News / Container haulage may be approaching crisis point as peak season looms

04/09/2018

Container haulage is plagued by “turmoil” and “chaos” that many fear will get worse as the peak season gears up.

One forwarder told The Loadstar all UK ports had been affected by problems ranging from driver shortages and rail failures to issues arising from M&A activity.

Advance road bookings now require up to 10 days lead time.

“We are seeing failures on some 20% of the boxes we handle; that’s thousands of boxes, and from what we are hearing some of our competitors have it worse,” said ...

Comment on this article

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Bob Battersby
September 11, 2018 at 9:25 pm
Interesting limited rail capacity is mentioned. it’s a pity most newspapers never highlight this. If the Government invested in rail schemes such as electrification and double tracking of the Felixstowe branch more freight could go by rail, road congestion and pollution would lessen and the shortage of HGV drivers would be less of a problem. Everyone wins!

Log in to Reply
David Perfect
September 17, 2020 at 3:34 pm
The reason the line haulage has to be booked so far in advance is because of the poor rates they offer hauliers along with very demanding terms .
One french line insists on rate reductions at renewal time rather than increases.

Log in to Reply