Shortages UK

[cheezemonkhai]

1 hour ago, gadgetman said:

Stobart already do similar with several hubs 

That’s good to hear.
Maybe the government should incentivise companies to use the rail + last mile system over lorries all the way.

[Ootohere]

Been done for years and has been getting developed and expanded for years now.

No point waiting on the UK Government though, business needs to just do it as they do.

http://news.railbusinessdaily.com/passenger-trains-converted-to-deliver-parcels-to-city-centres  There are staff shortages of train drivers and other staff.

 

When the rail lines are not fit for purpose it stuffs stuff up.   

http://rfg.org.uk/campaigners-attack-broken-promises-highland-main-line-rail-upgrade

 

 

Edited 8 September, 2021 by e-Roottoot

[@Lee]

16 hours ago, e-Roottoot said:

Been done for years and has been getting developed and expanded for years now.

No point waiting on the UK Government though, business needs to just do it as they do.

http://news.railbusinessdaily.com/passenger-trains-converted-to-deliver-parcels-to-city-centres

 

OT reply to George,

You know what else they're using old trains that are past their 'use by' date for? Support centres at hospitals and classrooms. No doubt Sajid Javid will turn up and declare this new hospital open. In the northern communities, obvs. Probably cheaper than actually building a new support centre or classroom. Tickets, please!

Back on topic...

Edited 9 September, 2021 by @Lee

[@Lee]

More on shortages; Dairy farmers being told to dump milk because of driver shortages. If the dairy heard doesn't make a profit then farmers will almost certainly have no choice other than to cull their herds. Hay, haylage, silage, Vet bills etc etc etc all cost money. Like I said in my opening post, this is totally unsustainable. 
 

Quote

A dairy farmer said he was told to dump his milk after a shortage of lorry drivers meant it could not be collected.

Henry Bloxham said he and other farmers were told by a haulage firm their milk could "not be picked up" on Saturday after some drivers did not turn up.

The 60-year-old, from Stafford, told the BBC the issue had become a "constant worry".

The government said the shortage was a "widespread problem".

Mr Bloxham said the firm he supplied suggested he "dump" his milk, as it was not sure it would be collected on Sunday either.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-58480823

 

Quote

North Yorkshire-based milk processor Paynes Dairies has warned it is “struggling” to keep supplies moving as the HGV driver crisis continues to disrupt dairy supply chains.

The supplier’s MD Charles Payne told The Grocer the driver shortages that had gripped the food sector in recent months were now “affecting us quite considerably”, with the business only making 90% to 95% of its planned deliveries in recent weeks.

https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/dairy/milk-processors-struggling-to-maintain-deliveries-amid-driver-shortage/658666.article?adredir=1

This is, obviously, having knock on effects on prices; "The UK average farm-gate milk price for July 2021 is 30.90 pence per litre (ppl). This represents a 2.5% (0.77 ppl) increase on June 2021 and a 11% increase on the same month last year". 
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-milk-prices-and-composition-of-milk/united-kingdom-milk-prices-and-composition-of-milk-statistics-notice-data-for-june-2019

On the plus side as IMHO tough titties to Tim, if you want a breakfast, best bring your own bread when you pop to Neverspoons. Poor Tim's probably getting his bloomers in a twist what with his beer shortages an' all. You reap what you sow as they say. 
https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/wetherspoons-hit-by-toast-shortage-as-brexit-bites-into-supply-chains-289297/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=ukineu&fbclid=IwAR1xC9LGDec2CU8aQfm9vT7GNmlrn5TEOZm9pmyvvNkqwtOmwCaklbMG5wE

Edited 8 September, 2021 by @Lee

[@Lee]

4 hours ago, skomaz said:

 

We certainly take on a large number of Apprentices each year and there are 'incentives' to do so.  From personal experience some are good some are bad but on the whole it's a great way to bring young staffinto the business and train them up to do the role you need them for.

Openreach take on 100's of apprentices each year. I worked with a few when I was there and they all absolutely loved the job. In house training, accommodation paid for etc etc. Starting pay was almost 20K IIRC plus perks such as free broadband and BT TV and cheap health and dental insurance. 

Edited 8 September, 2021 by @Lee

[skomaz]

4 hours ago, VWD said:

Skomaz- it's not just the training, but the firms approach to "how to do it". I've trained apprentices and when they are taught from day one that there's only one way  ,that influenced their approach. Of course there's bad one, but it's a two way thing. Kitchen and heat spring to mind.

 

Agreed - that's why all of ours are on approved Apprentice courses at  local colleges and registered on professional accredited apprenticeship schemes - to make sure they get the correct and broad training they need.  One of the ones under my wing for the last three years was recently the professional institution's Apprentice of the Year for his discipline and assessed as 'exceptional' in his review - so we must be doing something right!

[skomaz]

3 hours ago, cheezemonkhai said:

I do wonder if increasing the use of Rail freight from ports/major manufacturing areas to local depots and have lorries doing the first/last miles is the answer.

It solves some congestion, some environmental and some driver shortage issues all in one.

 

As for the 3 week savings, if it comes too close to Christmas do the failing drivers get offered as Christmas dinner rather than offered a retest.

