gingerfold:
Just an update on current RDC volumes… which are still showing substantial increases compared with what would normally being delivered at this time of the year, typically steady at 25 to 28% increase daily. It has to be said that much of this increase is British produced food and produce so some recognition to UK manufacturers, growers, and producers. By pulling in drivers and units from other divisions within the company where work has tailed off we are coping very well. Drivers are putting in a fantastic effort and it’s greatly appreciated. Demand for flour is off the scale…I’ve 17 bulk tankers running tomorrow, my own team and some help from three powder tank drivers from non-food depots in the company where work has reduced. Every flour mill in the country is flat out, so some credit also to the grain tipper boys for keeping the mills supplied with wheat.
A final observation, my journey home from the depot is taking less than half the time it normally does, but I was surprised today to see three caravans being towed. I thought that touring caravan sites were now off limits, but obviously it doesn’t apply to some caravaners.
Were those caravans of the Irish Tinker/Gypsy variety as they don’t observe any rules in this country and some are already on scams such as disinfecting driveways of vulnerable and unsuspecting public, Buzzer
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No they were typical summer touring caravans pulled by SUVs and driven by drivers who were of mature years.
I’m trying to be ultra careful in everything I do… I must have washed my hands 30 times already today. I moved a couple of units off trailers in the yard today, to help my night drivers. I wore disposable gloves and have provided disposable gloves for drivers on double shifted units. I had one unit collected for servicing today and that driver was wearing disposable gloves. I’ll probably drive my car tomorrow wearing disposable gloves… must be getting paranoid about this virus.
gingerfold:
^^^^^^^^^
No they were typical summer touring caravans pulled by SUVs and driven by drivers who were of mature years.
I’m trying to be ultra careful in everything I do… I must have washed my hands 30 times already today. I moved a couple of units off trailers in the yard today, to help my night drivers. I wore disposable gloves and have provided disposable gloves for drivers on double shifted units. I had one unit collected for servicing today and that driver was wearing disposable gloves. I’ll probably drive my car tomorrow wearing disposable gloves… must be getting paranoid about this virus.
Your just being ultra careful mate that’s all, are we allowed to know who you work for or is that top secret just curious, my son sent a message to our drivers today as they have been brilliant and none want to go home either, they make you have that feeling of all pulling together and the two who are in the warehouse/yard have split duties one on 5am to1pm then the other covers 1pm to 7pm, Buzzer.
gingerfold:
Just an update on current RDC volumes… which are still showing substantial increases compared with what would normally being delivered at this time of the year, typically steady at 25 to 28% increase daily. It has to be said that much of this increase is British produced food and produce so some recognition to UK manufacturers, growers, and producers. By pulling in drivers and units from other divisions within the company where work has tailed off we are coping very well. Drivers are putting in a fantastic effort and it’s greatly appreciated. Demand for flour is off the scale…I’ve 17 bulk tankers running tomorrow, my own team and some help from three powder tank drivers from non-food depots in the company where work has reduced. Every flour mill in the country is flat out, so some credit also to the grain tipper boys for keeping the mills supplied with wheat.
A final observation, my journey home from the depot is taking less than half the time it normally does, but I was surprised today to see three caravans being towed. I thought that touring caravan sites were now off limits, but obviously it doesn’t apply to some caravaners.
Graham,
Can you give us an idea of actual truck numbers you would have delivering to RDC’s on a normal day.
That will give us a clearer idea of the increase in trucks with regard to your 25 to 28%.
gingerfold:
Just an update on current RDC volumes… which are still showing substantial increases compared with what would normally being delivered at this time of the year, typically steady at 25 to 28% increase daily. It has to be said that much of this increase is British produced food and produce so some recognition to UK manufacturers, growers, and producers. By pulling in drivers and units from other divisions within the company where work has tailed off we are coping very well. Drivers are putting in a fantastic effort and it’s greatly appreciated. Demand for flour is off the scale…I’ve 17 bulk tankers running tomorrow, my own team and some help from three powder tank drivers from non-food depots in the company where work has reduced. Every flour mill in the country is flat out, so some credit also to the grain tipper boys for keeping the mills supplied with wheat.
