With the logistics sector focusing all of its resources on keeping goods moving throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, FTA is urging government to apply for an extension to the Brexit transition period; there is simply no time for businesses within the sector to implement new trading procedures while they are fighting to keep operations afloat. In this month’s column, Seamus Leheny, Policy Manager for Northern Ireland, FTA provides an overview of how logistics businesses are keeping the supply chain intact during the pandemic and why the sector does not have capacity to implement new international trading procedures at this time.
Businesses within the logistics industry are going through extraordinarily challenging times. They are tasked with keeping supermarkets and other retailers stocked with the food, hygiene products and other basic items the public require throughout the outbreak, in addition to supporting several other sectors. And at this time of unprecedented demand for their services, they also have to cope with disruption to staffing levels, owing to sickness and self-isolation.
The priority of the logistics sector must be to deliver for its customers, as such, these businesses simply do not have capacity to plan simultaneously the major structural changes needed to implement a successful departure from the EU. Any new trading arrangement will require careful planning, testing and implementation. As an industry, our primary focus must be in supporting the UK economy through this unprecedented crisis; Brexit will have to wait.
The pandemic will also have a significant impact on the industry’s ability to recruit and train new staff, in addition to its ability to access supplies of new equipment, technology and vehicles in the coming months.
While logistics is a flexible and resilient industry, it does not the capacity for planning and delivering new international trading arrangements at present. COVID-19 has created a once-in-a-lifetime emergency; it needs the full attention of the whole sector. Adding in a host of new trading arrangements would place unnecessary pressure on a supply chain that is already stretched.
Efficient logistics is vital to keep the UK trading, directly having an impact on more than seven million people employed in the making, selling and moving of goods. With Brexit, new technology and other disruptive forces driving change in the way goods move across borders and through the supply chain, logistics has never been more important to UK plc.
FTA is one of the biggest business groups in the UK, supporting, shaping and standing up for safe and efficient logistics. It is the only business group in the UK that represents all of logistics, with members from the road, rail, sea and air industries, as well as the buyers of freight services such as retailers and manufacturers whose businesses depend on the efficient movement of goods.
