Articles

Following the impacts of Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses in the UK have struggled to meet supply demands due to the lack of HGV drivers. Not only has this had a significant impact on end customers, it has also created financial disruption for many hauliers and businesses that rely on open supply lines.

Worker quality and numbers is fast becoming one of the trickiest aspects of finding and properly utilising people in the DC, says Smitha Raphael, Chief Product & Delivery Officer for WMS technology innovator SnapFulfil.

Up to 4,000 people will soon be able to take advantage of training courses to become HGV drivers, as part of a package of measures announced by the Government to ease temporary supply chain pressures in food haulage industries, brought on by the pandemic and the global economy rebounding around the world.

The warehousing industry is ready for incoming deliveries from abroad, but nothing is coming due to post-Brexit customs delays, says Midland Bearings, an equipment supplier to the UK warehousing and logistics sector.

New UK trade figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) are extremely concerning, says the home delivery expert ParcelHero. They reveal widespread shortages for retailers and tumbling profit margins for transport companies, as the Brexit-created driver shortage bites deeper.

Fashion has a waste problem. Three-quarters of our clothing will end up incinerated or landfilled. Plastics – still heavily relied on for fashion packaging -  are thrown away 72% of the time, never to be recycled.

In the shadow of COVID, global Printed Circuit Board (PCB) supply shortages and ongoing steel supply problems, forklift OEMs are pushing lead times further than Pyroban has ever seen. For those businesses that need an ATEX forklift truck fast, Darren Boiling, Materials Handling Sales Manager for Pyroban® says there are five options.

A new report by Drapers, the B2B publication covering the fashion retail industry, in partnership with Smurfit Kappa, the paper-based packaging company, has revealed that packaging matters to UK consumers and plays a significant role in the purchasing decisions of shoppers.

With the warehousing and logistics industry facing one of the worst staff shortages in known history, the Government has been blasted by industry experts with ‘poverty wages’ and poor conditions cited as reasons for failing to attract more candidates to job vacancies.

By Richard Parkinson, port director at Solent Gateway Ltd

In recent months, COVID-19 has put incredible pressure on global supply chains. But it’s not just the pandemic that is causing unforeseen pressure on the UK supply chain.