Readers of the The Royal Gazette’s print edition may have experienced a sense of déjà vu this morning when they opened their newspapers.

For the first time in several years, the paper contained a number of pages with black and white pictures.

This was not a Throwback Thursday effort, but a conservation measure taken as the Gazette finds itself caught up in the logistics shortages that have bedevilled businesses and consumers around the world.

In our case, we are facing a delay in the delivery of printing “plates” which are essential to the printing of the paper. The delay, caused by a combination of manufacturing delays compounded by the trucker shortages, means the Gazette needs to conserve the plates it has in stock in order to keep printing the newspaper.

Because black-and-white pages require just one plate and colour production requires three or four, the best way to conserve them is by printing some of the paper in black and white. Advertisers need not worry — all colour ads will be accepted and printed.

In the meantime, we hope readers will enjoy the often stark beauty of black-and-white images and we hope to resume normal production by around January 10.