A final observation, my journey home from the depot is taking less than half the time it normally does, but I was surprised today to see three caravans being towed. I thought that touring caravan sites were now off limits, but obviously it doesn’t apply to some caravaners.
Were those caravans of the Irish Tinker/Gypsy variety as they don’t observe any rules in this country and some are already on scams such as disinfecting driveways of vulnerable and unsuspecting public, Buzzer
Officially Appleby 2020 has been cancelled, wonder how many ignore that and still gather on the hill.
Tyneside
gingerfold:
Just an update on current RDC volumes… which are still showing substantial increases compared with what would normally being delivered at this time of the year, typically steady at 25 to 28% increase daily. It has to be said that much of this increase is British produced food and produce so some recognition to UK manufacturers, growers, and producers. By pulling in drivers and units from other divisions within the company where work has tailed off we are coping very well. Drivers are putting in a fantastic effort and it’s greatly appreciated. Demand for flour is off the scale…I’ve 17 bulk tankers running tomorrow, my own team and some help from three powder tank drivers from non-food depots in the company where work has reduced. Every flour mill in the country is flat out, so some credit also to the grain tipper boys for keeping the mills supplied with wheat.
A final observation, my journey home from the depot is taking less than half the time it normally does, but I was surprised today to see three caravans being towed. I thought that touring caravan sites were now off limits, but obviously it doesn’t apply to some caravaners.
Were those caravans of the Irish Tinker/Gypsy variety as they don’t observe any rules in this country and some are already on scams such as disinfecting driveways of vulnerable and unsuspecting public, Buzzer
Officially Appleby 2020 has been cancelled, wonder how many ignore that and still gather on the hill.
Tyneside
I heard Denzil is getting his trany tipper and horse box ready
gingerfold:
Just an update on current RDC volumes… which are still showing substantial increases compared with what would normally being delivered at this time of the year, typically steady at 25 to 28% increase daily. It has to be said that much of this increase is British produced food and produce so some recognition to UK manufacturers, growers, and producers. By pulling in drivers and units from other divisions within the company where work has tailed off we are coping very well. Drivers are putting in a fantastic effort and it’s greatly appreciated. Demand for flour is off the scale…I’ve 17 bulk tankers running tomorrow, my own team and some help from three powder tank drivers from non-food depots in the company where work has reduced. Every flour mill in the country is flat out, so some credit also to the grain tipper boys for keeping the mills supplied with wheat.
A final observation, my journey home from the depot is taking less than half the time it normally does, but I was surprised today to see three caravans being towed. I thought that touring caravan sites were now off limits, but obviously it doesn’t apply to some caravaners.
Graham,
Can you give us an idea of actual truck numbers you would have delivering to RDC’s on a normal day.
That will give us a clearer idea of the increase in trucks with regard to your 25 to 28%.
DEAN, on a “normal” Wednesday (not the biggest delivery day of the week) we would be delivering into supermarket RDCs, and we supply two of the big 4 supermarket companies, about 240 to 250 chilled loads from two main depots in the group. A good number of those trucks then have collections to make from suppliers for consolidation back at the hubs.
In addition we have about 60 to 70 frozen loads to deliver daily, some are full loads, many are multi-drops. Surprisingly frozen deliveries are holding up given the closure of fast food outlets etc. Most of these loads go to such as Bidvest, Bookers, Brakes etc and other food serve companies.
Then we have another division that does mainly chilled and frozen deliveries to food processors such as ready meal makers… about another 110 loads daily.
Most of our deliveries are done on our own fleet, we sub out daily to companies such as Buzzer’s, maybe 10% of the loads.
The UK fresh food supply chain is without question the best managed and most efficient in Europe. The French, Germans, and Dutch can’t hold a candle to us.
From the aspect of a customer. The ‘recently acquired’ curtainsider division will in normal times be delivering a weekly average of around 5 loads a day - the peak is often around 9 - of cardboard blanks for fruit and veg packaging into just one of the suppliers to farms and packhouses. The last few weeks have seen a significant unseasonal increase in demand from the larger packhouses especially in what is usually often a very quiet period.
