[Empeg-general] British fuel crisis

[Rob Voisey]

A few people have started to notice that it's getting a little hard to buy petrol or diesel in the UK at the moment (<a href="http://news6.thdo.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/in_depth/world/2000/world_fuel_crisis/">BBC Coverage</a>).  To put it in perspective, in Cambridge right now 85% of filling stations have run out of unleaded, and there are queues of an hour or more for most of the others.  I don't want to start a thread about the politics of the blockades, panic buying, fuel tax and so forth.

I do want to provide some indication of how this may affecting shipping.  Here is the situation, currently, with our three major couriers:

_TNT UK_ have their own fuel tanks, and claim that they have plenty of diesel in reserve.  This is good news, as TNT deliver players from the factory to our dispatch office, as well as to UK clients.

_TNT International_ are currently using TNT UK's fuel supply, so the situation is the same.

_FedEx_ get their fuel from Stanstead Airport, but unfortunately the airport authorities have restricted supply to emergency vehicles only.  As it is not currently practicable to buy fuel from a filling station in our area there is a chance that FedEx collections could be affected.  If this were to happen for more than a brief period we would switch our US consignments to TNT International.

In summary, right now the fuel crisis should not affect deliveries beyond the occassional short delay.  If the situation changes I'll post an update.

Rob