Freight association calls for government intervention at Port of Felixstowe

Freight forwarders have demanded that the British government intervenes in the dispute between the owners of the Port of Felixstowe and its users following ongoing disruption, which has caused operational damage and incurred additional costs.

The British International Freight Association (BIFA) has claimed that the port’s migration to an in-house terminal operating system (TOS) in 2018 is the “root” of the current vehicle booking system (VBS) problems in contrast to the port’s stance that unused bookings are to blame.

The UK’s biggest container port, run by Hutchison Ports, has faced significant congestion in recent weeks leading to vessel diversions after a sharp spike in import container volumes, along with a high proportion of late vessel arrivals, partly caused by typhoons in Asia, as well as staff shortages.