Port of Felixstowe – A summer of discontent

Whether we like it or not – the continued growth and success of Port of Felixstowe has a direct impact on this part of Suffolk as well as the UK as a whole.

Before November 2013 Felixstowe and Southampton were number one and number two ports in the UK – but with the opening of the new London Gateway with its deep sea berths and seemingly limitless capacity to steal away business there were visible jitters amongst the port community – no one really knew if shipping lines would switch over – and in what numbers.

But there are other factors involved. Shippers are enduring a summer of discontent as Europe’s container supply chain is stretched by a combination of tardy schedule reliability from ocean carriers and acute congestion at hub ports.

Container line schedule integrity has become a thing of the past on the Asia-Europe trade lane, with carriers believing – mostly mistakenly – that shippers are only interested in one thing: price.

But once in port the alliances expect congestion-free, speedy turnaround of their ships – even though the new mega-vessels often mean a 30% increase in container exchanges.

However, when crane production levels at the hub fall below par – regardless of whether the ship has made its agreed berthing window – carriers are quick to seek alternative ports and facilities which allow them to discharge and load their vessels without delay.

With a year-on-year 8% cargo growth in Asian imports, bigger ships being phased-in and schedules becoming increasing flexible, Europe’s three major hub ports of Rotterdam, Antwerp and Hamburg have, unsurprisingly, struggled to cope with throughput in the past few months.

This has also been true for Felixstowe. Port congestion during the summer has lead to big-name shippers such as Maersk Line and China Shipping Container Lines (CSCL) ordering ships up the River Thames to DP World’s London Gateway. Customers of Felixstowe suggest that other ships will follow if the situation does not improve.

According to the Port the congestion has been primarily down to labour shortages and the big growth in imports from Asia, meaning turnaround times have been increasing, thereby exacerbating waiting times for other shippers.

But the fear for Felixstowe is that DP World London Gateway is edging closer to attaining a prominent Asia-to-Europe shipping line customer on a long-term contract, therefore taking business from the UK’s current largest port permanently.

To add to their woes – a recent Ipswich Crown court case has revealed that the owners of the Port of Felixstowe were subjects of a very expensive and embarrassing scam as a result of a trick email.

Hutchison Port Holdings were contacted by someone purporting to be a supplier informing the company that their bank details had changed and asking for payments to be processed to a different account.

As a result of the fake email, Hutchison’s lost £2.6 million over a 13 month period in 2012/13

Mohammed Fawzul-Rahman, 31, of Watford, was jailed for four years and sentencing him, Recorder Ian Evans said some of the money obtained from Hutchison Port of Felixstowe by the trick email had come directly into his bank account and was used to launder money as part of a larger fraud.

At the moment Felixstowe is Britain’s largest container port with more than 4,000 ships visiting a year. It is used by 33 shipping lines from around the world and sees 90 services a week from all continents.

Around 10,000 containers leave the port by rail each week to destinations as far afield as Bristol, Liverpool, Cleveland and Glasgow.

This giant is one that would make a very large splash if he fell.

Hawkster

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