'Shortage of aluminium cans' hit Coca-cola's supplies

Carbonated drinks leader Coca-Cola’s UK and continental bottling operation seem to be the latest business to come under pressure from the supply chain crisis as reports on Thursday (2) claimed that the “shortage of aluminium cans” is crippling the supplies of Diet Coke and Coke Zero.

Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP), which is responsible for making, transporting and selling products including Fanta and Sprite across 29 countries in Europe and Asia, said it had been experiencing “a number of logistics challenges”.

Nik Jhangiani, CCEP’s chief financial officer, said the company had experienced issues with the availability of HGV drivers but had been concentrating on supply chain management during the pandemic to ensure that it could maintain deliveries to customers.

“There are still logistical challenges and issues, though, as with every sector, and the shortage of aluminium cans is a key one for us now, but we are working with customers to successfully manage this,” Jhangiani said.

The statement comes after social media users’ claim that that they have been struggling to find Diet Coke and Coke Zero in various locations in recent weeks.

There have been reports from across the country of wholesalers struggling to get goods into shops due to a shortage of labour as well as heavy goods vehicle (HGV) drivers- exacerbated by both Covid and Brexit.

Late last month, the fast-food chain McDonald’s said that bottled soft drinks and milkshakes were temporarily unavailable in some of its restaurants in England, Scotland and Wales as a result of supply chain disruption.

The pub chain Wetherspoon’s is the latest one to raise the issue, saying on Wednesday (1) it was experiencing shortages of some beers, including Carling, Coors and Heineken, because of a post-Brexit shortage of delivery drivers combined with industrial action.