The current UK Haulage Market – How will this affect you, our customers?

As you will no doubt be aware the media has recently focused on the lack of HGV drivers in the UK market – a direct result of Covid/Brexit – more specifically down to so called pingdemic, a huge backlog in HGV applications/tests, drivers returning to the EU since Brexit and the continued surge in imports to the UK. The RHA estimate we are 100,000 drivers short of what is required. At Good Logistics we have extended our pool of hauliers, and benefit from our long standing relationships built over years. We continue to manage the crisis and provide deliveries where we can, to your requirements. However, we are not immune, and some deliveries may fail, demurrage is potentially going to be incurred. Shipping lines and Ports are currently not offering extended free time arrangements. Just as supermarkets cannot source haulage to fill their shelves, which has led to the likes of Tesco paying premiums to secure drivers and haulage, the same resource is stretched for containers. In fact, we are now seeing many carriers adopt a similar stance to the supermarkets in offering higher rates and as a result introducing additional charges the latest to be added, are “Driver Retention Surcharges”. In the current climate we simply cannot afford to waste driver availability, and would encourage all of our customers to continue to be as flexible as possible with accepting and booking deliveries We continue to do our best to fulfil your requirements in very challenging circumstances. Thank you for your support.