Where did all the fuel go?

[ThomasG]

Doomed, I tells ya.

I'm getting two barrels fitted in the boot, a baldening dog, leather pants and a crossbow.

[DaveNP]

Originally Posted by Cull06

Better than it was. Still not there yet though. Only took having to get the army in. What happens when the extra 100 army drivers are taken off..?
...

Using the RAC figure of a total of about 47billion litres of fuel sold per year in the UK (2020 was lower due to lockdowns) and the capacity of a tanker at 35thousand litres (some will be less than that), I calculate a figure of 3679 loads of fuel per day every day of the year, in practice it will probably be in excess of 4000 loads per day to allow for part loads and not working 365 days of the year, whilst the army will have made a useful contribution by the time we allow for them not working 7 days a week and apparently going out with two drivers in a truck their contribution would be in single figure percentages. I don't think petrol distribution will grind to a halt when they are quietly returned to regular duties.
I wouldn't dream of suggesting the deployment of the army (and any other service personnel) had more to do with political hubris than practicalities.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by DaveNP

Using the RAC figure of a total of about 47billion litres of fuel sold per year in the UK (2020 was lower due to lockdowns) and the capacity of a tanker at 35thousand litres (some will be less than that), I calculate a figure of 3679 loads of fuel per day every day of the year, in practice it will probably be in excess of 4000 loads per day to allow for part loads and not working 365 days of the year, whilst the army will have made a useful contribution by the time we allow for them not working 7 days a week and apparently going out with two drivers in a truck their contribution would be in single figure percentages. I don't think petrol distribution will grind to a halt when they are quietly returned to regular duties.
I wouldn't dream of suggesting the deployment of the army (and any other service personnel) had more to do with political hubris than practicalities.

That was a very sensible assessment of the effect of 100 TTF drivers from the Army on the situation: I agree it will be almost negligible.

I'm not sure I'd agree this is about political hubris, rather it is a confidence building measure to convince people that whatever can be done, is being done - in exactly the same way that the Scottish and Welsh governments have used the MoD to assist in driving ambulances. I don't particularly blame the Scottish or Welsh administrations, any more than the UK government, for recourse to the MoD and in some small way increasing public confidence in the state.

If the UK, Scottish and Welsh governments had not asked the MoD to assist with tanker and ambulance drivers it would not have made very much difference, but the question would then have been asked (by the media) as to why they had not. Sometimes you are damned if you do... and damned if you don't.

The MoD will not particularly mind providing a few hundred TTF and ambulance drivers: we don't have a major overseas operation on at the moment, all three operations will be good training for the servicemen involved and the MoD will reclaim its costs against the other departments (probably not in hard cash, but in permission to overspend elsewhere).

Alan

[Tannaton]

I suspect the small army deployment was also a sign to the tanker drivers not to go on strike for a big pay rise...

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Tannaton

I suspect the small army deployment was also a sign to the tanker drivers not to go on strike for a big pay rise...

That is an interesting theory; do you have any evidence whatsoever to support it?

Alan

[Rocinante]

Now that things appear to have settled, is there any conclusions to the cause of the crisis ?

Was it a shortage of drivers ? If so, has the governments measures made more available, or is the Army still driving to bridge the shortfall ? Or are logistics companies, managing their fleets better ?

Was it just panic buying, brought on by petrol companies or truckers or media or ...... ?

IS everything OK now, is anyone still suffering issues ?

[john.wigley]

Originally Posted by Rocinante

Now that things appear to have settled, is there any conclusions to the cause of the crisis ?

Was it a shortage of drivers ? If so, has the governments measures made more available, or is the Army still driving to bridge the shortfall ? Or are logistics companies, managing their fleets better ?

Was it just panic buying, brought on by petrol companies or truckers or media or ...... ?

IS everything OK now, is anyone still suffering issues ?

All very good questions, 'Rocinante'. Personally, we use so little fuel these days that the 'crisis' did not greatly affect us. I think what we have seen in recent weeks is a return to more balanced levels of supply and demand via the significant increases in pump prices that we have seen of late.

Regards, John.

[Familyman 90]

Wasn't much of a crisis. Indeed, cycling past the lemmings queueing half a mile along the road was tremendous sport.

I don't do Facebook, but Mrs Familyman showed me a post from one fool who'd spent £15 worth of fuel driving around looking for fuel, only to then fill up with £15 worth at the end of it because that's all the cash he had, and the chump was expressing his relief at getting back to square one! Now if that wasn't panic buying idiocy at its finest then i don't know what the cause was.

Prior to the panic buying it was single digit numbers of BP stations- yes, single digit! - that had to close because of their driver issues, and by and large BP chose outlying fuel forecourts with a lesser turnover to close so the drivers could be redeployed elsewhere. Prior the Road Haulier Association deliberate leak, the press hysteria, and the panic buying, a mere 0.02% of forecourts suffered supply issues - an insignificant number.

Following the RHA leak, the press hysteria, and panic buying, forecourts were still largely being aupplied at the same rate as before, but supplies were being sold in typically a third or less of the regular delivery period.

Supplies at the refinery, and the industries ability to satisfy normal demand were all but unaffected. The problem was a period of adnormal demand, and it's not difficult to see who was responsible for that.

Ultimately nothing has changed. Fuel supplies are entering the market at much the same rate and volume it was before this idiocy, there are much the same number of tanker pilots there was before, very little has changed in substantive terms on the supply side. So if nothing has changed on the supply side, then the only remaining variable is demand, and a stupid, willingly gullible public did their own knees with that one.

[Zebster]

Prices haven't returned to what they were before the shortages.

[Whippy]

Originally Posted by Zebster

Prices haven't returned to what they were before the shortages.

And they won't, why? Because the price of crude has more than doubled in twelve months.