According to the UK’s largest dairy product supplier, supermarkets may face an “interrupted summer” in milk delivery if the widespread driver shortage is not addressed during the Covid pandemic.
Arla, who supplies milk to about 2,400 shops in the UK every day, said it was unable to deliver to 600 shops last Saturday due to the reduced number of drivers.
Ash Amirahmadi, managing director of Arla Foods UK, said that the company was unable to fulfill about 10% of orders in southern England because the existing staff shortage had worsened, as drivers were forced to self-isolate after contacting people. Tested positive for Covid-19.
“We need to ensure that there is no food shortage in the summer,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today program.
The company will provide a £2,000 signing bonus for new drivers preparing to work on weekends, double the amount Tesco announced earlier this weekAs it says, finding drivers for these shifts is particularly difficult.
“Since around mid-April, we have been facing a shortage of drivers, especially in the south of the country. It is getting worse gradually, and our assessment is that we are currently facing Driver shortage crisis,” Amira Madi said later.
He called on the government to help clear the backlog of HGV driving tests and add truck drivers to the skilled worker visa list to make it easier for overseas workers to come to the UK. He also called for changes to the UK’s self-isolation system related to the NHS tracking app, which caused some workers who tested negative for the virus to stay at home.
Arla said it is also taking its own measures to increase the supply of drivers and strengthen training at its five UK warehouses.
Amirahmadi’s comments came after Nisa, a supplier to an independent retailer owned by Co-op, warned that some of its members had to cancel some deliveries due to a shortage of drivers.
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The company said in a letter to its convenience store partners that its order volume is “extraordinarily high”, three times the capacity of its vehicles and drivers. It said it had to cancel some frozen food orders. It is understood that the shortage of drivers is the main reason for the cancellation.
The latest issue of delivery arose in the fierce competition among professional HGV drivers Brexit, The Covid-19 pandemic and tax changes have prompted some drivers to leave the industry. The surge in demand for home delivery has also provided alternative employment opportunities.
The British logistics company, which represents cargo owners including supermarkets, estimates a shortage of 90,000 HGV drivers, of which about 25,000 are from the European Union, who have returned home since then. BrexitThere is also a backlog of 45,000 truck driving tests, which is expected to result in the availability of approximately 25,000 drivers.
