UK port strikes cause misery

Felixstowe endured a second round of strikes at the port at the beginning of October, while Liverpool entered into a second week of strikes this week declaring that it will making redundancies as a consequence.

Pay is at the heart of the dispute between the port’s Chinese owners Hutchison and the union Unite, which represents about 1,900 of the port’s 2,500 or so workers.

The port has offered an increase of 7% plus £500 backdated to 1 January 2022, which the union says with inflation at 10%, is effectively a pay cut.

Failed talks

At Liverpool meanwhile, Peel Port’s offer of an average increase of 10.2% in basic pay has also been rejected by the union.

Unite, in talks last week with the port, demanded a 15.7% pay rise and refused a tripartite meeting with ACAS, the independent advisory, conciliation and arbitration service.

A spokesperson for Peel Ports, operator of the Port of Liverpool, said: “We are concerned Unite have no interest in resolving matters through the collective bargaining arrangements we have in place or via an independent ballot, as it continues to push for more strikes.”

“Ongoing strikes are hurting Liverpool City Region’s businesses and prospects for future growth and jobs, at a time of economic uncertainty and volatile market conditions. We call on Unite to reconsider the greatly enhanced offer via an independent ballot, so we can bring these damaging strikes to an end.”

Business impact

After the first port worker strike began at the Port of Felixstowe, Glenn Koepke, VP of Network Collaboration at supply chain solutions provider, FourKites, said it saw a significant increase in days at terminal for containers currently at the facility.

On 21 August, the day the first strike began, ocean shipments (including import/export/transshipment) at the Port of Felixstowe had been at terminal for 5.5 days on average. By 30 August, this had increased to a peak of 10.3 days on average, an 87% increase.

After the initial strike ended, average days at terminal at Felixstowe decreased down to 3.8 days on average, though the onset of the second strike on 27 September caused this to increase again by 84% to 7.0 days as of 3 October.

During the initial Felixstowe strike, FourKites saw shipment arrivals to Felixstowe decrease from 20% of all UK port arrivals to 0% (during the week of 7 August).

During this time period, it appears that many shipments may have been rerouted to other ports in the UK such as Southampton, which saw an increase from 13% to 24% over the same two-week period.

FourKites said it has also seen a decrease in shipments arriving to Liverpool as the strikes began late in September, where shipment arrivals decreased by 85% month-over-month.