A wage strike at Britain’s biggest container port threatens to trigger fresh delays and rising costs for businesses and consumers alike, but logistics experts say there should be no product shortages.
Workers at the port of Felixstowe in south-east England began an eight-day strike on Sunday, the first in 30 years, as decades of inflation exacerbated a cost-of-living crisis.
Britain workers are on strike in droves as runaway inflation saps wages at a record pace and the economy will plunge into recession.
“The Felixstowe strikes will shake some British businesses,” said Ed Winterschladen, executive vice president at Proxima, a logistics consultancy.
“The port is not only Britain’s largest, it is by far the largest as an entry port for almost half of sea freight bound for the UK,” he said, warning that delays “will have a lasting impact on prices in an already inflationary market”. .
The dockers’ strike mirrors a similar action at the UK operations of US online giant Amazon and UK postal operator Royal Mail.
These three strikes will have a combined impact on trade of £1 billion ($1.2 billion), according to delivery company ParcelHero, causing significant delays.
“The triple strike of industrial action at ports, postal networks and e-commerce giants means serious disruption,” said David Jinks, head of consumer research at ParcelHero.
“Home deliveries will be affected, as will retailers waiting for new stock and manufacturers in need of key components.
“Somebody has to foot the bill for all these increased transportation costs, and history tells us it’s usually the consumer.”
Felixstowe takes daily deliveries from countries like China and Japan, with containers carrying everything from bicycles and frozen food to household appliances like fridges and washing machines.
They also carry critical parts for manufacturers, so any major delays could potentially worsen the country’s post-Brexit supply chain crisis.
– ‘Enough supply’ –
However, industry body British International Freight Association (BIFA) insisted it was “too early” to assess the impact of the strike at the port.
Some companies are far more flexible after increasing inventories amid supply chain issues brought on by the pandemic.
However, BIFA acknowledged that disruptions in Felixstowe have had an impact on freight transport and international supply chains in the past.
Jonathan Owens, a logistics expert at the University of Salford, gave an optimistic assessment barring an escalation of the dispute.
“The strike will last a week and may not cause too much disruption as Felixstowe is not a ‘just-in-time’ delivery port. Generally everything that comes in is planned in advance,” Owens told AFP.
“There should be enough stock in the supply chain to handle key products.
“Should the strike last longer than the current time or further disruptions are planned quickly after this strike period, alternative supply routes will be found.”
Many retailers have developed such contingency plans to re-route container ships or switch to other modes of transport, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said.
Imports of fresh food would not be affected as these typically pass through the Port of Dover, the BRC noted.
Nevertheless, the Felixstowe series is a major headache for international freight traffic.
Shipping giant Maersk said three of its ships have so far been diverted to other northern European ports before attempting to transport cargo back to the UK.
“For affected export cargo from the UK, we have offered our customers alternative ports and routes where possible,” a Maersk spokesman told AFP.
“It’s difficult for us to say whether certain products will be missing in the supermarkets etc.”
– Dead end –
Back in Felixstowe, discussions between management and unions begin at an impasse.
Nearly 2,000 unionized workers at the port in east England, including crane drivers, machine operators and stevedores, are taking part in the first strike since 1989.
Dockers want a 10 percent wage increase, while inflation is currently at a 40-year high of 10.1 percent.
The port of Felixstowe described its offer of an average salary increase of eight percent as “fair”.
“The port regrets the impact this measure will have on UK supply chains,” he added.
#port #strike #threatens #deepen #supply #chain #pricing #issues