Monday saw a local minor traffic jam caused by Murcian fridges going to or from nearby packhouses. What will happen if these stop coming because of the situation in Spain and with cross border freight gets worse remains to be seen. The same can be said if the crops are not picked in the UK.
At the moment planning is lead by the supermarkets, but the scenarios for available crop vary between 50% and 150% of normal levels without the vagaries of the weather.
cav551:
From the aspect of a customer. The ‘recently acquired’ curtainsider division will in normal times be delivering a weekly average of around 5 loads a day - the peak is often around 9 - of cardboard blanks for fruit and veg packaging into just one of the suppliers to farms and packhouses. The last few weeks have seen a significant unseasonal increase in demand from the larger packhouses especially in what is usually often a very quiet period.
Monday saw a local minor traffic jam caused by Murcian fridges going to or from nearby packhouses. What will happen if these stop coming because of the situation in Spain and with cross border freight gets worse remains to be seen. The same can be said if the crops are not picked in the UK.
At the moment planning is lead by the supermarkets, but the scenarios for available crop vary between 50% and 150% of normal levels without the vagaries of the weather.
Some very valid points there CAV. Talking to a subby of ours yesterday who had a driver heading for Germany and he had his CMR checked at Calais. Anything heading for Italy is being parked up and not allowed to proceed. The same will apply to Spain any day now I would suggest. It’s a two-way street so Spanish trucks will not be allowed to cross Europe. At the moment grapes, citrus fruit, melons etc are coming in from Spain, but probably not for much longer. That will leave containerised imports from Israel, Florida, California as our supply chain for these fruits. We pack these fruits for one of the leading supermarkets.
Looking ahead, if there is a future, there were already serious concerns about the UK harvest this year because of the wet January and February, and of course the floods. Some of the winter wheat and barley crop has been lost because of the waterlogged fields. The vast majority of the UK cereal crop is sown in autumn, very little is sown in spring. Even if we get through the pandemic in 12 weeks there will still be problems ahead. When I worked for Spillers Milling in the 1980s all the UK flour millers were allocated by the government annual tonnages of flour to put into storage for a national strategic reserve. The flour was dried to 4% moisture so it wouldn’t go mouldy. We had to rotate stocks and replace what was taken out of stock every 9 months or so. The stored flour was then streamed into freshly milled flour. Of course, the national flour stock was discontinued in the late 1980s as a cost saving exercise.
I read at weekend that just before the Coronavirus outbreak started a government advisor had recommended that farming in the UK should be allowed to wither and die and that we should import all our food. What an absolute fool.
cav551:
From the aspect of a customer. The ‘recently acquired’ curtainsider division will in normal times be delivering a weekly average of around 5 loads a day - the peak is often around 9 - of cardboard blanks for fruit and veg packaging into just one of the suppliers to farms and packhouses. The last few weeks have seen a significant unseasonal increase in demand from the larger packhouses especially in what is usually often a very quiet period.
Monday saw a local minor traffic jam caused by Murcian fridges going to or from nearby packhouses. What will happen if these stop coming because of the situation in Spain and with cross border freight gets worse remains to be seen. The same can be said if the crops are not picked in the UK.
At the moment planning is lead by the supermarkets, but the scenarios for available crop vary between 50% and 150% of normal levels without the vagaries of the weather.
Some very valid points there CAV. Talking to a subby of ours yesterday who had a driver heading for Germany and he had his CMR checked at Calais. Anything heading for Italy is being parked up and not allowed to proceed. The same will apply to Spain any day now I would suggest. It’s a two-way street so Spanish trucks will not be allowed to cross Europe. At the moment grapes, citrus fruit, melons etc are coming in from Spain, but probably not for much longer. That will leave containerised imports from Israel, Florida, California as our supply chain for these fruits. We pack these fruits for one of the leading supermarkets.
