Are lorry drivers (or lack of) having an effect on any of your regular supplies?

[Dan]

HGV driver shortage: UK firms embark on the long road to plug the gap

Logistics sector ups its recruitment and training effort but big obstacles lie ahead

www.theguardian.com

Food, beer, toys, medical kit. Why is Britain running out of everything?

Poor pay and conditions for HGV drivers and the loss of many thousands of EU workers are plunging the UKs supply chain into crisis

www.theguardian.com

Minister urges firms to invest in UK-based workers in HGV driver shortage

Business secretary reported as saying foreign labour only offers ‘temporary solution’ as companies face supply chain crisis

www.theguardian.com

I keep reading news, hearing on radio and seeing on telly that the lack of lorry drivers is having more and more of an impact on our daily lives and wont stop any time soon. I was wondering if any of you guys and gals have felt this with suppliers running out of anything you use regularly?

Heard anything through the grapevine?

Started to stock up on basic things you use often to help get around this over Christmas etc?

 

[UNG]

/I used to work in Highways and regularly joined police patrols in Kent. 90% of the lorry drivers we pulled over or were in lay-bys were EU ones with EU drivers from EU countries.

So are you saying that the 90% were EU lorries driven by EU drivers from EU countries how odd to find that many in Kent.

It's incredible to say that losing that source of cheap labour is not causing supply issues,

That is what has caused the problem with UK class 1 drivers leaving the industry because of employers pushing down the rates to push up their profits and now it's biting their rear end they are bleating it's all down to Brexit

let alone the paperwork and customs costs.

What has that got to do with domestic lorry drivers

Yes most electrical supplies are made and manufactured in the far east and don't come from Europe, the cost of shipping containers world wide is high and yes Covid sickness and changes in demand has had a big effect but when our income is falling becuase we've lost virtually half our export market, costs of importing from US/Asia will increase too due to a weaker currency. I'm afraid its inescapable the impact Brexit will have

Where have you been and where are you getting your facts the pound since Brexit has traded at least 10 cents up on the USD, we have moved up slightly against the Euro but I have a feeling that the real picture is that the Euro is being propped up by the European central bank to save face and to perpetuate the "Brexit problem"
The increase in import costs is down to shipping costing more due to supply and demand making some routes more profitable and with a lack of empty containers in the far east exacerbating the problem of shipping goods on that route you have major supply issues and this not down to your mythical weaker currency

 

[pc1966]

• The immediate problem in transport is down to Brexit - the loss of EU drivers.
• The short term problem is due to COVID - back logs for training new drivers.
• The long term problem is the one that gov & industry has been avoiding talking about for years - the dependency on cheap EU labour due to poor pay and conditions and the resulting lack of younger folk going in to HGV driving. Apparently the average age for HGV drivers in the UK is about 55, if that is not screaming a warning then WTF is needed?

 

[nicebutdim]

The cordless lawnmower I was trying to purchase from Screwfix is out of stock due to Brexit.

A Kingfisher group employee was telling me a few months back that they had huge supply issues as a result of that container ship wedged in the Suez Canal.

Considering the number of their products that are directly imported from China (I'm thinking own brands like Erbraur and Mac Allister), I'd imagine the significant shortage of containers in China and soaring cost of worldwide freight is having much greater impact on supplies than last leg distribution within the UK.

 

[UNG]

• The immediate problem in transport is down to Brexit - the loss of EU drivers.

How about all the UK drivers leaving the industry I know around 10 ex HGV drivers who even with some of the £20+/hr rates being offered have no interest in going back to driving HGV's

• The short term problem is due to COVID - back logs for training new drivers.

Even without Covid I don't think we would have enough drivers as too many have had enough and are moving away from HGV driving

• The long term problem is the one that gov & industry has been avoiding talking about for years - the dependency on cheap EU labour due to poor pay and conditions and the resulting lack of younger folk going in to HGV driving. Apparently the average age for HGV drivers in the UK is about 55, if that is not screaming a warning then WTF is needed?

Some of the problem is down to an EU directive back in 2007 that introduced the Driver CPC another part of the problem is the 5 days of training required over 5 years to keep the Driver CPC that a lot of the employers won't pay for or the time to do it, if your an agency driver the rates available have been that low that to fund the training to keep your licence and earn a reasonable living is difficult
Immediately prior to the introduction of the driver CPC the average age of a HGV driver was 56 so not a lot of change in 13 - 14 years
Historically a lot of HGV drivers were ex army but the changes to the defence strategy over the last few decades and the massive reductions of boots on the ground that the army has seen means this is no longer the case
The big issue the industry has to address is that a tramping life does not appeal to a lot of the newcomers to the industry in this tech hungary world we now live in

 

[UNG]

A Kingfisher group employee was telling me a few months back that they had huge supply issues as a result of that container ship wedged in the Suez Canal.

