With disruption at the Port of Felixstowe branded “a mess”, the national press is now also reporting on global port disruption, as retailers express concerns about product shortages in the run-up to Christmas. 

As Metro has been reporting regularly in recent weeks, the impact at Felixstowe along with other serious challenges is also having an effect on other major UK and European ports which are facing similar issues as vessels remain off schedule, with unprecedented high volume along with additional delays created by COVID related processes. 

Every regular shipper, particularly from Asia, will have recently experienced changes to a vessel schedule on which they have cargo, which is unsurprising when schedules show that half of the global fleet are running at least four days behind.

The majority of these occurrences are triggered by delays that the shipping lines are already carrying into Europe. These are then exacerbated by congestion and operational challenges and issues at UK ports and throughout Europe. 

The following is part of a transcript of the BBC News story; Felixstowe Port in 'chaos' as Christmas and Brexit loom

Retailers, shipping and haulage companies have complained of "chaos" at Felixstowe Port in Suffolk, affecting goods in the run-up to Christmas.

One ship due to be unloaded at the port last week was redirected to Rotterdam because of "unacceptable" delays.

The owner, Hutchison Ports, blames pre-Brexit stockpiling and the pandemic.

Port users have warned that "if the chaos continues, increased shipping prices will be passed on to consumers".

"It's delaying freight going into shops for consumers to buy," they said. "Shops are struggling anyway at the moment because of the impact from the coronavirus.

Part of the problem is a shipment of 11,000 containers of PPE ordered by the government that is clogging up the port.

Last week, Taiwanese shipping firm Evergreen directed one of its ships to bypass Felixstowe because of "serious port congestion".

The ship's cargo was unloaded in Rotterdam instead and ferried back to the UK via London's Thamesport.

An Evergreen spokesman said the firm had been told by Felixstowe's owner that a berthing slot - where cargo is unloaded - would not be available for up to 10 days after the ship's scheduled arrival.

"Such a delay is totally unacceptable," he said.

In a statement, Hutchison Ports UK said: "The imbalance in UK trade and Brexit stockpiling exacerbate current operational challenges and we are working with our customers and stakeholders to get through the current congestion.

"Performance at the port remains under pressure due to the Covid pandemic, high levels of import traffic, the large number of empty containers and a large amount of unusually long-stay containers held at the port."

But in an operational note posted on its website, the company said delays at Felixstowe would continue "at least into December and possibly through into the New Year" - potentially causing havoc for firms still waiting on pre-Christmas stock.

In a sign of the company's woes, Hutchison Ports UK recently reinstalled its former boss Chris Lewis as chief executive. He came out of retirement to take up the role for a second time, having last led the firm in 2010.

For months, hauliers have complained about Felixstowe's Vehicle Booking System (VBS) which lorry drivers must use to gain ticketed entry to the port. Freight manager Mr Hudson says in recent weeks, the situation has become worse.

"There are more containers waiting on the port while all trucking companies are logging on trying to get a slot. Sometimes the port cancels some of the VBS [slots] when drivers are actually on port waiting," he said.

"We need to see improvement quickly. It's ruining a lot of people's businesses."

A spokesman for Hutchison Ports UK disputed the claims about the VBS, pointing out that in recent days, empty slots have been available and that improvements to the system are under way.

Logistics UK, the trade association representing supply chain firms, said there had been a huge spike recently in the volume of cargo entering the UK.

Part of that dates back to the summer, when the UK's first lockdown eased and firms increased stock orders as the economy started to pick up. More recently, businesses have been looking ahead to 1 January and preparing for uncertainty at the end of the Brexit transition period.

Metro has strong working relationships directly with the ports, carriers and haulage partners, that ensures we are informed and can react swiftly to any issues the ports may face. 

Keeping our customers informed through their account management team and via our award winning MVT supply chain visibility tool means we can limit the issues they face, to keep supply chains moving and avoid unnecessary costs. 

Container ships, including the world’s largest, are skipping UK ports entirely, or leaving only partially discharged and without collecting export containers, in what is fast becoming a daily occurrence.

COVID-safe working practices and extensive deep-cleaning at shift handovers, continues to cause huge issues at UK ports and in particular at Felixstowe, that have been struggling since the summer.

Felixstowe has not recovered from a 30% spike in import volumes in early September which, combined with the new working practices, means that it’s taking a lot longer to unload vessels and the ships are often leaving before the terminal operators finish offloading or loading all the export and empty containers, so they don't miss the next berthing spot on their schedule. 

Last week, LNG-fuelled CMA CGM Jacques Saade, currently the worlds largest container vessel and the carriers new flagship ultra large container vessel (ULCV) made its inaugural call at Southampton, but departed the port without unloading all its import containers.

The line confirmed that “CMA CGM Jacques Saade has cut and run with import containers remaining on board – these containers will be discharged on the second call which currently has an eta of 15 November, subject to change.”

Evergreen’s 20,400 teu Ever Grade skipped its scheduled call at Felixstowe on Saturday and headed straight for Rotterdam on the Ocean Alliance’s FAL6 Asia-North Europe service.

The shipping line said that UK consigned containers would be unloaded at Rotterdam and then sent by feeder vessel to Thamesport, leading importers to scramble for increasingly scarce haulage.

Incidences are affecting Felixstowe, Southampton and London Gateway and while Metro has been remarkably untouched, we do have 20 boxes remaining on a vessel that cut and run from Gateway to Morocco for discharge, with the overdue containers being shipped back on split Bills of lading. The vessel did call at closer ports Antwerp and Marseilles, but due to labour shortages also impacting these ports, the carrier decided that UK freight still on board, will be better offloaded in Tangiers North Africa and then feedered back.

We are aware of big volume shippers that have been particularly badly hit, including one that had 500 boxes due in this week and only 400 have been unloaded in the UK, due to skipping ports and partial offloads.

The issue is prevalent with all lines and ports, including those across the Channel and North Sea, and in fact on a global basis, who continue to struggle with COVID working practices, labour shortages, congestion and terminals full of containers with PPE, that domestic health services can’t process, as they in turn are overwhelmed!

Keeping our customers informed of this fluid and fast-changing situation, through their account management team and via our award winning MVT supply chain visibility tool, means we can limit the issues they face, to keep supply chains moving and avoid unnecessary costs. 

If you have encountered any issues relating to the above situation, we would of proactively have communicated these to you. For further advice and updates please call your day to day operational contact or Grant Liddell and Ian Barnes, who will discuss the action we have taken to try to avoid in future.