Lorry migrant deaths: GPS tracking may show exactly where trailer went
The trailer in which 39 Chinese migrants were found dead had a sophisticated data monitoring system that should prove key.
Monday 28 October 2019 09:43, UK
A sophisticated tracking system built into the trailer in which 39 Chinese migrants were found dead may be the key to finding out where they got in, Sky News can reveal.
Police are likely to be analysing data from the trailer, a Schmitz Cargobull refrigeration unit, which is said to be fitted with a GPS tracking system.
Officers are also expected to try to obtain footage of the vehicle as it arrived at the port of Zeebrugge - which routinely films all trucks as they enter the terminal.
Authorities in the UK believe they know the route taken by the tractor unit (the front part of a lorry). It was believed to be driven by suspect Mo Robinson, as it headed to Purfleet, Essex.
Purfleet is where the trailer is known to have arrived by ship, shortly after midnight on Wednesday.
But less is known about where the trailer went before it reached Zeebrugge and got on a roll-on, roll-off vessel designed to carry freight.
GTR Europe, the owner of the trailer, says on its website that "All our trailers have GPS monitoring", and that it uses a company called Blue Tree Systems to track not just the vehicle's movements but also the condition of any refrigeration unit they carry.
According to its website, Blue Tree Systems provides "live tracking of vehicles with position update every five minutes".
It can also monitor the temperature of the cargo and "report any 'out of range' conditions immediately", it adds.
Images of maps on the website suggest that vehicles can be tracked in the same way that technology can locate ships or iPhones anywhere in the world.
The company's literature also says it can accurately monitor temperatures in refrigeration units wherever they are.
Police are also likely to be looking into whether, if such monitoring equipment was installed, the temperature rose at any point, which might indicate, for example, when a door was opened.
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GTR Europe told The Times on Wednesday night: "We're gutted that the trailer has been used in this sort of manner. We will give the police access to our tracking system."
Irish broadcaster RTE are reporting the trailer was being sub-leased to another company at the time it was used. GTR Europe's account application form asks if potential customers intend to sub-lease any trailer they rent to a third party.
GTR Europe told RTE the trailer was leased from its yard in Monaghan at a rate of €275 a week.
GTR Europe has yet to comment to Sky News directly.
Officers are also expected to look into any footage taken of the trailer's arrival at the port of Zeebrugge.
The port operator C.RO, a subsidiary of Cobelfret, which operate roll-on roll-off (RoRo) ships that ply the route between Zeebrugge and Purfleet, says all trucks are videoed as they arrive at the terminal.
A document detailing the procedure at Zeebrugge obtained by Sky News says that after entering the terminal the "driver drives slowly through the video imaging portal", before offloading the trailer.
Sky News has been told the trailer is then pushed onto the RoRo vessel by a "shunter" - a tractor unit that operates only within the port.
It is then shunted off at the Purfleet end before being picked up by another driver on the other side.
Any video evidence collected by the port as the vehicle entered could be key to finding out when and where the migrants went into the trailer.
Sky News has also been told that any driver in Purfleet who was collecting a trailer would have had to use a pin number obtained from the driver at the Zeebrugge end, when they dropped off the trailer.
A statement from C.RO Ports said the company was "deeply saddened by the discovery in Grays, UK, yesterday of a trailer in which 39 people were found dead".
It added: "It has been widely reported that the trailer entered the UK by ship via C.RO Ports' Purfleet Terminal, originating at our terminal in Zeebrugge.
"C.RO Ports confirms this is the case. We continue to fully assist UK, Belgian and other law enforcement authorities with their ongoing investigation.
"It will be understood that as there is an investigation underway, we are not able to say anything further at this stage. Our thoughts are with the family and friends of those found yesterday."
It is already known that the lorry tractor - a Scania R620 - entered Britain via Holyhead in North Wales, from Dublin, on Sunday.
It was then spotted in the Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays in Thurrock, Essex, by two witnesses at 7.15am on Tuesday.
Later that day, at 2.49pm, the trailer arrived at Zeebrugge. Police have found it left the same day, arriving at Purfleet in Essex at 12.30am on Wednesday, having probably left on the 10pm sailing from that port.
The trailer was then collected by the lorry tractor at 1.05am on Wednesday and police were called at 1.40am, shortly after CCTV footage showed it travelling away from the port.
Sky News has also found out that the tractor part of the lorry found in Grays, Essex, originated in Netherlands, but was sold on by a series of dealers.
Mr Robinson's Facebook page features a picture of the Scania tractor, but it is not known whether he had any connection with the trailer before he allegedly collected it on Wednesday morning.