The United Kingdom (U.K) based leading online supermarket – Ocado has officially warned its customers of upcoming shortage of supplies due to staff absence across the supply chain, as well as the extra custom controls that are grappling the hauliers post-Brexit.
The staff absence across the supply chain is drive by Coronavirus (COVID-19). Ocado is the first big retailer to admit this in public. It had informed its customers through an email. At the same time, it also said that while customers may not get the goods of their choice, there are substitutes available for them. It also apologised to customers for the inconvenience caused and assured them that Ocado is working to mitigate the risk.
The condition across U.K., which is struggling hard to contain the new mutation, is grim. Food producers are cutting the number of product lines they offer.
Speaking on the occasion, the Spokesperson of Ocado said, “Staff absences across the supply chain may lead to an increase in product substitutions for a small number of customers as some suppliers consolidate their offering to maintain output.”
The announcement comes at a time when online supermarkets are getting unprecedented demand for products as shoppers are locked inside their homes because of the ongoing national lockdown. Within hours of announcement of national lockdown by the Prime Minister of U.K. – Boris Johnson, shoppers reported problems with Sainsbury’s and Tesco. Ocado customers were placed in a virtual queue.
The British Meat Processor Association (BMPA) has called for the early vaccination of its workers to keep food supplies running smoothly during the pandemic crisis. It warned earlier this week that absences during the pandemic, coupled with disruption at ports, could hit food supply chains. Meanwhile, leading retail chain Sainsbury’s has also called for early vaccination of its staff so that the delay in supply chain can be minimised.
BMPA said that COVID-19 and disruption at ports due to new systems brought in after the Brexit transition period were a severe challenge to the industry and to the smooth running of the nation’s food supply chain.
The official twitter handle of BMPA tweeted, “We’re sounding the warning bell to Government because we can see a worrying increase in staff absences amongst frontline food factory workers. If they rise much further, this could spell trouble for food supplies into supermarkets.”
We're sounding the warning bell to Government because we can see a worrying increase in staff absences amongst frontline food factory workers. If they rise much further, this could spell trouble for food supplies into supermarkets.https://t.co/HoDlBTuIBU
— BMPA (@BMPA_INFO) January 7, 2021
It further tweeted, “We can see worrying signs that the new coronavirus strain is causing increased staff absences amongst frontline food factory workers. If they rise much further, this could spell trouble for food supplies into supermarkets.”
Given the specialised nature of the meat processing industry, if absences go above a certain level, it becomes impossible for a plant to continue operations. If this starts happening plants would be forced to close entirely and a sizeable chunk of food supply would disappear from supermarket shelves.
