Virus threatens boat business

‘No imminent lockdown restrictions’

LONDON, May 10, (AP): All four boats have had their moment in the sun. And all four were meant to have another on Friday as Britain celebrated the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day.

Instead, they’re lying idle on the banks of the River Thames in southwest London, as the festivities surrounding VE Day have been all but canceled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

For brothers Danny and John Collier, the proud owners of the Princess Freda, the Queen Elizabeth, the Connaught and the Clifton Castle, it’s nothing less than a disaster, one that could spell the demise of the company their late father created in 1975.

“I’m very fearful,” Danny Collier told The Associated Press aboard the Princess Freda on Friday. “We operate from March to October and we haven’t even had a beginning of a season because we were in lockdown straight away.”

This was supposed to be one of the most lucrative weekends – if not the most lucrative – of the year for Colliers Launches, potentially netting the firm up to 20,000 pounds ($25,000) in revenue.

It may not sound much, but for a company with a limited operating window, it can make all the difference, helping to sustain it during the fallow and costly months of winter. And when the sun is shining as gloriously as it is, it’s a particularly cruel slap in the face.

“This week would have been busy as any week obviously because of VE Day,” Danny Collier said. “Ironically, we’ve had the finest weather in this country ... and my ability to earn money has ceased.”

Conte

Ready

All four boats were ready to play their part on what should have been one of the most joyous occasions of the year, the anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 following a war that the UK had toiled through for six long years.

Though all have their charms, the most venerated of the boats, it’s clear, is the Princess Freda. It was one of the “little ships” that sailed to the beaches around Dunkirk in northern France to rescue British and allied soldiers. The boat has been on three subsequent journeys there to commemorate the evacuation.

The brothers have set up a crowdfunding site in an attempt to keep the business going for the next few weeks, but Danny Collier doubts it can do anything more than “keep the wolf from the door.”

The 62-year-old has got some help from the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which sees the government pay up to 80% of the salaries of workers retained up to 2,500 pounds ($3,075) a month. However, he’s getting

but we are in a deep socioeconomic crisis,’’ Sala said. (AP)

Spain army predicts 2 more waves:

Spain’s army expects there to be two more outbreaks of the new coronavirus, according to an internal report seen by The Associated

Rol-Tanguy

worried that the furlough scheme will start to unwind over the coming months before he’s able to get his boats back out onto the river.

He’s also won some time from the government’s moves to defer sales taxes. Other costs, such as lock licenses, have been deferred, too.

But they’re just deferrals. They will have to be paid at some point – a task that looks beyond the means of a company reaping nothing.

Collier is particularly vexed by the government’s new “bounceback” loan scheme, which his company is entitled to take up. Under the scheme, small firms – the lifeblood of the British economy – can borrow between 2,000 pounds ($2,500) and 50,000 pounds ($62,000), money that they will be able to access within days and interest-free for the first year. The scheme is 100% guaranteed by the government, a move that is intended to eliminate concerns within banks that they face potential losses if a firm goes under.

Looks

“Given the fact that it looks increasingly likely that we are not going to have a season and we are going to go back out of season with all the inherent costs, I can’t see that a loan is going to be economically viable for us with our ability to pay it back,” he said. “We need grants.” It really is a mayday call. Meanwhile, Britain’s minister for the environment, food and rural affairs says Prime Minister Boris Johnson won’t be announcing immediate changes to the country’s coronavirus lockdown when he addresses the nation on Sunday.

George Eustice said the UK is “not out of the woods” and that there “isn’t going to be any dramatic overnight change” to the lockdown. He said the government will be “very, very cautious” in loosening the restrictions.

Johnson is expected to set out a roadmap of how the UK can start easing the lockdown in the future. Only minor changes, such as allowing individuals to sunbathe in parks and removing the limit on one daily outing for exercise, are anticipated.

Eustice also revealed that another 626 people have died after testing positive for COVID-19 in all settings, including hospitals and care homes. That takes the UK total to 31,241, the second highest official death toll in the world behind the United States.

Furthermore, parts of New England are slowly emerging from weeks of pandemic-induced restrictions.

Greenhouses, golf courses and barber shops are rolling out the welcome mat for customers eager to return to some sense of normalcy. But the partial reopening comes amid concerns about adequate testing, contact tracing and even protective gear for health care workers.

Press. The army report predicts “two more waves of the epidemic” and that Spain will take “between a year and a year-and-a-half to return to normality.”

The document was published by Spanish newspaper ABC on Friday and later confirmed as authentic by the AP. (AP)

School reopenings won’t be allowed:

Cyprus’ president attempted on Friday to quell concerns over a government decision to reopen all public schools on May 21, insisting that children will only be allowed back into classrooms if the COVID-19 infection rate remains at the current low level.

President Nicos Anastasiades said that just as in the decision to start gradually lifting a strict, two-month stay-at-home order, reopening schools depends on how well the country manages to keep the coronavirus at bay on the advice of a team of medical experts. (AP)