Providing a large dinghy for use in the choppy seas of western Europe was not a problem, as long as the order was for more than 20 vessels, they said. The sales manager at the Chinese company even had an online brochure for an undercover Guardian reporter, posing as a prospective client, to peruse. They had a production capacity of 500 boats a month and, yes, it was possible to get even bigger ones for the right price.
They could do a seven or even an eight-metre military-style dinghy for $1,678 (£1,238) a boat, without the engines, but that would be lacking CE certification, the mandatory mark that shows a product meets EU health and safety requirements. From there, it was up to the client to export it and get the right certification. In the early hours of Monday morning, a full-to-the-brim dinghy of a type similar to that being offered by the Chinese salesperson arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel with a record 230 people onboard.
French authorities say there have been 11 such “mega-dinghy” crossings of the Channel so far this year. Last week one of those carrying 173 people capsized after its engine caught fire. It is a clear and perilous trend.
An analysis by the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, based on Home Office figures, shows how the number of people travelling on a dinghy has sharply increased since the crossings first began nearly a decade ago. In 2018, there would be an average of seven people per small boat. That ticked up to 13 by 2020.
The number shifted up to 27 by the following year and by 2022 it was 41. The average number of people on a dinghy crossing is up to 66.5 people in the first six months of 2026. These are often no longer small boats.
The length of the dinghy that arrived this week was 15 metres. Where are the “mega-dinghies” coming from? The sales manager offering boats to an undercover Guardian reporter worked for a company called Wuxi Funsor Marine Equipment that is described on its own website as a subsidiary of the Weihai Yamar Outdoors Product Co Ltd.
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