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Maersk diverts container ships away from UK as HGV shortage bungs up ports

Published: 12:51 12 Oct 2021 BST

Containers

Shipping giant Maersk is reportedly diverting ships away from UK ports due to backlogs caused by the HGV driver shortage.

Container ships are being sent away from Felixstowe to unload in Europe where the cargoes are then transported back to the UK in smaller vessels.

Felixstowe handles 36% of the UK's containerised freight but the shortage of drivers to shift cargo has caused a serious bottleneck.

A spokesman for the port told the FT: "The pre-Christmas peak, combined with haulage shortages, congested inland terminals, poor vessel schedule reliability and the pandemic, has resulted in a build-up of containers at the port.

"Empty container levels remain high as import containers are returned and we are asking shipping lines to remove them as quickly as possible."

Ships have also been stuck outside ports elsewhere, reported the FT, with queues to dock at the two largest ports in the US - Los Angeles and Long Beach in California.

UK shoppers are being warned repeatedly by retailers that the current supply chain crisis will affect Christmas, something that seems to have been taken on board according to the latest data from Kantar.

The market researcher said that sales of Christmas puddings in September this year were up by 76% compared to a year ago though it couldn’t say if people are stockpiling or just like pudding and wanted it early.

Kantar also noted that sales of frozen stuffing, turkeys and other poultry were up by more than a third and seasonal greeting card sales by a quarter.

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