While the planes may be taking off again, scientists are predicting that we haven’t seen the last of the volcanic ash, with another volcano likely to blow. A bizarre phenomenon, it’s not only mucked up Britain’s holidaymakers, businesses are suffering too. In this week’s blog I’ve talked to some of the UK SMEs affected by the crisis.
On Monday, the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) said that it believes the UK economy will lose £100m for every day that planes are grounded. Most of that money is going down the airline industry’s drain, but the wider economy is still suffering a £25m hit.
As an island, the UK relies heavily on airfreight and as such, businesses based on imports and exports have been hit hard. Small businesses in particular are bearing the brunt, Stephen Alambritis of The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said: “There are goods rotting, contracts being lost, conferences being missed – it all adds up because the economy is used to movement of goods and labour and that has all come to a standstill.”
It’s not just those relying on planes that have been affected, even the most unlikely of businesses have been caused some discomfort by this volcanic cloud.
Home Jane, the all female plumbers, electricians and DIY experts, is suffering due to one of their carpenters being stuck in Portugal. Founder, Jo Behari said: “We’ve had to reschedule a whole week’s worth of jobs, which means pushing back everything until she gets back. As a small business, with each member of the team bringing a specific skill to the table, we can’t afford to have any staff out of action.”
Louise Guinda, owner of baby accessories company, Safe Dreams, commented: “I was supposed to fly to China from Aberdeen to visit the factory manufacturing our product. I had hotels and internal flights in China and childcare arranged for my son, so the volcanic ash has turned into quite a financial disaster for my business.”
Building services training provider, Logic4training, has also suffered from absent employees, co-founder, Gayle Budd, explained: “With two of our trainers out of the country, the volcano situation’s pretty disruptive. It’s been all hands on deck and we’ve managed to call in subs at very short notice, so no courses cancelled yet.”
For those severely affected, there’s even talk of law suits and, though you obviously can’t take a lump of metamorphic rock to court, Government agencies, including the Met Office and Nats (the national air traffic control service) which were instrumental in closing the skies, may be in the frame.
It’s not all doom and gloom however, for some companies volcanic ash is a blessing in disguise. Superbreak, which specialises in short holidays, has actually seen an increase in sales, as people swap the trips abroad for UK alternatives. In addition, flight bookings have been replaced by their ferry and Eurostar packages.
Despite the pluses, with the economy in a fragile state and the risk of further disruption hanging in the air, let’s hope that nature doesn’t put a nail in any struggling businesses coffins.
If your business is suffering from the effects of the volcano, Business Link is providing help and advice on its website. For more information, click here.
Tags: Business Advice, Crisis Management, Iceland, Volcanic Ash Impact
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