Why are there freight delays at Felixstowe port?

Some containers are being unloaded in other European ports and transferred to smaller ships to be transported to the UK. This is causing freight delays of up to a week. 

The delays at Felixstowe are mainly due to a shortage of HGV drivers. Containers are not being taken away from the port in the required numbers to create space for the next containers to be offloaded.

The average container is now stuck in Felixstowe for more than nine days before it is collected — double the average “dwell time” in 2020. 

Labour shortages at the port are also hampering unloading and reloading of freight onto ships. Delays have also been caused by worldwide factors such as the blocking of the Suez Canal by a ship in the summer and the closure of a large Chinese port because of Covid.

Ministers are being warned that the UK faces gaps on the shelves as shipping containers are diverted from Felixstowe.

Maersk, the world’s biggest container shipping company, warned that the problem could persist until the new year. 

“We had to stop operations on a ship because there was nowhere to discharge the containers,” Lars Mikael Jensen, Maersk’s head of east-west ocean network, said. 

All of the UK major sea ports such as Southampton and London Gateway are suffering similar capacity issues for handling freight.

Increased demand has led to the cost of shipping a container from China to Europe increasing dramatically. 

If you require solutions to the movement of freight for your business please contact us at Tudor International Freight, on 0333 1234 747 or email sales@tudorfreight.com.

About Us - Tudor International Freight 

Established in Horsforth, Leeds, back in 1991, we are a logistics company who are experts in road, air and sea freight. We transport goods to most major cities, towns and suburbs across all 6 continents. We go over and above to ensure that our client’s products, goods and cargo are transported around the world safely and successfully. We are a family business, who are still based in Horsforth, Leeds, West Yorkshire.