The well known shipping firm confirmed the news in an announcement on Friday, citing the current supply-chain bottlenecks in the United Kingdom. The company says the issues in the UK continue to challenge its service reliability, and that there are “exceptional waiting times in the port of Felixstowe”.
As a consequence, Maersk said it would relocate the service up until March 2022. The affected Felixstowe volumes will be routed on a shuttle service from Wilhelmshaven in Germany.
The full list of affected routes can be found here.
Explaining the move, Maersk said:
“As the situation evolves daily, we are working closely with all involved stakeholders in the local supply chain to help mitigate the situation. Ongoing contingency plans will always be made with the objective of minimising supply chain delays and alleviating the impact on our customers’ businesses.”
The well-known shipping company added:
“We take this action with extreme reluctance and will be working hard to ensure that we can return the network to normality when operating conditions allow. We appreciate your continued support in these unprecedented circumstances.”
The move from Maersk comes after a long line of problems at Felixstowe port, which has been suffering container suggestion due to the UK’s driver shortage as well as global supply chain challenges. Around a month ago, data from supply chain visibility giant project44 found that a “Brexit backlog” had turned Felixstowe into the world’s 3rd most-congested (and Europe’s most congested) port.
Photo by Galen Crout on Unsplash