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‘Price rises likely’ due to UK shipping problems
Businesses say a global shipping crisis is causing freight costs to soar and UK consumers may soon see price rises for imported goods.
On top of skyrocketing shipping rates, carriers are adding congestion charges for imports to Felixstowe and Southampton, because of severe delays.
The logistics industry has written to the Department for Transport calling for it to help clear port backlogs.
One freight director said the UK’s ports are currently “broken”.
Global shipping schedules were initially disrupted during the early stages of the pandemic, but recently a surge in demand for imports and a backlog of empty shipping containers are causing bottlenecks at UK ports.
In recent weeks the congestion at Felixstowe, the UK’s biggest container port, as well as other locations has prompted a growing number of vessels to “cut and run” – either partially unloading or skipping UK calls altogether to dump cargo at Antwerp, Rotterdam and Zeebrugge instead.
Retailers are reporting week-on-week shipping cost increases of 25%, with carriers also slapping extra “congestion charges” on shipments to offset berthing delays and longer unloading times in the UK.
Andrew Opie, the BRC’s director of food and sustainability, said retailers were “working overtime to rearrange and redirect incoming freight in order to ensure customers can get the items they need, but some delays appear inevitable”.