Every year a consignment of 4,000 fence posts weighing 20 tons from Clifford Jones Timber in Ruthin is trucked down to Portsmouth on the first stage of an 8,000-mile journey to the South Atlantic.
From there the cargo is shipped to Port Stanley on a journey that takes three weeks before the Falklands’ fencers use them to fence in the Islanders’ half a million sheep.
The fence posts are specially steam-treated by Clifford Jones Timber to prevent any contamination of the delicate eco-system of the Islands.
“I was in Brazil last year and had hoped to visit the Falklands and perhaps see some of our fence posts over there but it became impossible after Argentina threatened to put a travel ban on anyone who had been to the Islands,” said Alan Jones, chairman of Clifford Jones.
“It’s not a major contract for us obviously but we’re proud to be a supplier to the Falkland Islands and apart from the steam treatment to make sure no insects or other bugs hitchhike to the South Atlantic they’re the same fence posts that you can see all over the UK.”
