The refrigerated cargo vessel Brazilian Reefer, which has been laid up in the River Fal above King Harry all summer, was expected to be towed down river for reactivation yesterday afternoon.

The lay-up facility was once seen as a barometer of world trade but is no longer such an indicator.

Nowadays elderly reefer ships are the main ships using the cheap facilities of the Fal.

But with the opening of the newly-widened Panama Canal next year the reefer companies will soon be locked in battle to secure Latin America’s perishable cargoes. Ultra large container ships will slowly squeeze the older tonnage out of the market with competitive rates and high volume capacities. This will ultimately be another nail in the coffin for Cornwall Council as the reefer ships eventually disappear from the scene. Conventional reefer tonnage carried approximately 28 per cent of the 100 million tonnes of perishables shipped in 2013, but is set to fall to 20 per cent by 2018 with, according to one pundit, a three per cent year-on-year drop in market share.