Looking ahead, if there is a future, there were already serious concerns about the UK harvest this year because of the wet January and February, and of course the floods. Some of the winter wheat and barley crop has been lost because of the waterlogged fields. The vast majority of the UK cereal crop is sown in autumn, very little is sown in spring. Even if we get through the pandemic in 12 weeks there will still be problems ahead. When I worked for Spillers Milling in the 1980s all the UK flour millers were allocated by the government annual tonnages of flour to put into storage for a national strategic reserve. The flour was dried to 4% moisture so it wouldn’t go mouldy. We had to rotate stocks and replace what was taken out of stock every 9 months or so. The stored flour was then streamed into freshly milled flour. Of course, the national flour stock was discontinued in the late 1980s as a cost saving exercise.
I read at weekend that just before the Coronavirus outbreak started a government advisor had recommended that farming in the UK should be allowed to wither and die and that we should import all our food. What an absolute fool.
“Farming Today” was mentioning packaging too. Apparently only 3 factories in Europe produce egg cartons?
A supplier of eggs to McDonald’s was talking about his, now excess, production and how to divert it into supermarkets. Interesting stuff.
Available on BBC iPlayer Radio, for those of you who didn’t catch it this morning.
gingerfold:
I read at weekend that just before the Coronavirus outbreak started a government advisor had recommended that farming in the UK should be allowed to wither and die and that we should import all our food. What an absolute fool.
The whole structure of the economy is going to have to be significantly revised and not just in this country, with very serious reconsideration about from where we source those items for which production has been exported overseas on the basis of cost. The idea of reliance upon a single source of any product which is not also produced domestically, but the lack of which can stop industry or jeopardize any section of the nations’ health is as dead as those unfortunate victims of this epedemic. GB particularly cannot continue to rely upon moving money around to speculate on the future value of cocoa beans etc. If this means the re-establishment of basic industries and essential product manufacturing under state control then that may well have to be how it goes, whether some like it or not. If that means an increase in taxes to cover the cost then we are going to have to live with that. In WW2 the basic rate of income tax rose to 37.5%, it may have to again.
How many times have we seen in the last 10-15 years natural events which have been described as once in a generation or lifetime occurences? To believe that there will not be another major worldwide health emergency in the foreseeable future is quite simply living in la-la land.
gingerfold:
I read at weekend that just before the Coronavirus outbreak started a government advisor had recommended that farming in the UK should be allowed to wither and die and that we should import all our food. What an absolute fool.
The whole structure of the economy is going to have to be significantly revised and not just in this country, with very serious reconsideration about from where we source those items for which production has been exported overseas on the basis of cost. The idea of reliance upon a single source of any product which is not also produced domestically, but the lack of which can stop industry or jeopardize any section of the nations’ health is as dead as those unfortunate victims of this epedemic. GB particularly cannot continue to rely upon moving money around to speculate on the future value of cocoa beans etc. If this means the re-establishment of basic industries and essential product manufacturing under state control then that may well have to be how it goes, whether some like it or not. If that means an increase in taxes to cover the cost then we are going to have to live with that. In WW2 the basic rate of income tax rose to 37.5%, it may have to again.
How many times have we seen in the last 10-15 years natural events which have been described as once in a generation or lifetime occurences? To believe that there will not be another major worldwide health emergency in the foreseeable future is quite simply living in la-la land.
Having trouble with links, but Minford thinks we will be better off as country if we run down car manufacturing, as we have run down steel and coal. He reckons we will be better off importing cheaper foreign foods than producing them ourselves.
I’m sure you’ll have no problem finding him out there.
Can you give us an idea of actual truck numbers you would have delivering to RDC’s on a normal day.
That will give us a clearer idea of the increase in trucks with regard to your 25 to 28%.
DEAN, on a “normal” Wednesday (not the biggest delivery day of the week) we would be delivering into supermarket RDCs, and we supply two of the big 4 supermarket companies, about 240 to 250 chilled loads from two main depots in the group. A good number of those trucks then have collections to make from suppliers for consolidation back at the hubs.
