It is good to see a lot of contributors back pedling on the predicted gloom and doom. It is no good now bringing in qualifications to the predictions. The hold up of parts is not due to brexit but due to world shortage of containers, ships and electronic parts like IC's all due in part to covid.
There is also a major shortage of Class1 Drivers too, my guess is a large proportion were agency Drivers and they were
laid off or made redundant when the Pandemic arrived.
Its also noted that many importers panic bought and doubled their orders from their foreign suppliers, the problem erose
because some importers did not have the Warehousing Capacity and abused the Dumerage at the Dock side glogging up the Ports.
I read the other day that a lot of the empty containers are in USA awaiting movement back to places like China, but not enough cargo space on container ships to deal with the current backlog....a simple logistics problem.
It is refreshing to see that people are more optimistic (although the newspapers still love a blame Brexit story) it wasn't a complete economic disaster as predicted, although I think Covid did a lot of damage that may have otherwise in some part have arisen with Brexit.
When it comes to UK fish I cant understand why some people cant seem to grasp that the EU and particularly French restaurants due to Covid are closed and they are a big buyer of UK fish, might just have an impact on UK fish demand! Possibly the UK may have to look for some new markets, but in 5.5 years time the EU will need UK sourced fish more than ever, as their own fishing vessels UK access will be restricted much further. It will be interesting to see as we gain access to the Pacific Rim trade block how the eg Japanese domestic fish market develops for UK shell fish and fish.
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Hopefully we will see the Duty free ports being developed and up and running and how much benefit deprived areas of the UK receive to help them to start to bounce back. Simple things like the Technology company Aqua Comms is laying the optic telecoms cable linking Dublin and Blackpool, with a spur to the Isle of Man, is seen as excellent opportunity for .technology companies to be based at Blackpool a serious economically and socially deprived coastal town with Fleetwood just up the road that has had the heart of its traditional fishing industry destroyed since joining the EEC. Whilst we may have done this under the EU; we hadn't todate and has Brexit in the same way Covid is becoming a pivotal moment/wakeup call...........and amongst many other things changed some of the economic emphasis away from London and the south, I do hope so
I do feel once the new relationship beds down, and the EU has already said that EU companies were not prepared enough for the deal (yet to be ratified by the EU Parliament) and the EU will be seeking further negotiations on streamlining paperwork and customs etc
The EU has a massive positive trade balance on goods with the UK so it's in their interest to make it as free flowing as possible
.I don't think it will be all plain sailing but in time we will see an increasingly rejuvenated global looking UK.
regards
