Ports chaos hits Christmas toys
Barbies, Baby Yodas and Lego sell out amid a perfect storm of Brexit stockpiling, Covid rules and last-minute dash for gifts
TOY retailers are running out of some of this year’s most popular Christmas gifts as chaos at Britain’s ports adds to a supply shortage.
Products close to selling out include Lego sets, Barbie dolls and ‘Baby Yoda’ soft toys – one of 2020’s most sought-after presents.
Parents are rushing to find alternatives and are being told they may not be able to get their hands on the gift they want for their children.
Experts warned that stores had been hit by a perfect storm of demand and supply problems after shoppers spent an estimated £1.7 billion on packed high streets yesterday.
The surge in last-minute shopping has combined with delays to goods arriving at Felixstowe on the Suffolk coast to severely hit stocks in stores, some of which cannot get hold of toys fast enough. Covid safety restrictions have also hit the supply chains used by retailers and other industries.
White goods, furniture, homeware and building supplies are also being
‘Stock is not coming in as fast as we’re selling it’
delayed by the congestion in goods coming into Britain, while carmaker Honda closed its Swindon plant due to difficulty in getting parts.
The chaos at Felixstowe, also hampered by Brexit stockpiling and virus medical supplies, is now threatening to cause logjams at other ports as shipping containers are rerouted. Gary Grant, owner of The Entertainer, the country’s biggest toy retailer, told The Mail on Sunday last night: ‘The toy trade will not run out of toys – the shelves will not be empty at 5 o’clock on Christmas Eve, no chance.
‘But there are always certain things that the whole world has wanted to buy – Rubik’s cubes, Cabbage Patch dolls, Tracy Island or Teletubbies. This year it’s Mattel’s £25 Baby Yoda soft toy – they are like gold dust. Another range that has sold phenomenally well this year is Barbie. We’ve got around half the range in stock and we’re waiting for more to come in. But it’s not coming in as fast as we are selling it.’
Baby Yoda toys have risen in popularity this year thanks to the success of Star Wars spin-off TV series The Mandalorian.
Mr Grant, whose firm operates more than 170 shops across the UK, added: ‘We will not be completely sold out of Barbies on Christmas Eve but we’ve only half the range so you might not get the one you want. That’s down to demand but it’s also the fact that shipments of new stock are being delayed.’
He said other ranges, such as board games, crafts, jigsaws and puzzles – which kept children entertained during lockdown – are also now in short supply.
Other sources said some Lego ranges are also selling out. The £150 Lego Star Wars Millennium Falcon set is out of stock at most Argos stores and on Lego. com. Stocks of Minecraft Lego sets are also dwindling on the company’s own website, including the £49.99 Pirate Ship Adventure and £19.99 Skull Arena. Last night the Barbie Career of the Year 2020 four-doll set was sold out from the majority of shops and only available on eBay UK from American suppliers.
High streets were packed yesterday with eager Christmas shoppers who were est i mated t o have splashed out £1.7 billion. An estimated £ 3 million a minute was spent over the nine hours of trading as delays in online deliveries and an anticipated move to tier 3 in some areas prompted some families to rush their festive shopping.
Around 80,000 shoppers were expected at Lakeside in Essex, 130,000 at Manchester’s Trafford Centre and 60,000 at London’s Brent Cross. There are growing concerns that issues at Felixstowe are clogging up other ports, with Southampton already affected.
One senior retail source said: ‘We are all desperately trying to get our stuff through Southampton but the problems at Felixstowe have spread. It’s not just about getting containers into the country before Christmas. We need products flowing in January too and even they are being affected now.’
Last week, major cargo firms Maersk and MSC said they were swapping Felixstowe for Liverpool in order to ‘ provide stability’ to transatlantic services. Business sources said issues have been compounded by delays at ports in China, where many products are made. Even worse, some ships are not stopping at British ports at all. ‘It’s the perfect storm,’ one national haulier said. ‘All around the world everybody is short of containers because once you begin to have delays on this scale, this finely tuned system begins to back up.
‘Thousands of containers – tens of thousands–are in the wrong place and that is forcing up prices quite considerably.
‘ Containers are sitting on the quayside in China waiting to get on a boat. On the other side of the journey, in the UK, it’s now taking a week or more to get things out instead of a couple of days. It’s a nightmare you don’t want after the year we’ve all had.’
Organisations representing the UK’s ports and logistics companies have written to Transport Secretary Grant Shapps calling for help.
The Entertainer said it is matching last year’s sales week on week, despite the restrictions in shops. However, sales will be down for the year as a whole after shops were forced to close during lockdowns.
Some other high street chains – already struggling due to Covid curbs – have gone bust or are teetering on the brink, including Topshop and Debenhams. Mr Grant said: ‘The only thing that will finish the year off for retailers now, aside from another lockdown which would be disastrous, is a bad dump of snow. If that happened any time between now and Christmas it would stop people shopping and couriers delivering. We’re all praying for no snow.’