Shortage of drivers pushes up delivery costs and leads to empty store shelves
London — When Helen Wang’s Abakus Foods is ready to ship its seaweed crisps — stocked by stores such as J Sainsbury and Asda — she calls up a haulier.
Her experience is one shared by many companies across Britain: a shortage of truck drivers, worsened by Brexit and Covid-19, is pushing up delivery costs and leading to empty shelves in stores. The lack of truckers — the result of an ageing workforce, the high cost of training new drivers, and the industry’s low margins — has long been a problem in Britain. But the twin effects of Brexit and Covid-19 have brought the industry to a crisis. In 2020, there were 76,000 fewer drivers than needed, a figure that has since risen to 90,000, according to Logistics UK, a lobby group.
The government has rejected calls from hauliers to give overseas drivers temporary visas to help plug the gap. For Johnson, one of the arguments in favour of leaving the EU was controlling migration. The government is also relaxing rules limiting the hours truckers can drive each day. They previously had to stop after nine hours, but this has been extended to 10 hours. Yet the industry argues this is a poor, low-impact fix that threatens driver safety.“Tired drivers do not make better drivers,” said Rod McKenzie, MD of public policy at the Road Haulage Association. “It’s an incredibly short-sighted decision.
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