Are you ready for the logistics challenges of Christmas 2021?
With Christmas just around the corner, there are major concerns over the logistical challenges that come hand in hand with the potential lack of food and fuel supplies, as well as driver shortages jeopardising the festive season.
Headlines surrounding fuel, food and driver shortages have dominated the news in recent months. With several retail experts predicting that shelves could be empty at Christmas, many businesses are already looking at ways that they can overcome this logistical nightmare.
And, it’s not just food supplies that seem to have been hit hard by lack of fuel and driver shortages. Commercial businesses operating across a diverse range of sectors are reporting that they are struggling to access and deliver stock. Of course, this isn’t ideal with the peak Christmas shopping season already in full swing, right?
What is to blame for the shortage of fuel and food?
The impact of COVID-19 and Brexit is largely responsible for these shortages, as well as the lack of staff at international ports due to the restrictions imposed due to the pandemic. These factors have had a huge impact on the global shopping industry, making it almost impossible to meet the demand for stock.
At the same time, COVID-19 is continuing to impact the UK’s workforce, with individuals still required to isolate if they come into contact with anyone who has tested positive for the virus. This has affected absence levels and led to driver shortages up and down the country. And, with the festive season being one of the busiest times of the year for deliveries, the knock-on effect of this is already being felt.
Brexit
As predicted, Brexit has also had an impact on a shortage of fuel and food. How? Following Brexit, the UK saw a mass exit of many EU nationals, which caused a shortage of lorry drivers due to EU nationals no longer having work visas.
At the same time, Brexit has also had a significant impact on UK farming as again, many EU nationals worked on UK farms. Experts are already predicting that as a result of this, Christmas turkey production faces a 20% reduction.
Why choose Podfather?
The Podfather logistics solution can help to tackle many of these logistic challenges this Christmas as it includes a number of key features. From route planning & optimisation, vehicle checks and tracking through to providing customer notifications, ePOD and reporting functionality, the PODFather is already helping businesses throughout the UK.
The driver app, which runs on even the most basic of smartphones, has also been designed to enable you to automatically collect vehicle checks, upload jobs to drivers and capture proof of delivery in real-time.
We’d love to show you just what our ePOD and delivery management system can do and how it can help your business. Get in touch and we can arrange a 30-minute online demonstration with one of our expert team.
