英国的商店在圣诞节前可能会缺酒和白酒，因为没有足够的司机来送货。
该警告是在上周英国葡萄酒和烈酒贸易协会 (WTSA) 致英国交通部长格兰特·沙普斯 (Grant Shapps) 的一封信中提出的。它由行业协会的 48 名成员签署，其中包括 LVMH (LVMHF) 旗下的香槟和干邑制造商 Moet Hennessy 和 Laurent-Perrier。
“这对我们的企业来说是一个紧迫的问题，[英国]政府必须立即采取措施，在圣诞节前帮助减轻司机短缺危机的影响，”信中说。
该行业需要帮助改善港口货运路线，以及政府更定期地更新处理重型货车 (HGV) 驾驶考试和执照的速度。
它还敦促政府将临时签证计划延长一年，允许外国司机在长期内弥补短缺。为期三个月的计划将于明年2月28日到期。
WSTA 首席执行官迈尔斯比尔在一份声明中表示：“我们已经看到葡萄酒和烈酒交货时间出现重大延误，这推高了成本并限制了英国消费者可用的产品范围。”
根据英国议会的研究，2019 年，英国 54% 的成年人每周至少饮酒一次。
饮料行业协会表示，其一些成员进口葡萄酒和烈酒的时间比一年前长了五倍。它还表示，货运代理不得不为稀缺的司机支付更多费用，从而将不断上涨的成本转嫁给了进口商。
葡萄酒经销商 Kingsland Drinks 的董事总经理 Ed Baker 表示，他的公司每年灌装约 1.85 亿瓶葡萄酒，相当于英国“每八瓶酒中约有一瓶”。
他在一份声明中说，交付的积压意味着铁路枢纽的集装箱空间需求量很大。
“我们通常希望有 80 到 100 个储罐空间，但目前我们可以减少到 10 到 20 个。这限制了进入我们工厂的液体量，并且在交付时遇到了 HGV 驱动程序短缺， ”贝克说。
英国政府在一份声明中表示，预计今年圣诞节酒类供应不会中断。
一位政府发言人说：“政府迅速采取行动应对我们的供应链面临的挑战，这些挑战是由包括大流行和 HGV 司机国际短缺在内的全球压力带来的。”
卡车司机的短缺在今年早些时候引发了燃料危机，许多加油站关闭，幸运地获得供应的加油站排起长队。 9月，英国政府部署了军用油罐车，以填补燃料供应缺口。
由于大流行导致供应链紧缩以及部分由于该国脱离欧盟导致的工人短缺，超市几个月来也一直在努力保持货架上的充足库存。
英国退欧后，一些欧盟工人离开了，由于英国新的移民规定，农场、食品加工厂和卡车运输公司不能再从欧盟招聘。
政府为外国司机签发了 5,000 份临时签证，但英国公路运输协会表示，英国需要再增加 100,000 名司机来满足需求。
最近几个月，农民、银行家、零售商、物流公司和餐馆老板都警告政府，英国离开欧盟后实施的更严格的移民规定使他们难以找到工人并维持业务运转。
Country where 54 percent of adults drink alcohol once a week may run out of liquor for Christmas
London (CNN Business)Shops in the United Kingdom could run short of wine and liquor ahead of Christmas because there aren't enough drivers to make deliveries.
The warning was made in a letter sent by the UK Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WTSA) to UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps last week. It was signed by 48 members of the industry association, including champagne and cognac makers Moet Hennessy, owned by LVMH (LVMHF), and Laurent-Perrier.
"This is an urgent issue for our businesses, and it is imperative that [the UK] Government takes immediate steps to help mitigate the impact of the driver shortages crisis before the Christmas period," the letter stated.
The industry wants help with better routing of freight from ports, as well as more regular updates from the government on how quickly it's processing heavy goods vehicle (HGV) driving tests and licenses.
It also urged the government to extend by one year a temporary visa program allowing drivers from abroad to meet shortfalls over the longer term. The three-month program is set to expire on February 28 next year.
"We are already seeing major delays on wine and spirit delivery times which is pushing up costs and limiting the range of products available to UK consumers," WSTA chief executive Miles Beale said in a statement.
In 2019, 54% of adults in England reported drinking alcohol at least once a week, according to research by the UK parliament.
The drinks industry association said that it was taking up to five times longer for some of its members to import wine and spirits than a year ago. It also said rising costs have been passed on to importers by freight forwarders having to pay more for scarce drivers.
Ed Baker, managing director of wine distributor Kingsland Drinks, said his company fills around 185 million bottles of wine every year, equal "to about one in every eight bottles" drunk in the United Kingdom.
The backlog of deliveries has meant container spaces at rail hubs are in high demand, he said in a statement.
"We would normally expect to have 80 to 100 tank spaces, but at the moment we can be down at 10 to 20. This is limiting the amount of liquid getting to our plant and comes on top of the HGV driver shortages doing the deliveries," Baker said.
The UK government said in a statement that it did not expect disruption to the supply of alcohol this Christmas.
"The government acted quickly to tackle the challenges to our supply chains, which were brought on by global pressures including the pandemic and the international shortage of HGV drivers," a government spokesperson said.
The shortage of truck drivers caused a fuel crisis earlier this year, with many gas stations closed and long lines at the ones that were lucky enough to get supplies. In September, the UK government deployed army fuel tankers to plug the fuel supply gaps.
Supermarkets have also been struggling for months to keep their shelves fully stocked amid a supply chain crunch caused by the pandemic and worker shortages partly caused by the country's departure from the European Union.
Some EU workers left after Brexit, and farms, food processing factories and trucking companies can no longer recruit from the European Union because of new UK immigration rules.
The government issued 5,000 temporary visas for foreign drivers, but the UK's Road Haulage Association has said Britain needs 100,000 more drivers to meet demand.
Farmers, bankers, retailers, logistics firms and restaurateurs have all warned the government in recent months that tighter immigration rules put in place after Britain left the European Union were making it hard for them to find workers and keep their businesses running.
