Port of Felixstowe delays, Chaos is still on going up at the port of Felixstowe with restricted VBS slots for putting container back on to the port. 

Following recent updates concerning the ongoing delays at the Port of Felixstowe, we can update that the situation has unfortunately deteriorated. The Port of Felixstowe has now announced that they will not accept the restitution of empty containers until further notice.

Given that our consolidation containers unpack outside the port, this will further delay the unpacking of our containers, which are already far behind normal schedule. The shipping lines have offered return points which vary from London Gateway to the north of England, which in all cases is neither feasible or practical, meaning vehicles will take significantly longer to discharge containers at a much increased cost. This is coupled with the ongoing problems with the VBS(vehicle booking system) whereby the port are only accepting a very reduced amount of trucks to collect containers from the quay, causing a huge backlog which will not clear unless some action is taken. This is further compounded by the fact that hauliers even with the VBS slots are being held at the quay for many hours leading to some now refusing to collect from the port at all.

This has had a significant impact on our operations, and in turn our service to you, our customer which we can only apologise for. We are doing everything we can to work around the situation, but with the situation as it stands, we are unfortunately limited in scope to what we can do. We have looked to lobby the relevant trade bodies and our partners have reached out to the port and carrier directly but thus far have not received anything constructive in return.

With these current developments, we must also advise customers that it is unlikely neither the port of the carriers will waive or mitigate any detention or demurrage costs incurred. This along with any costs incurred through returning containers to different restitution points, we will unfortunately look to recover from clients on a pro rata basis depending on the volume within the effected container. This will only be applied for containers arriving into Felixstowe port.

We are looking at solutions to avoid incurrence of any anomalous cost and understand this is not palatable for any customer, but with the situation as it is, unfortunately, we are left with no choice.

We will endeavour to update all clients concerning individual shipments and containers in the coming days and our import team remain at your disposal