The vote in favour of strike action in August, in a dispute over pay, would bring Felixstowe to a standstill and cause major disruption to port operations and road haulage transport of containers to and from terminals.

The Unite Union’s 1900 members at the port voted overwhelmingly in favour of a strike next month, rejecting a 5% pay rise offer and raising concerns that any stoppage at the UK’s largest container port could further fuel inflation by pushing up overall logistics costs.

UPDATE 5TH AUGUST -  Strike confirmed for eight days from Sunday 21st August until Monday 29th August. The union said that employer Felixstowe Dock and Railway Company had failed to improve on an offer of a 7% pay increase.

UPDATE 9TH AUGUST -  Felixstowe port employers improved its offer with a lump sum payment of £500, but this was rejected by the Unite union last night and with no further meetings planned, the eight-day strike will start on the 21st August. Shipping lines plan to reschedule calls and some will bring ships in earlier to discharge UK imports.

Felixstowe handles in excess of 45,000 containers each week, and the strike’s timing coincides with the traditional increase in traffic that follows the traditional peak season.

The vote for action came as the Port of Liverpool and London Gateway recorded their best ever half year figures, with the latter handling more than one million TEU. 

A senior union official predicted rolling strikes across the economy for the rest of the year beginning with a “summer of solidarity”, as workers become emboldened to protest in the face of rising living costs.

After last Wednesday’s rail-worker strikes, train drivers will also strike at nine rail companies on the 13th August, while members of the RMT are planning strikes on the 18th and 20th August alongside members of the TSSA at Avanti West Coast.

More coordinated action like this is likely, to keep protests in the public eye for longer, but mass politicised stoppages are unlikely, as each strike needs to be based on a specific dispute with an employer to be legal.

The prospect of Felixstowe stoppages follow similar walkouts at Antwerp and major German ports including Hamburg, Bremerhaven and Wilhelmshaven, with unions now agreeing that there will be no further strikes before late August, under a deal which calls for three further dates for negotiations up to the 26th August.

On the air mode, Lufthansa had to cancel 1,000s of flights last week week and cargo operations were affected in Germany, due to strike action that impacted the Frankfurt and Munich hubs. 

Consignments booked to be transported during the strike period as belly cargo had to be rebooked, but no further strikes are planned, as talks between the airline and union were scheduled to resume yesterday and today.

In a separate dispute, members of Germany's pilot union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) voted overwhelmingly on Sunday in favour of industrial action, paving the way for additional strike action at Lufthansa.

We flex cargo volumes through a variety of UK and continental ports and airports, to take advantage of rate fluctuations, port pairing benefits and to avoid delays at congested ports.

To learn how we  work around disruption and port congestion, please get in touch with our sea freight director, Andy Smith, who can advise on our preparation ahead of any potential strike at Felixstowe.

Despite the UK’s recent rail strikes having little impact on container movements, the global increase in workplace militancy will inevitably start to disrupt supply chain operations, adding to port congestion.

In the same week that the RMT union ran its first week of strikes, road, rail and sea cargo operations were halted by strikes at the ports of Bremerhaven, Hamburg and Wilhelmshaven, and talks between unions and employers are increasingly acrimonious, which does not bode well.

Trucker strikes in South Korea ended the week before the RMT walkouts, after drivers agreed to extend a freight rate system that guarantees minimum wages, with the government providing subsidies to alleviate pressure on surging fuel costs. In the seven day strike, dwell times at Busan port quadrupled to 14 days and the backlog of containers is still being cleared.

After a two-week strike, signals and communications workers at Canadian National Rail have agreed to end their dispute and enter binding arbitrations, while major railroads in the US including Union Pacific and BNSF remain at an impasse with their unions.

After government mediation failed to reach a settlement with the railroads and unions, President Biden’s administration may need to intervene and prevent a strike that could cripple already-strained intermodal supply chains.

Also in the United States, the PMA and ILWU are continuing negotiations, despite the current labour contract expiring last Friday, and concerns are growing about the potential for West Coast port disruption.

No one expected a new contract to be in place by the time the existing contract expired, but with negotiations entering a more unpredictable phase, work stoppages, or informal slowdowns could materialise any time. Insiders insist that none are expected in the immediate future and that negotiations will continue, with a new contract possible, as early as August.

In addition to the strikes in Germany and the UK, a one-day national strike in Belgium closed Brussels airport and created some disruption at the port of Antwerp and strike action has been announced in Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, and Malta.

Industrial action is increasing sharply as the effect of rising inflation and the cost-of-living crisis is felt, with inflation in Europe rising above 8% and with wage increase offers typically below inflation levels, unions are turning up the pressure on employers, many of whom are making record profits.

Strikes, go-slows and lockouts reduce operational capability, which results in disruption, bottle-necks and congestion. High freight rates are caused by lack of capacity and lack of capacity is caused by vessels waiting, which is in turn caused by port congestion. If rates are to normalise any time soon, we need container equipment to flow normally through landslide supply chains and port congestion to be fixed. 

And then there is the impact on air cargo. Caused through potential direct strikes, by cargo handling operations and personnel, and more general strike activity throughout the UK and Europe, at airports and within airlines. And indirectly, by the cancellation of thousands of flights each week, to try to deal with the delays and failures within the sector.

No mode is currently untouched by world events, which continue to unwind, with resulting consequences.

The long-term agreements we have in place with partner carriers across all three alliances means that, whenever possible, we can adapt port pairs and routings, to work around bottlenecks, to maintain resilient and reliable supply chains.

Metro’s cloud-based supply chain management platform, MVT, supports flexible supply chains, by making it easy to adapt milestones and events on-the-fly, down to individual SKU level.

To discuss how our technology could support your supply chain, please contact Simon George our Technical Solutions Director or Elliot Carlile.