In addition we have about 60 to 70 frozen loads to deliver daily, some are full loads, many are multi-drops. Surprisingly frozen deliveries are holding up given the closure of fast food outlets etc. Most of these loads go to such as Bidvest, Bookers, Brakes etc and other food serve companies.
Then we have another division that does mainly chilled and frozen deliveries to food processors such as ready meal makers… about another 110 loads daily.
Most of our deliveries are done on our own fleet, we sub out daily to companies such as Buzzer’s, maybe 10% of the loads.
The UK fresh food supply chain is without question the best managed and most efficient in Europe. The French, Germans, and Dutch can’t hold a candle to us.
Thanks for the answer Graham, that clarifys things better to give us an idea just how many extra loads you are covering.
Working on the RDC figure of 250 artics then, thats approximately another 63 loads using the 25% figure !!! Wow, just goes
to show how much panic buying has been going on. I assume we are talking 26 plt artics,so thats an extra 1638 pallets a day
on a quiet day ! Whats your busiest day Friday ?
Makes you wonder what the total is for the whole country when you think companies like Stobarts,Wincanton,Gregorys etc must
also be doing extra loads !
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Yes we try to get 26 pallets on every load, it doesn’t always work out exactly to 26, because we’re working on different delivery “waves” within the 24 hour cycle that starts at midnight. So Friday’s deliveries can start going into RDC after midnight Thursday. Certain categories of products are wave, 1, wave 2, and wave 3, with cut off times for each wave. We do a daily load average of pallets, most days we achieve 25.5, which is in effect 26 spaces. The office load planners juggle things around with pallets totals from every supplier to maximise trailer loads.
Supermarkets place their orders with suppliers in real time, all the supermarket tills transmit information about the volumes of every product being sold back to a central ordering computer. The bar code on packaging doesn’t just have the price for the till scanner to register, it has details of the product, pack size and so on. Sales volumes for every product are then adjusted for the next day, depending on what day of the week it is. Sales adjustments are also factored in for variables such as the weather forecast. For example in summer if a nice weekend is forecast then fresh meat orders will be increased in anticipation of people having barbeques. Thursday and Friday tend to be the biggest volume days into RDCs, Monday and Tuesday the lowest days. Last Saturday was massive, one of the biggest non-Christmas days we’ve ever had. The problem at the present time is that there’s no stored computer details for adjusting orders to fall back on. The bottleneck is still the RDCs, they’re not shifting deliveries from RDCs into stores quickly enough.
Very well explained Graham as it seems that matters have become a bit more refined than from the time we were involved in hauling Libby Orange “C” from their Milnthorpe plant during the 80’s & 90’s when we completed the pre Christmas rush when everyone stocked up at home for Christmas and New Year and then the re-ordering computers at the RDC’s went mad in early January and we were busy running loads into the RDC’s and then it went quiet for the last two weeks in January because no one was buying at the Super markets and the RDC’s were stuffed with the Juice ! We used to try and try again to persuade Libbys to spread the traffic out over the month but to avail ! The Computer says No as stock levels were showing “RED” !! Our Lads would come back with tales from the RDC’s saying they are stacked out with Libbys Juice !!! We used get into gear again in mid February as stocks fell back to a sensible , manageable level ! Fair enough during a hot spell in summer we got extremely busy and often were loading well into the teens of loads of “C” on a daily basis but there was a reason for that—the weather ! Cheers Dennis.
Franglais:
Having trouble with links, but Minford thinks we will be better off as country if we run down car manufacturing, as we have run down steel and coal. He reckons we will be better off importing cheaper foreign foods than producing them ourselves.
I’m sure you’ll have no problem finding him out there.
Sounds like he’s a ■■■■ then. And there’s me thinking he’s pinched my idea after what you said.
China is shipping large quantities of medical equipment and medical staff to Europe at the moment. Global cooperation is a wonderful goal and the examples so far are to be applauded, but we have already seen examples of intentions to block export of vital supplies ordered by another country. One cannot really blame any country’s leaders for acting in this way since their obligations a first and foremost to its own citizens. This is why there must always be a strategic reserve capacity in our manufacturing capability regardless of cost and competitiveness.
