Ferries have been canceled in the Shetland Islands for days and supermarket shelves are empty, rekindling warnings about the fragility of the food supply chain and the risks of relying heavily on imports.
Orkney and Shetland MP Alistair Carmichael shared an image of bare shelves from a Tesco store in Lerwick, using the disruption to highlight widespread concerns about food security.
The photo was posted after several days of bad weather caused repeated cancellations on the Northlink cargo and passenger ferry between the mainland and the Northern Islands, making deliveries to supermarkets impossible.
The images quickly spread online, prompting comments from agricultural organizations and food producers.
Shetland Farm Dairies said the scene showed “why supporting local produce is so important”, and the NFU’s Shetland branch also shared the post.
Mr Carmichael said the shortages highlighted the risks of import dependence. “Shetland is an island community (in the same way that the UK is an island nation),” he says.
“Our supermarkets import almost all their food from mainland Britain,” he added, warning that short-term disruption to the supply chain could be at risk.
“After a few days of bad weather and no ferries, the shelves looked like this,” he said.
Island communities were used to dealing with disruption, but Carmichael wondered whether similar resilience existed elsewhere. “We are a resilient island community and we are used to severe weather and its effects, so we get by,” he said.
“I don’t know if people in cities and towns are that realistic.”
Despite the shortage, fresh milk was available thanks to local production. “Luckily, we still have some dairy farms left here, so we have access to fresh milk,” Carmichael said.
He concluded that “food security is national security.”
