thailand and back as Scots jobs axed

A seafood firm is to cut 120 jobs at its processing plant in the south-west of Scotland in order to ship its langoustine catches on a 12,000-mile round trip to Thailand to be hand-peeled.

Environmentalists last night described the plans by Young's Seafood to transport hundreds of tonnes of Scottish langoustines annually to the Far East and back as the "madness of contemporary globalisation".

From February next year langoustines landed in Scotland will be frozen before being shipped from Annan in Dumfries and Galloway to Thailand, where they will be peeled then sent all the way back to Scotland to be turned into breaded scampi.

Currently the langoustine shells are removed mechanically at Young's plant in Annan but the company said that shelling by hand produces a superior quality scampi and cannot be carried out in Scotland because of prohibitive wage costs.

The announcement of so many job losses in a town of just 8000 people has raised concerns for the local economy.

John Holroyd, regional industrial organiser with the T&G union, said the job losses would be "absolutely devastating".

The Annan factory will remain open and continue to pack and distribute seafood. Young's said it had opened a 90-day consultation with union officials about the plans and that management hopes some of the workforce reduction could come from "natural wastage".

Duncan McLaren of Friends of the Earth Scotland said transporting the langoustines over such a distance would generate a weight of carbon dioxide which is almost half the weight of the seafood itself.

He added: "This for us sums up the madness of contemporary globalisation. It makes economic sense but makes absolutely no environmental sense."

Alasdair Morgan, SNP MSP for the South of Scotland, said: "This really seems to go against all the efforts we are making to protect the environment and tackling global warming."

Young's is the UK's largest specialist seafood processor and employs about 1800 people in Scotland, including 250 at the Annan site, which is the UK's biggest breaded scampi factory.

Shelling was done by hand in Annan until the 1980s, when the process was mechanised. However, the company said shelling by hand results in scampi of a significantly higher quality which justifies moving the operation to Thailand, where lower wages make it commercially viable.

The langoustines will be landed in Scotland then graded and frozen before being shipped to Thailand in a journey that will take three weeks. After being hand-peeled, they will be shipped almost 6000 miles back to Annan.

Young's expects to send about 25 shipments of between 20 to 24 tonnes of langoustines to Thailand annually.

Mike Mitchell, director of scampi for Young's, said: "This is an extremely difficult decision for us. However, the change forms part of our wider plan to grow the whole market."

"We must emphasise that we remain committed to Annan and fully expect that our development plans will result in long-term security for the site and even possible expansion in the future."

Source: The UK Herald - 15 November 2006

JR Texas (51, USA, in China): Reply to Jai Dee post:

Catch the langoustines in Scotland, freeze them, then ship them (via container cargo?) 6000 miles to Thailand. Then thaw them out and hand peel them. Then refreeze them? Then 6000 miles back again via container cargo to Scotland. All because the company has determined that it can save money on labor and increase its profit margin. Right?

The comment was made "This for us sums up the madness of contemporary globalisation. It makes economic sense but makes absolutely no environmental sense."

I would add that it only makes economic sense if the environmental costs are not included in the cost-benefit analysis.

It is unfortunate that at this late date (2006) we are still ignoring the cost to the environment when estimating "profitability." My guess is that the actual cost (shipping, labor, cost to environment, etc) of shipping them to Thailand and back will be much greater and not really profitable at all. But the actual cost is never calculated.

The same problem exists with all calculations of GNP worldwide.....the cost to the environment is ignored and our environmentally unsound economic activities (production and consumption) appear to be profitable. Tell that to future generations............tell that to the 120 people that just lost their jobs.

Absolutley!!!

And the sooner the US realise this the better.

Unfortunatley for them their whole economy is based on consumption. What a ridiculous country it must be that roofs on houses are only meant to last 15-20 years!!!

And cars that do 8 miles to the gallon.........

Ah, Womble, where in the article does the US appear? This is about Scotland which is on the other side of the pond.......

Not ALL roofs are good for 15-20 and not ALL cars get 8mpg, quit generalizing, about the US.

[sriracha john]

The freezing process would kill the bacteria and as long as they were not allowed to completely defrost and the conditions were clean ........ wait a minute... TIT

Just to clarify the freezing doesn't kill the bacteria, it just keeps them from multiplying:

Freezing to 0 °F inactivates any microbes -- bacteria, yeasts and molds - - present in food. Once thawed, however, these microbes can again become active, multiplying under the right conditions to levels that can lead to foodborne illness.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As for refreezing:

Refreezing

Once food is thawed in the refrigerator, it is safe to refreeze it without cooking, although there may be a loss of quality due to the moisture lost through defrosting. After cooking raw foods which were previously frozen, it is safe to freeze the cooked foods. If previously cooked foods are thawed in the refrigerator, you may refreeze the unused portion.

