British shippers, ports seek way of U.K. port congestion

British shippers, ports seek way of U.K. port congestion British shippers, ports, ocean carriers that use British ports and other organizations have formed a group to try and alleviate the serious congestion experienced in the country’s container terminals in October and November.
   The group comprises the Freight Transport Association and its affiliate the British Shipper’s Council, the Rail Freight Group, the Chamber of Shipping, the British Ports Association, the U.K. Major Ports Group, the Confederation of British Industry and the Sea and Water organization. The group met Monday, starting discussions on finding ways of preventing the delays to shipments entering the country.
   The Freight Transport Association said the new group “aims to unclog some of the worst ports congestion ever experienced.”
   “These delays put severe pressure on individual supply chains, as companies struggled to ensure essential materials were delivered and goods could be put on the shelves in time for Christmas,” the Freight Transport Association said.
   Delays and capacity shortages at British container ports are seen as the worst in Europe, and there are no government-approved plans to build new terminals.
   In comments reminiscent of the congestion of container ports in California, the Freight Transport Association reported that British ports have been a target for criticism, but the issue is “far bigger than purely a port operations or management problem.”
   Initial discussions suggested that problems include “the bunching of vessel arrivals at U.K. ports” and the lack of weekend hours. Port representatives said they were willing to address the weekend issue, but stressed it requires a similar commitment from trucking and logistics companies and from importers and exporters. The lack of rail capacity to support the movement of containers to and from the ports was also raised out as an issue that needed to be urgently addressed.
   Users and providers of port and rail services, as well as infrastructure planners, must cooperate “to sort things out, planning together appropriate actions to ensure the traffic keeps moving,” the British association said.
   The Freight Transport Association said the industry group would try to see where the worst congestion is occurring, and develop short and long-term measures for resolving it.
   “We are under no illusions that this will be easy but we are all keen to have a go,” the association warned
   The group plans to meet next month to start planning a work program.