LONDON, October 15, 2021 (AFP) – The British government announced on Friday (15) the relaxation of rules on the number of shipments foreign truck drivers can make in the United Kingdom, in a bid to alleviate shortages and supply problems before Christmas. .
Today, European Union (EU) drivers can only make two runs in the seven days following their arrival in the UK. With the new rule, which the government hopes to enforce before Christmas, they will be able to take an unlimited number of trips in a two-week period.
“This represents the addition of thousands of truck drivers to the roads,” Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told Sky News on Friday, vowing that the measures would be in place “by the end of the year”.
For weeks, a shortage of around 100,000 truck drivers due to the pandemic and Brexit has caused serious supply problems to UK supermarkets and gas stations.
The shortage of truck drivers has also exacerbated port congestion around the world and especially in England, where many container ships full of Christmas goods have recently been diverted to European ports.
According to the British Ports Association (BPA), this situation will last between six and nine months.
“When I talk to the ports they tell me yes we are crowded but it’s global congestion,” Shapps said, calling for the situation to be set right with the “trading of goods.”
He promised that “the pressures, of course, are very real, but people are going to get products for Christmas.”
In addition to the road transport sector, the UK also suffers from a shortage of workers in butchers. This raises concerns about the mass slaughter and destruction of animals, which cannot be made into meat for sale or kept on overcrowded farms and farms.
In the face of “the pressures that the pig sector has experienced in recent months, such as the impact of the epidemic and its impact on export markets,” Environment Minister George Eustis announced Thursday (14) the granting of 800 visas to foreign butchers.
jwp-acc / mar / tt
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