No end in sight for shipping crisis, says Southampton and London ports boss

A driver enters the cabin of a crane near freight containers stacked on the dockside at the Port of Southampton, jointly operated by DP World and Associated British Ports

The operator of the London Gateway and Southampton container ports has warned that there is no end in sight for the crisis in shipping amid fears that chaos in the run-up to Christmas will lead to empty shelves.

Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, the chairman of DP World, suggested that problems ripping through the global supply chain are likely to last for months.

Speaking at a conference in Dubai, he said: "Nobody knows how long it’s going to take. I think it’s going to take a long time.

“The problem is complicated because you have a backlog of cargo.”

DP World, which is owned by the Dubai government, is one of the world’s largest port operators with more than 90 facilities across six countries.

The company's workforce is also expected to increase from 56,000 people to almost 100,000 within three to four months following a string of acquisitions.

Earlier this week, cargo was diverted away from the Felixstowe Port in Suffolk due to congestion, sparking fears families could be unable to get hold of toys, clothing and electronics for the Christmas period.

Shipping issues have ripped across the globe, with a record number of container ships stuck in the sea waiting to dock in Los Angeles. Shipping around east Asia has, meanwhile, been hit by poor weather and pandemic restrictions.

In the UK, lorry driver shortages mean many containers are being left at ports for longer before they are able to pick them up, with the number of collections down by around a fifth last month. On average, containers are being left at Felixstowe for more than nine days currently, more than double the amount of time this time last year.

Maersk, which is the world’s largest shipping firm, said the port was “one of the top three or four in the world with the biggest problem for big ships”.

Lars Mikael Jensen, head of global ocean network at Maersk, said: “There are not enough truck drivers to move the containers away and bring back the empty ones, so everything takes longer because there is no space.”