World’s biggest shipping company diverts vessels away from UK amid driver shortage
THE world’s largest shipping company has diverted cargo ships away from the UK, leading to fears of a Christmas. shortage of toys, clothes and electronics.
Danish giant Maersk announced that larger vessels would dock elsewhere in Europe to avoid the congestion at Felixstowe in Suffolk caused by a shortage of lorry drivers. Business owners last night complained that vital supplies and Christmas gifts were “buried” among thousands of containers on the docks. A Maersk executive warned the disruption was likely to last into the New Year, while hauliers were “scared for the final rush” before the festive period.
Felixstowe, Britain’s biggest container port, handles 36 per cent of imports and exports and is struggling with the volume via the Suez Canal.
The average container is spending more than nine days at the port on arrival – more than double the average “dwell time” last year. Hauliers estimated that the number of collections last month was down 20 per cent, lead- ing to a backlog of 7,500 full containers and 50,000 empty ones waiting to be taken away. There is also a shortage of workers to lift containers on and off ships.
Firms affected include Nestle, Tesco and Ikea, as well as hundreds of smaller British companies expecting orders from around the world. Managers at Felixstowe are now considering turning vessels away, sources said.
It comes as ports around the world experience congestion problems amid a
general crunch in the supply chain. Record numbers of container ships have been waiting outside Los Angeles to unload, while there have been major issues in China and east Asia due to pandemic restrictions and poor weather.
Lars Mikael Jensen, at Maersk, said Britain’s truck driver shortage meant that Felixstowe had become “one of the top three or four in the world with the biggest problem for big ships”.
Maersk diverted one of its “two really big ships” that normally call at Felixstowe each week. Each has a capacity of 20,000 containers and would normally unload 4,000 at the Suffolk port.
“Somehow the UK needs to find a solution to the trucking shortage,” Mr Jensen told The Daily Telegraph.
“There are not enough truck drivers to move the containers away and bring back the empty ones, so everything takes longer because there is no space.
“Instead of waiting for up to 11 days, we decided to unload in other ports such as Rotterdam and Antwerp and bring the goods on smaller ships to the UK. It causes a delay of around a week. Mostly we are talking about goods from Asia such as garments and electronics.”
Retailers may need to prioritise shipping certain goods in the run-up to Christmas, Mr Jensen warned.
“I wouldn’t be the right person to tell consumers whether they should buy early before Christmas. We are only a small part of the chain,” he said.
“But my best bet is that we will be well into 2022 before we can start to untangle this Gordian knot.
“I would add, however, that we haven’t yet come to a global standstill. There are still 10 to 15 big ships from Asia arriving in the UK every week.”
Industry sources said the congestion was not limited to Felixstowe with a bottleneck at onward distribution centres in Birmingham and elsewhere.
Adam Searle, of CP Transport, which operates 45 lorries out of Felixstowe, said the situation was a “nightmare”. He said: “My guys in the office are pulling their hair out every single day and are working extended hours just to try and deliver what our customers need. I’m scared for the final rush to Christmas.”
Last year, Felixstowe clogged up because of a glut of PPE arriving and a high staff absences caused by Covid. One British navigator who has worked on container ships for a decade said the current disruption was the worst he had ever seen.
The mariner, Mark, said his company decided to skip Felixstowe returning with a shipment from Asia three weeks ago due to delays at the port.
He added: “We had a two-week delay coming out of Asia but were fully loaded and sailed at full speed to Europe. We skipped Felixstowe because of the congestion. That is never an easy decision because you are going to upset customers, but when the bottlenecks are that bad you have to move on.”
Nick Glynne, of online retailer Buy It Direct which buys white goods, electronics and furniture from China, said the problems were having a “massive impact” on customer service, staffing, revenue and profit.
“We’ve got a load of garden furniture in containers that was due in June buried somewhere in Felixstowe,” he said.
“We’ve got a load of electric scooters and American-style big fridge freezers due to arrive for Christmas and we don’t think it’s going to be here in time.
“They just can’t find our containers because they are buried under five others. We’re getting charged demurrage and detention fees because they are holding on to our loads for longer.
“Then there’s some ports saying they won’t accept empty containers back because they just don’t have the space to take them. Then we are getting charged for not returning empty containers. It feels like a money-making exercise and a tax on importers.”
Supermarkets and retailers held a conference call yesterday to discuss the problems. Food and drink deliveries have escaped the worst of the disruption so far, although Tesco is already sending more goods by rail to minimise the impact of driver shortages.