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Strikes at the Port of Felixstowe
The Port Of Felixstowe work force have confirmed their continued intent for industrial strike for 8 days, starting Sunday 21st August 2022. With a capacity of 80,000 TEU per week being handled, equating to half of the UK’s cargo, this strike action will likely cause significant logistical disruption and impact global maritime trade.
Most of the main commercial carriers have adjusted port rotations in an attempt to arrive before the strikes, failing that, UK cargo will likely be offloaded in Antwerp or Rotterdam and transferred across via feeder vessel.
Both of these European base ports are facing industrial disputes of their own, plus they remain congested so unfortunately, delays are inevitable. If a feeder connection is not viable, vessels will have to wait until the strikes have ended, likely causing a substantial backlog of arrivals and congestion in the coming weeks.
The situation remains fluid, shipping lines have not yet confirmed if empty container restitution is available anywhere apart from Felixstowe Port so once the strikes have been implemented, as we stand now, there will be charges applied for detention on equipment delivered during the strikes (or demurrage applied if left on the quay), which will be the consignee’s responsibility.
We are being as pro-active as we can to identify solutions. If we can restitute empties at ports such as Teesport or Hull, it will allow continuity of deliveries and will help to minimise any wasted costs. We also have warehouse capacity to store the containers through this period, if required.
Vessels Impacted
Currently, the below vessels have been impacted with delays to name just a few, now arriving after the strike action.
- Cosco Shipping Star: ETA 30/08 - Vessel Code CSJ - was 27/08
- Ever Alp: ETA 01/09 - Vessel Code M50 - was 24/08
Galaxy: ETA 04/09 - Vessel Code CSH - was 31/08 - OOCL Hong Kong: ETA 09/09 - Vessel Code QHL - was 21/08
- Ever Apex: ETA 07/09 - Vessel Code 541 - was 01/09
More Information
For any containers that will be trans-shipped in Europe, we will confirm with as much as detail as possible, on a case by case basis.
There are strong talks of further strikes at Felixstowe Port, if you have any goods that are time critical and you cannot risk the impact of potential delays, our Ellerman service operates into Tilbury Port so we bypass all of the challenges, space remains open, and our network will not be influenced by any of the ongoing industrial action.
If you have containers laden on board vessels that have arrived into Felixstowe over the past few days and you have concern regarding the situation, please
contact your account manager to discuss, or contact us for any other queries.
