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Inside the warehouse with tonnes of food
THERE are 300 tonnes of tinned food in this one Dublin warehouse, which should ease the anxieties of panic buyers.
Owen Cooke, the founder of Independent Express Cargo in the capital, was just one of many voices yesterday advising the public that it is not necessary to stockpile products.
As measures to tackle coronavirus escalated over the past few days, many shops have seen their shelves cleared of bread, toilet roll and perishable foods.
However, Mr Cooke told the Irish Daily Mail that stock has been moving as normal and that there are more than enough products to supply the needs of the local shops, the supermarkets and their customers.
For example, his warehouse currently holds 600 tonnes of baby wipes and wet wipes for adults, and 300 tonnes of tinned food from one brand alone.
‘There’s a bit of panic buying going on. The supermarkets are running out of stock on the shelves, but as far as I can establish, they’re all in a position to restock,’ he said. ‘The shelves aren’t going to be left empty.’
He said there has been a slight delay with products – such as disposable coffee cups – coming from China, and that was from when that nation went into lockdown after first experiencing the coronavirus outbreak, but the interruption was ‘nothing major’.
‘The country is not in lockdown’
‘The shortage of supply hasn’t really kicked in yet. It will, but that’s going to be more for manufacturing. The factories in China, some of them certainly are back in production, some of the ones that were closed down,’ he said.
However, he did say that the industry is ‘extremely concerned’ about a delay in supplies coming from Italy, a few weeks down the line, due to the knock-on effects of the lockdown there.
That’s because we import a variety of products – such as fruit, vegetables, machinery and industrial products – from there.
‘The trouble is, we don’t have really good information on what’s happening,’ he said.
‘We have a lot of stuff coming in from Italy, which is now in a closed down state, I don’t know what’s going to happen there.
‘Our own business takes in a lot of stuff from Italy and there’s been no interruption.’
On Thursday, thousands of people lined up at supermarkets, while more queued outside to stockpile essential food supplies, long-lasting goods and toilet roll. But HSE chief executive Paul Reid has said people hoarding groceries are irrational.
‘We are not in lockdown. I want to be very clear; from a Government perspective and a HSE perspective, we are not in lockdown and we have no intention of getting to lockdown,’ he said. ‘The phase that we are in right now and the actions we are taking are the correct and appropriate actions.
‘We would encourage social solidarity among communities and it is something Ireland is good at, and we encourage people to support vulnerable people.
‘There is absolutely no rationale to stockpiling whastsoever. It is not needed, it is dysfunctional and it is not where we are.’
And Business Minister Heather Humphreys has also spoken out to assure the public that there is no need to stockpile groceries or to worry that the Covid-19 outbreak could lead to a shortage of supplies in the future.
She told a press briefing that she had held a meeting with some of the major retailers yesterday morning and said that there were contingency plans in place and no issues with stock levels.
‘I want to thank the media for getting out the message that there is sufficient supplies within our distribution network. There is no need to panic buy,’ she said.
Meanwhile, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has also urged people to keep calm about food supply and warned that it is important that we do everything we can to prevent the possibility of looting.
The Mail reported yesterday that electrical goods shops across the country were selling out of freezers as people stocked up on food as panic buying swept the country.
Other shops reported a run on basic home office supplies as people prepared to work from home, as advised by the Government.
SuperValu managing director Martin Kelleher said: ‘Following a surge in demand yesterday, please bear with us as we continue to keep delivering stock to SuperValu stores across the country.
‘We made every effort to stock our stores overnight and all 223 SuperValu stores were replenished again today.
‘We would call on shoppers to only purchase items where necessary, as we may have to introduce some restrictions in certain stores out of fairness and particularly in consideration of vulnerable people in the community.
‘Rest assured that our retailers, staff in stores, drivers, warehouse staff and suppliers are all going above and beyond to minimise disruption. We thank them for their ongoing efforts and thank you for your patience,’ he added.