Port of Felixstowe, located on the South East coast in Suffolk, Port of Southampton and Teesport in North Yorkshire are the UK’s three largest container ports. When these ports experience challenging times, you can expect the other ports in the UK to be affected.
“There are approximately seven major ports in the UK that could be impacted by the supply chain crisis and shortage of HGV drivers.”
It is reported that With delays mounting, ocean carriers are being forced to make last-minute diversions to other ports in the UK such as London gateway, with some shippers choosing alternative UK ports like Liverpool to avoid any problems.
The Port of Liverpool runs from Brunswick Dock in Liverpool to Seaforth Dock and operates two container terminals – the Royal Seaforth Container Terminal (RSCT) and Liverpool2, which opened in 2016. Liverpool2 offers enlarged terminal capacity, an absence of demurrage and detention charges and faster truck turnaround times and available haulage.
Shipping to Liverpool used to be considered not viable as any cost saving was outweighed by additional travel time (4 or 5 days). The current issues around port congestion, the shortage of HGV drivers in the industry and general disruption to services has meant that Liverpool and other UK feeder ports such as Immingham, Teeside and Grangemouth are all now becoming more attractive propositions. Could UK Feeder Ports in the North benefit from the shipping crisis, not just in these unprecedented times, but also in the future? Only time will tell.
We wanted to share this informative article by Sky News which takes a look at each of these ports.
Related article: European Short Sea Services >
