Lockdown

Minoli A Day in the Life

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March 23^rd 2020 – the UK is placed in to Lockdown…

On the morning of March 24^th, Jonathon and a small team came into Minoli, to follow the Prime Ministers instruction to shut down the business and to Stay Home.. with most of the Minoli team told to remain at home the night before – it felt rather strange to be there on that Tuesday morning.

It all seems like a long time ago – quite literally three months.

Initially we intended to do exactly as instructed, but it soon became apparent that this wasn’t going to be quite as straightforward as perhaps we thought…

On any normal working day we will receive two or three containers from the production plants into the Oxford Head Office and Distribution Centre. We spoke to the transport companies and the ports that morning, who informed us that the containers could not be held or delayed as in doing so we would be causing a blockage at the ports and hampering the flow of essential goods and the national effort.

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“We have to advise you that until the backlog of orders coming in is fully cleared, you are required to accept these container and truck shipments.

By refusing to do so you are causing a blockage at the ports and the UK’s logistical infrastructure, which will hamper the current and future movement of essential goods, such as medical supplies and foodstuffs.”

We also received this Letter from…

Department for Transport – Mr Ben Rimington

“I am writing to confirm that the Department for Transport considers it essential that the work of the logistics sector should continue to the greatest extent possible through the Covid-19 crisis.

Haulage drivers, managers, warehouse staff and all other logistics professionals need to continue to go about their business to keep supply chains moving, and the government policy is clear that this applies to all supplies chains and not only those for food and medical supplies. All travel related to the operation of logistics businesses (including for instance necessary washing of vehicles or supply of spare parts) or necessary travel by logistics workers to places of work such as distribution centres is therefore to be considered ‘essential travel’ in the context of current restrictions. At all times workers should however follow Public Health England guidelines on social distancing“

So for the next 6 weeks a dedicated team worked diligently
to offload the international shipments every day – in the subdued surroundings
of a warehouse that wasn’t fully operationally – it was quite a surreal
experience.

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We were able to allow urgent collections, for those of our
clients who were in need of an order to finish off a project or to comply with
a contract.

After a few weeks, we decided to take a few pictures, so as we could look back at this time – with containers coming in, but the Minoli trucks and vans standing idle in the yard… 

Strange times indeed…

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