Original title: "Oil shortage" Britain will send soldiers to transport fuel

Britain's fuel shortage caused by a shortage of truck drivers has not been alleviated. The Ministry of Defense said on October 1 that 200 soldiers would fill the gap from the 4th and begin to transport fuel.

Defense Secretary Ben Wallace says the army is ready to fill important job openings and help industries deliver fuel everywhere.

The British government said on the 1st that a total of 200 soldiers were requisitioned to operate the tanker, of which 100 were tanker drivers. They will complete the training 3 days ago and take up their posts on the 4th.

Britain's "oil shortage" has been going on for many days. British media previously analyzed that Britain has enough fuel, but there is a lack of fuel truck drivers. Over the past few days, the British government has called on the public not to rush to buy, and fuel demand is expected to return to normal within a few days.

However, a few days later, the "oil shortage" has not been alleviated. Panic buying has continued across the UK over the past week, with drivers hoarding oil with drinking water bottles and grumpy and anxious people quarrelling and even fighting in front of the pump, Reuters reported. Because some gas stations are closed, people have to wait in long queues at the outlets that are still open.

More than 2000 filling stations in the UK do not have LPG, Reuters quoted fuel retailers as saying. The British gasoline Retail Association said on the 1st that 26% of retail refueling points have no oil, 27% have only one type of oil, and only 47% have enough gasoline and diesel.

Gordon Ballmer, president of the association, said that private small and medium-sized refueling stations account for 65% of all outlets, compared with insufficient fuel distribution.

British media believe that the driver gap is caused by a variety of reasons, including the COVID-19 epidemic, the outflow of a large number of foreign migrant workers caused by Brexit, the aging population and so on. But the British government denies that the lack of drivers is the result of Brexit.

In addition, some people began to worry about power outages and energy shortages this winter, and the British government reassured the public that there was no need to worry.

The British Road Transport Association estimates that the UK needs an additional 100000 truck drivers to meet logistics needs such as fuel, food and medicine.

The British government announced at the end of September that it would issue three-month visas in October, bring in about 5000 truck drivers and issue another 5500 visas to workers in the poultry industry to ease the "labor shortage".

In addition to refueling points, another area of concern in the UK is pig farms, Reuters reported. Figures show that the number of pigs slaughtered each week in the UK is 25 per cent lower than it was in August, which is related to a chronic shortage of people in the meat processing industry.

The National Association of Pork producers estimates that there are currently 120000 pigs in the UK that cannot be fenced. 'for some farmers, the only option now is to kill the pigs, 'the National Pork producers Association said in a letter to retailers. (Guo Qian) (special draft of Xinhua News Agency)