Eruption disruption puts channel on hold
Tales of woe emerge as volcanic ash saga delays channel activity
Picture of Eyjafjallajökull erupting 17 April, courtesy and copyright of Eyjolfur Magnusson/University of Iceland Institute of Earth Sciences
Ash spewed out by Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull (pictured) has caused supply delays and stranded channel employees around the globe.
Reports this morning indicated that 30,000 Britons were still stranded abroad.
Mark Goodwin, director at CBC Computers, said that his company had seen one employee stuck in southern Spain. Supply chain delays were anticipated.
“Air still accounts for a considerable amount of cargo, particularly for high-value goods,” he said.
Goodwin was expecting month-long spares delays.
“Most of our vendors recently moved to Germany,” he said. “They have switched deliveries via road for the foreseeable future. I am sure with hindsight they wish they had stayed in the UK.”
Jon Sidwick, director at Maverick Europe, said air freight deliveries have seen delays, but most Maverick products are delivered by sea.
Maverick general manager Sid Stanley was stranded in Seoul at an LG event. “The organisers made the most of it and even had t-shirts made, but there are only so many Korean BBQs you can have,” he said. “Provided deliveries start again by the end of April we should be OK.”
Midwich divisional director Darren Lewitt was also stranded in Korea. “We also have a few people on holiday in places like Japan who cannot make it back,” a Midwich representative said.
Scott Fletcher, chief executive of ANS, said the firm has cancelled its annual Nice board meeting, and one person is stuck in the US until 27 April. “Another two are due to fly to San Francisco for the Cisco conference,” he added.
Leapfrog AVIT managing director Lee Bevan and Freestyle IT director Warwick Everett were unsure if global meetings over the next week or so would go ahead.
Linda Patterson, marketing director at Avnet, also had staff stuck in various places, and some supply problems that could last for six days. The company was having to re-route deliveries. “Most staff are able to keep in touch and work remotely,” she said.
Richard Eglon, marketing manager at Comms-care, said no staff had flown over Easter and the company had seen an increase in ad-hoc support requests.
“[Reseller] support engineers or the end user IT department have been stranded,” Eglon said.
Ian Vickerage, managing director of Imago, said its overseas operations require minimal flying, but added that he is due to fly to the US.
Videoconferencing provider Regus saw use of its UK services jump by 108 per cent post-eruption, while Logicalis offered its global telepresence suites to customers.
Bryndís Brandsdóttir, senior research scientist at the University of Iceland’s Institute of Earth Sciences, said larger sister volcano Katla was unlikely to increase global disruption.
“Most of the ash is likely to be filtered by the glacier and transported by the flood,” she said. “There are also no known reports of ashfall in northern Europe from the Katla eruption in 1918.”