Considering the number of their products that are directly imported from China (I'm thinking own brands like Erbraur and Mac Allister), I'd imagine the significant shortage of containers in China and soaring cost of worldwide freight is having much greater impact on supplies than last leg distribution within the UK.

Don't forget the 400+ other ships that were stuck waiting for the Suez Canal to reopen and subsequently missed their port slots, one of my customers who works in shipping reckons it will take many months before it returns to something like normal
Something else to factor in is that the cargo of the Evergiven is subject to General Average which could be £20K - 30K per container

 

[nicebutdim]

... when our income is falling becuase we've lost virtually half our export market, costs of importing from US/Asia will increase too due to a weaker currency. I'm afraid its inescapable the impact Brexit will have

I suspect others may have misinterpreted your comment to mean the pound has weakened, when you mean exports are down due to weaker currencies in the US & Asia?

Apart from the fact that we were told that the pound would fall through the floor after brexit (another prediction that failed to materialise), I'm not sure that anyone could have predicted the impact Covid has had on markets worldwide.

Another issue affecting the $ is the current US administration. While Trump was disliked by many, sometimes with good reason and sometimes not, his policies certainly strengthed the US economy (covid notwithstanding). In recent times the opposite has been happening and cost of living is spiraling out of control in many states - when people have to spend twice as much on essential products, purchases of luxuries and imported goods tend to fall.

 

[nicebutdim]

Don't forget the 400+ other ships that were stuck waiting for the Suez Canal to reopen and subsequently missed their port slots, one of my customers who works in shipping reckons it will take many months before it returns to something like normal

I believe they had a number of containers on the ship in question, but it was the knock on effect I was referring to with the term 'as a result of'.

 

[chrisdungan]

We're getting supply shortages down here in New Zealand. Covid has really screwed our shipping supply chains

 

[pc1966]

How about all the UK drivers leaving the industry I know around 10 ex HGV drivers who even with some of the £20+/hr rates being offered have no interest in going back to driving HGV's

That is the underlying problem, a lack of UK drivers, so the immediate impact of Brexit has been to expose this as we (the UK) had been getting by with their services.

It will take a lot of changes to make HGV driving attractive as a career. The increase in pay is one thing, but it is a lot more than that as they have limited services like parking and access to toilets/showers/etc (and less now than 10-20 years ago) hence the "tramping life" you mention. That too can be fixed with more money, and probably it will be, so we just have to get used to higher costs and many years to fix it.

I find it unlikely that "5 days of training required over 5 years to keep the Driver CP" is a real issue, no more than spraks having to update for each new edition of the regs. If an employer can't find the time & money to deal with 0.5% time spent training, they certainly won't fix the other issues HGV drivers face!

 

[Deleted account]

On a more serious note.
the news just showed a daffodil farmer saying the daffodil industry will be no more in this country if he can’t get foreign cheap labour.

cheap foreign labour. That says it all.

obviously we all will be devastated at the lack of daffodils in the future,

however I came up with a brilliant idea. Put wages up to a more realistic level (above minimum wage for starters) and employ British out of work people.

charge more for your daffodils to pay for the wage increase. If the daffodils don’t sell at the higher price your business is not viable, and never has been without paying under the minimum wage to foreign workers.

 

[telectrix]

The cordless lawnmower I was trying to purchase from Screwfix is out of stock due to Brexit.

 

[pc1966]

charge more for your daffodils to pay for the wage increase. If the daffodils don’t sell at the higher price your business is not viable, and never has been without paying under the minimum wage to foreign workers.

Ah, but we (as in the nation) want cheap sh*t and at the same time we somehow want well-paid jobs.

 

[snowhead]

Ah, but we (as in the nation) want cheap sh*t and at the same time we somehow want well-paid jobs.

And the same WE apparently want 300 different types of Olive Oil always available on supermarket shelves as well as 50000 trim / model variations of any model of car and vans and lorries it appears as well.

Wait till the loony anti meat brigade get their way, they'll be wanting 100000 different types of lettuce and nuts.

 

[James]

On a more serious note.
the news just showed a daffodil farmer saying the daffodil industry will be no more in this country if he can’t get foreign cheap labour.

cheap foreign labour. That says it all.

obviously we all will be devastated at the lack of daffodils in the future,

however I came up with a brilliant idea. Put wages up to a more realistic level (above minimum wage for starters) and employ British out of work people.

charge more for your daffodils to pay for the wage increase. If the daffodils don’t sell at the higher price your business is not viable, and never has been without paying under the minimum wage to foreign workers.

I know several factories that are trying to recruit semi skilled people for above minimum wage jobs.
most of them are saying, they can’t get people and the locals just don’t want to work.

 

[Dan]

I know several factories that are trying to recruit semi skilled people for above minimum wage jobs.
most of them are saying, they can’t get people and the locals just don’t want to work.

I hear that a bit. Not much talent local too when it comes to minimum wage people. Usually got overseas workers because they want to work.