New Delhi, August 11, 2021: Arla Foods, which supplies milk to about 2,400 stores each day, said it was unable to deliver to a quarter of them on Saturday because of a chronic shortage of drivers and has warned of a summer milk supply crisis.
The boss of the UK’s biggest dairy supplier said supermarkets could face a “summer of disruption” to milk deliveries if the Government does not act to address a shortage of lorry drivers.
Ash Amirahmadi, UK Managing Director of Leeds-based Arla Foods, said the company was unable to deliver to 600 stores last Saturday due to dwindling driver numbers.
He warned of a summer of disruption and urged the government to act to allow drivers from Europe to return to the UK.
He said: “It’s very worrying for customers when they go into shops and find that the shelves are empty.
“Our assessment is that we’re in a driver shortage crisis and therefore we’re asking for the industry and government to work together to recognise we’re in a crisis and actually address the issue.
“Since the beginning of April, we have experienced driver shortages. That has increased to such a level now that we are not able to deliver milk to every store that we’d like to.
“Unfortunately at the moment, there’s about ten per cent of the stores every day that we can’t deliver to. At the weekend, it’s worse.”
Mr Amirahmadi said the problem was a structural issue that needed a structural solution.
He is lobbying for the government to accelerate the programme of driving tests for new HGV drivers to cover some of the shortfall.
He also wants Ministers to issue temporary visas for the road haulage industry, so that more European drivers can be allowed back into the country.
The Road Haulage Association believes there is currently a shortfall of about 100,000 lorry drivers., according to reports published in thisiswiltshire.co.uk
Another Arla spokesman said: “The issue is a chronic shortage of lorry drivers and we are experiencing that as much as anyone else.
“The issue is not collecting milk by tankers from the farmers, it is the delivery to our retail customers for distribution to the supermarkets and stores.”
The drivers are all employed by contractors. Because of Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic, many went back to their home countries. Now they unable to return to the UK because of Brexit restrictions on foreign labour and Covid-19 restrictions on travel.
Ironically, Arla Foods warned back in 2018, following a London School of Economics report on the impact of Brexit on the dairy sector, that restrictions on labour would have a huge impact on its business.
The LSE report identified that shortages of labour in key areas would be likely to have a major, and predominantly negative, impact on the domestic UK market.
At the time, Mr Amirahmadi said: “Our dependence on imported dairy products means that disruption to the supply chain will have a big impact.
“Most likely we would see shortages of products and a sharp rise in prices, turning every day staples, like butter, yoghurts, cheese and infant formula, into occasional luxuries.
“Speciality cheeses, where there are currently limited options for production, may become very scarce.
“It is important to be clear about this: Brexit might bring opportunities to expand the UK industry in the long term, but in the short and medium term we cannot just switch milk production on and off.
“Increasing the UK’s milk pool and building the infrastructure for us to be self-sufficient in dairy will take years.”