If you purchase previously frozen meat, poultry or fish at a retail store, you can refreeze if it has been handled properly.

both quotes from:

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/Focus...ezing/index.asp

[chownah]

There have been complaints about the environmental soundness of shipping these things from Scotland to Thailand and back. My previous post about how much fuel it takes to ship a tonne of frozen stuff from Scotland to Thailand and back was meant to address just this point. I'm not so certain that its environmentally significant at all. It really doesn't take alot of energy to ship something by ship I think....that's why costs can be low for sending stuff by ship and why weight isn't the key factor but volume is.... It might take more fuel to ship the product by lory from the River Clyde to the Thames River than it does to go all the way to Thailand and back....but I don't really know...and I think the other posters here who are decrying the environmental travesty of this action do not know either. I like to think of my self as an environmentalist but I like to get my facts together before I point the long finger just to be sure I don't get the reputation for crying "wolf".

Chownah

[ratcatcher]

""Speaking of dumb rocks. I have a question: Am I correct that scampi is made by crushing the shrimp (aka. langostinostados....whatever the hel_l they are called)? I think you crush them and form them into a thin patty, dip them in egg and milk, cover them in bread crumbs, and then fry them up. Yes? No?

If yes, why do they need to be treated like precious diamonds? Where is the chef?

_______________________________________________________________________________

Would this make them Crushedasians, after all they ain't fish are they?

Edited November 15, 2006 by ratcatcher

[Patex]

Re-imported langoustines out of a non- EU country??

Maybe Mike Mitchell, director of scampi for Young's, should think again...

How stupid one must be not to smell the scam?

...Young's expects to send about 25 shipments of between 20 to 24 tonnes of langoustines to Thailand annually,... and looking forward to recive xxx tonnes of handpeeled "scottish" langoustines back to EU

[JR Texas]

Re-imported langoustines out of a non- EU country??

Maybe Mike Mitchell, director of scampi for Young's, should think again...

How stupid one must be not to smell the scam?

...Young's expects to send about 25 shipments of between 20 to 24 tonnes of langoustines to Thailand annually,... and looking forward to recive xxx tonnes of handpeeled "scottish" langoustines back to EU

JR Texas (51, USA...not in Scotland!): I think Khaosai (post #21) came up with a good solution. Khaosai stated: "Why not buy a factory ship and anchor it in some appropriate location and fill it with workers willing to work there."

I can see it now.......just off the coast of Scotland in international waters....a boat filled with beautiful Thai girls taking off the shells of those frisky Langoustines with loving care.

Caressing them in their hands and pulling and manipulating and doing what it takes to get the job done as only they can do...........excuse me for a moment, I have to go take a cold shower.

[leisurely]

I read about this on the BBC news. Why, apart from cost? The labelling will still say that it is a UK food. I can remember something about labelling of clothes in the early 80's. A law came to be that the country of manufacture had to be sewn into the clothes. America I believe, got round saying that it was produced in Macau/HK?Philippines somehow by using a former name for a country. Sneaky gits. Not jut the Yanks I should clarify, everyone who circumvents the truth.

[Barney_the_Dinosaur]

I don't eat this stuff anyway. I was once sick when I was about 8 after I had a plate of scampi. Too oily and breadcrumbby. Strange really as kids love fishfingers.

I didn't know it was made of little lobsters, I thought it was made of re-pressed fish sweepings.

[PhilHarries]

There have been complaints about the environmental soundness of shipping these things from Scotland to Thailand and back. My previous post about how much fuel it takes to ship a tonne of frozen stuff from Scotland to Thailand and back was meant to address just this point. I'm not so certain that its environmentally significant at all. It really doesn't take alot of energy to ship something by ship I think....that's why costs can be low for sending stuff by ship and why weight isn't the key factor but volume is.... It might take more fuel to ship the product by lory from the River Clyde to the Thames River than it does to go all the way to Thailand and back....but I don't really know...and I think the other posters here who are decrying the environmental travesty of this action do not know either. I like to think of my self as an environmentalist but I like to get my facts together before I point the long finger just to be sure I don't get the reputation for crying "wolf".

Chownah

Of course you are quite correct, these shipments will just be one or two containers on a ship load heading across the world. But how the hel_l can the UK now stand up in front of developing countries and tell them they must cut back on emissions?

OK, it is only a little impact on the environment but a lot of littles add up. Many years ago I was talking to a Thai colleague about the pollution of the sea at Pattaya and the amount of litter scattered generally all around the countyside. She agreed totally that this was a very bad thing not only for the environment but for the image of Thailand. She then proceeded to unwrap a small purchase she had just made and throw the packaging onto some waste ground. I remonstrated with her over this but she could not see the connection "But it's only a little pice of wrapping, nitnoy". Sixty million people throwing nitnoy pieces of paper out of their car window every day adds up.