Asda and Sainsbury’s cold foods distributor on ‘brink of collapse’

EVCL Chill, which supplies chilled foods to major supermarkets and employs 1,000 people, could be on the brink of ceasing trading and is in emergency talks, according to reports

Supermarket shortages are more likely as a company which supplies food to Asda and Sainsbury’s may soon fall into administration.

Chilled foods distributor EVCL Chill, which employs 1,000 people, may soon be forced to stop trading.

The business is one arm of wider logistics group EV Cargo, and is talking to its largest customers about contingency plans that would mean supply chains keep flowing.

The talks could mean job losses are averted.

EVCL Chill is based in Alfreton, Derbyshire.

The company went into administration last year, but was bought out again by EV Cargo, according to Sky News.

Is the UK heading for a shortfall of goods in supermarkets or will all this blow over? Let us know in the comments below

EV Cargo has been approached for comment.

Morrisons and Sainsbury’s warn there could be shortages over the next few weeks unless government steps in to help out supermarkets.

Supermarkets and their suppliers are grappling with several issues that can mean a lack of goods in stores.

These issues include a lack of HGV delivery drivers and a nationwide CO2 shortage.

Even the Prime Minister has admitted the food sector was struggling from a lack of hauliers and soaring global gas demand as the world emerges from the pandemic.

Brits have been told a frugal Christmas is possible, with turkeys and toys in short supply – along with empty supermarket shelves and rising living costs .

Iceland managing director Richard Walker has said that food shortages could happen in just weeks.

Walker said: “This is no longer about whether or not Christmas will be OK, it’s about keeping the wheels turning and the lights on so we can actually get to Christmas.

“This could become a problem over the coming days and weeks, so this is not an issue that’s months away.”

The major issue supermarkets face is that the country does not have enough skilled HGV drivers to staff delivery lorries.

The UK is currently struggling with a shortfall of around 100,000 HGV drivers due to a mixture of coronavirus and Brexit.

The lack of workers has been impacting companies up and down the country, with many forced to take items off the menu, including McDonald’s, Wetherspoon and Nando’s in recent months.

One lorry driver of 15 years has revealed how he has been given a pay rise of £7 an hour “almost overnight”.

Tom Reddy explained on Twitter how he’d been given a 40% increase as “there are no drivers” and said how some firms are offering salaries of up to £50,000 a year.

Tesco and Asda are advertising starting bonuses of around £1,000 to entice new HGV drivers, while Waitrose recently offered a salary of up to £53,780 .

Last week Walker said Iceland has been forced to cancel 250 store deliveries a week as it is caught up in a national shortage of lorry drivers.

This is a 15% fall in the normal level of deliveries, and is happening because Iceland has vacancies for 100 drivers.

To help ease the problem, some of Iceland’s six distribution centres have started using ‘class 2’ drivers rather than HGV drivers.

Class 2 licences allow drivers to handle smaller and more rigid lorries, whereas class 1 drivers operate larger HGVs.