The 8-day Felixstowe port strike concluded on August 28, Sunday evening. Port Operator Hutchinson Ports couldn’t land an agreement with their Felixstowe employees. Due to this, we saw a drastic rise in the crowding at the port. Also, with the usage of the latest Congestion model, we observed that not all container operators could find alternative voyage plans even after receiving the 12-day notice for the strike. This caused the waiting times to climb towards year highs at the Felixstowe port.
The average waiting times at August’s start were extremely efficient at 10 hours. The strike caused them to jump to the 30-hour mark. In the recent past, the waiting times for containers to enter Felixstowe went up to 40 hours in March. However, the current drop in waiting times points to the fact that the outcome of the most recent strike has reached its peak.
As empty containers accumulate at the shoreside, it will take time for the Felixstowe congestion to achieve normality. The time it needs for this will depend on the port’s backlog processing capabilities. Retailers will be monitoring this processing closely as they prep up for the upcoming festive spending period.
A recent article on Felixstowe mentioned liners diverting to neighbouring ports for their operations in August 2021 due to significant waiting times. However, similar waiting times have caused diversions to materialize recently.
The volume of TEUs headed to the neighbouring ports of Felixstowe during the strike period has increased compared to the same period last year. This shows the flexibility in schedules of many container operators to fit in with the 8-day strike. For example, consider one of the leading liner companies in the world, Maersk. Through an online advisory, it mentioned dropping Felixstowe altogether from the schedule of its 4 ships. These include their 19000 TEU MSC Sveva, UCLV that sailed back East after a halt in La Havre and Antwerp.
However, many are optimistic about the situation. They believe that the Felixstowe congestion will go normal soon as a fixed-term event caused it. But there’s a risk of more sustained strikes in the future. Moreover, workers at the port of Liverpool have confirmed an industrial action from September 19 to October 3. So, those involved at different supply chain levels will need to take precautionary actions towards planning their UK stoppages.