 

Yep there are a number of SRFI's dotted around the country - and one in Doncaster only came about because of a highway scheme I heavily involved with from inception through business case to construction.  They are well worthwhile.

[skomaz]

20 hours ago, @Lee said:

You know what else they're using old trains that are past their 'use by' date for? Support centres at hospitals and classrooms. No doubt Sajid Javid will turn up and declare this new hospital open. In the northern communities, obvs. Probably cheaper than actually building a new support centre or classroom. Tickets, please!

 

 

That's a bit disingenuous...???   As I recall the interview with the staff , parents and pupils at the school involved at the time indicated they all thought it was a great idea!...

 

Pacer train: 'Run-down' rolling stock to school classroom - BBC News

Edited 9 September, 2021 by skomaz

[@Lee]

2 hours ago, skomaz said:

 

That's a bit disingenuous...???   As I recall the interview with the staff , parents and pupils at the school involved at the time indicated they all thought it was a great idea!...

 

Which bit's disingenuous? The part where I said they're using trains past their 'use by' date, the bit about what I said they're using them for or the bit where I said they're probably cheaper than building new support centres and classrooms? 

[skomaz]

58 minutes ago, @Lee said:

Which bit's disingenuous? The part where I said they're using trains past their 'use by' date, the bit about what I said they're using them for or the bit where I said they're probably cheaper than building new support centres and classrooms? 

 The cheaper than a classroom and northern communities bits.   Combined with the other commets  it came across as rather condescending, suggesting it was forced upon the school instead of them actually making that choice themselves.

 

Maybe not intended but how it came across...

[@Lee]

These figures could be being calculated to take in the effects of the next set of border controls due to come in from October the first.

I note Frost and Johnson intend to kick the can further down the road on the NIP issue again.
 

Quote

Britain's economic recovery is expected to slow over coming months thanks to staff shortages and supply chain disruption, according to a new forecast from a leading business group.

Official figures show UK GDP grew by 4.8% in the second quarter but the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) predicts this will slow to 2.8% in the third quarter and 1.6% in the last three months of 2021.

https://news.sky.com/story/staff-shortages-and-supply-disruption-threaten-to-derail-recovery-bcc-12402427

Edited 9 September, 2021 by @Lee

[lol-lol]

16 hours ago, cheezemonkhai said:

I do wonder if increasing the use of Rail freight from ports/major manufacturing areas to local depots and have lorries doing the first/last miles is the answer.

It solves some congestion, some environmental and some driver shortage issues all in one.

 

As for the 3 week savings, if it comes too close to Christmas do the failing drivers get offered as Christmas dinner rather than offered a retest.

 

This is happening in so many ways it would take a book sized document to describe all the changes of direction things are moving.

 

UK has certain problems and development of infrastructure is a huge part of that.  Felixstowe and Southampton container port are small compares to European mainland ones like Rotterdam and Antwerp and roads could be better ie stretches of the A14 are still slow.

 

We use to have several rail hub called Inland Clearance Depots and I thought they would surge back but not so much.  We have lots of Inland Border Facilities coming in to existence and the Union Transit scheme has been a big help to move goods un-customed good from any EU country, and few non-EU one, right in to clearance warehouse deep in GB.

 

Anybody really interested in this can attend, free I think it is 40 days from now, The Multimodal exhibition.  https://www.multimodal.org.uk/exhibition

Smaller ports like Bristol and opening up, better from carbon as ships are much more efficient the truck, and places like Humber, Liverpool and NE ports continue to open up and get better connected.

 

Due to Cabotage and the shortage of HGV drivers getting the containers right to a local ICD say just a few miles from the buyer of the goods should be accelerated I reckon.

 

Going back to actual shortages I can see that every week I do my online Tesco shop there is less and less goods, more and more not in stock, Orange Juice was one thing this week amongst other items.

   

[cheezemonkhai]

Mod hat on post...

 

Some of the posts in this thread are starting to get more political/OT than they are around the subject of the thread.

Without naming any users, I'm going to assume those responsible for such posts are able to see this, reflect and step back from the edge

 

Please don't turn this (or other threads) into something akin to the political/points scoring threads of old, which caused so many issues.

If people can't self moderate, be under no illusion that we will if necessary.

[gadgetman]

The resounding answer to this I'm reading today is to further delay a number of checks required on goods and people movements coming in, yet they're in force elsewhere. 

 

Not sure if this is genius solution, or a haven for even more issues as we move towards Christmas/year end which many businesses need to be successful in order to survive post Covid 

 

https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/brexit/brexit-border-checks-the-five-areas-of-most-concern/658879.article

 

 

[gadgetman]

Morrisons adds to recent warnings by bosses of M&S, Next & Iceland warning of price rises, shortages and reduced availability/stock lines 

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58498427

 

Christmas 2021 is sounding better than last year under lockdown 😔 

[@Lee]

40 minutes ago, gadgetman said:

Morrisons adds to recent warnings by bosses of M&S, Next & Iceland warning of price rises, shortages and reduced availability/stock lines 

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58498427

 

Christmas 2021 is sounding better than last year under lockdown 😔 

Grant Shapps 'pointed out the global driver shortage in the US, Poland and Germany'. Last I checked three countries out of some two hundred countries doesn't equal a 'global shortage'. I can't speak for the US or Poland as I'm not there but I haven't noticed any supply issues here so far. None. I know the Government are quite keen to blame the pandemic and even the so-called pingdemic on supply issues but it's a stretch IMO when the pandemic is, by definition, global. How other countries have managed is what Mr. Shapps and his fellow cabinet members need to look at and, perhaps, learn from. 

