Maintaining quality service in troubling times
Logistics is a booming industry that is truly helping to shape the world, especially refrigerated transportation. With an ever-increasing demand for food (which has varying levels of perishability), along with a plethora of other delicate items, concern over food safety and the obvious demand for fragile and lifesaving vaccinations, refrigerated transportation has a growing impact on our everyday lives.
It has recently been reported that the UK is suffering a 100,000-lorry driver shortage. Because of this it’s rumoured the Army is on standby to re-stock Britain’s shelves amid truck driver shortages.
The haulage industry says it is struggling to find enough heavy goods vehicle (HGV) drivers to keep the economy moving. Some of the reported reasons for the shortage in drivers is due a combination of COVID-19 infections, the so called ‘pingdemic’, Brexit, rising logistics prices and an ageing workforce (the average age of a truck driver is 55 years old) and many other factors.
Adapting to our times
Turbulent times have meant many logistics businesses have had to adapt to a number of challenges in 2021, whilst also considering their future operations. With some companies having to spend thousands of pounds for lorries that are idly on standby every day, company directors and bosses are even having to drive deliveries to cover the shortages and cut the losses.
The logistics sector has experienced a significant shortage of drivers for a number of years now from However, this situation has been exacerbated more recently.
In years gone by, a lot of businesses in the sector could tap into a steady supply of drivers from Europe (estimated at 15,000). As the strain of Brexit took hold and new immigration rules started to emerge, EU workers were discouraged from working in the UK. Add to this the COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions, European drivers who had been working in the UK have found they can work safely elsewhere in Europe for the same or even better pay.
Meanwhile, in the UK the pandemic has resulted in the loss of approximately 12 months of driver training and testing. In an effort to ease the problematic situation, the Department for Transport, as we know, brought in relaxed rules with regards to retained EU drivers’ hours and has allowed HGV drivers to increase their daily driving limits from nine to ten hours, or change weekly rest patterns. This has subsequently now been extended until 3rd October and will be subject to further extension reviews depending on whether the situation improves.
Steady as she goes…
Despite the wider market difficulties, at Courier Express we are not experiencing the same issues. We continue to meet all our deliveries and exceed customer expectations. At the time of writing we have not had to deal with any driver shortages.
From our drivers right through to our office-based teams we ensure every member of the Courier Express family is not only highly skilled and regularly trained, but also kept safe from any health risks such as the COVID-19 virus. It’s why, we believe, we have been able to continue to operate at 100% capacity with no driver shortages. We remain grateful and thankful to have such a hardworking dedicated team.
With tightened safety compliance requirements throughout, the use of refrigerated transport logistics has become an integral part in complying with these regulations. Operating at optimal safety levels while maintaining our usual high standards, means our customers can remain reassured that we are 100% compliant with all regulations, while receiving all the benefits that come with an award-winning supplier, including value for money, a high regard for timely deliveries and of course reliability every time.
