Businesses will suffer like they did during Covid if Felixstowe port strike continues, says trade body
25 August 2022, 15:57 | Updated: 25 August 2022, 15:59
'Businesses will suffer like they did during Covid if Felixstowe port strike continues'
The Global Shippers Forum Secretary General has told LBC smaller businesses will suffer like they did during Covid if the strike at the UK's largest container port continues until Christmas.
It comes amid the warning there could be "serious disruption" to Christmas shopping as 2,000 workers begin an eight-day strike at UK’s largest container port in Felixstowe.
Unite union workers at the port, which handles almost half of the UK's container shipping, began a strike on Sunday morning after rejecting a pay offer.
Shelagh Fogarty asked Secretary General James Hookham: "If this goes on as long as the union is suggesting, do you think it could bring down some businesses?"
"I can answer that based on what we experienced last year Shelagh," Mr Hookham said.
"Last year was a pretty traumatic time, not because of strikes, but simply because of massive congestion in the global shipping industry.
"It's because we had this massive spike in demand, everyone was locked down at home and ordering stuff online, and quite against the odds of what we thought would happen."
Mr Hookham explained the effect of this on small businesses.
"A lot of importers and wholesalers, who had arranged for these goods to be brought in and were under contract to get the goods to particular retailer by a particular date, were A - not going to get paid until they did so, and secondly faced penalty charges if they didn't do what they were contracted to do by the required date," he said.
"So that's the sort of cash flow pressures that smaller businesses come under when there is this kind of disruption."
Earlier this week, Mr Hookham warned on LBC's Nick Ferrari at Breakfast: “There’s stuff [goods] on the way, it’s expecting to be here over the next five to six weeks, so if this is a prolonged stoppage there could be some serious disruption to expected delivery times.
“A lot of importers are expecting to start receiving the goods they sell not just at Christmas, but Halloween and half term, and that’s a big peak - as of course is now, Black Friday.
“We can’t have a long strike here – this would really seriously mess up Christmas for everyone.”