It is strange that there didn't seem to be any supply issues in 2020 when the pandemic was raging and there was no vaccine. Did something happen?

Edited 9 September, 2021 by @Lee

[@Lee]

I've already seen articles about crops being thrown away due to not enough people to pick them but according to this, things could get worse. Perhaps time to stock up on Frozen sprouts and the like. Maybe not from Morrison's, Iceland, or M&S, though. 

I noticed now six people have voted no in the poll yet I can't recall a reply explaining why. Ho-hum...
 

Quote

Growers could face “higher crop losses than ever” as the fruit and veg sector battles a deepening labour crisis, key industry figures warn.

With the shortage of seasonal labour hitting record figures and permanent staff said to be moving into other industries, the NFU, British Summer Fruits and British Growers Association have called on the government to change its post-Brexit immigration system to allow more workers into the UK.

The latest NFU figures from a survey of labour providers and large businesses at the peak of crop harvesting in July showed the shortage of seasonal workers stood at 34.5% – a figure that is only likely to rise when August’s figures are released.

https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/sourcing/higher-than-ever-crop-losses-expected-as-fruit-and-veg-labour-crisis-hits-record-levels/659643.article?

Edited 9 September, 2021 by @Lee

[skomaz]

1 hour ago, @Lee said:

I'm not there but I haven't noticed any supply issues here so far. None.

 

TBH I haven't noticed any either here in my part of the UK...   None at all.

 

I therefore do wonder if it's been blown out of all proportion?

[VWD]

Skomaz - I see it daily, with shelves emptier than normal. I notice that in Asda & Sainsbury certain items are in short supply and other shelves are near full. So it makes me wonder if

a) in this panic-stricken part of the world, folk are part panic buying.

or

b) The supermarkets deliveries are as usual , but the suppliers have delivery problems.

One of the things that is so puzzling is that one item that is in short supply is bottled water by a certain big firm, but only sparkling water.

As someone else has said ( about distance trunk stuff using rail and local ends using road) , looking at our local Royal Mail main depot, I notice that RM use trucks to distribute mail when we're all being told to go green ( not a political comment-if it's good enough for us to all stop being told to stop burning diesel, then it's good for the big boys).

[KenONeill]

Hereabouts, for "the country" read "the Co-op" (and I don't mean ScotMid).

[skomaz]

1 minute ago, VWD said:

Skomaz - I see it daily, with shelves emptier than normal. I notice that in Asda & Sainsbury certain items are in short supply and other shelves are near full. So it makes me wonder if

a) in this panic-stricken part of the world, folk are part panic buying.

or

b) The supermarkets deliveries are as usual , but the suppliers have delivery problems.

One of the things that is so puzzling is that one item that is in short supply is bottled water by a certain big firm, but only sparkling water.

As someone else has said ( about distance trunk stuff using rail and local ends using road) , looking at our local Royal Mail main depot, I notice that RM use trucks to distribute mail when we're all being told to go green ( not a political comment-if it's good enough for us to all stop being told to stop burning diesel, then it's good for the big boys).

 

Interesting...   it could be a combination of both but strange that it might only be affecting certain areas??  I was over at the MIL's in Belfast not long ago and there were supposed to be shortages then but again never actually saw any despite doing a number of shopping trips whilst there and ordering online for delivery...

[VWD]

Problems with deliveries could well be similar to what we had with Royal Mail deliveries a week or two past. Our local ( at the moment ), postman was missing. Finding a van close by, I asked if they had problems. One person had tested positive and a lot of staff were at home ,isolating. 

[gadgetman]

1 hour ago, skomaz said:

 

TBH I haven't noticed any either here in my part of the UK...   None at all.

 

I therefore do wonder if it's been blown out of all proportion?

Lots of missing lines in the sainsburys I pop into for bits on my way home from work. 

 

They have some shelves with cardboard box things to fill the gaps 

 

As it's a smaller store, some lines have been replaced with ones they done usually stock (more own brand stuff than main brands) 

 

Also had no haribo for nearly 3 weeks, and the wine selection has reduced too 

[skomaz]

15 minutes ago, gadgetman said:

Lots of missing lines in the sainsburys I pop into for bits on my way home from work. 

 

They have some shelves with cardboard box things to fill the gaps 

 

As it's a smaller store, some lines have been replaced with ones they done usually stock (more own brand stuff than main brands) 

 

Also had no haribo for nearly 3 weeks, and the wine selection has reduced too 

 

Whereabouts is that then?  Presumably the shelves are usually full at that time of day?

[VWD]

Could be individual depots then as I'm a M6 junction from what I believe is a Sainsbury distribution depot. ( M6 J2).