Xpediator stays firmly on the M&A trail as it targets new services and markets
UK freight forwarder and transport operator Xpediator, which operates under the Delamode brand, continues to ...
Hauliers and logistics operators are warning UK shippers and consignees using the country’s second busiest container gateway, Southampton, of higher landside rates, as costs rise as a result of growing box congestion.
One haulier told The Loadstar: “The problems began with the move of The Alliance services from Felixstowe to Southampton last April, which meant a lot of hauliers moving with their customers.
“With the increased volumes there is greater demand for haulage transport yards in and around Southampton and, since then, every haulier has been ...
Comment on this article
Andy Lane
January 09, 2018 at 4:20 pmInteresting. Based on some data which I have…
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In terms of day of ship arrival and overall volume contribution. Then for Southampton we see 21% of the total weekly demand on a Sunday, and 20% on a Tuesday. Gateway is 19% Friday and 16% Saturday, with Felixstowe’s peaks being 16% Saturday and 17% Sunday. With 14.5% per day being the perfect spread.
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This would lead to an “import delivery rush” Monday-Wednesday, but an export “rush” Thursday-Friday. That is a triangulation killer for sure, and results in many “wasted” empty container or empty chassis miles.
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The ship operators claim that the scheduled day of arrival is based on shipper preferences, however shippers claim that they move cargo to match ship operator schedules. It would seem that a lot of proactive communication and collaboration is missing here – with the result being higher end-to-end logistics costs.
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So maybe the hauliers doing an “Uber” and surcharging peaks is one step in the right direction of driving better planning and scheduling behaviour of UK inland logistics. This would probably trump in terms of value-add the other buzzwords of; Digitalisation, Big Data and IoT.
Chris Osborne
January 15, 2018 at 11:17 amDeja Vous?
14ish year in the industry and all i can remember is a 3-5 year cycle of southampton winning all the contracts, getting overly congested, few years later a different port wins all the work, can’t cope, few years later it goes back to southampton. Bigger vessels may be making the issue more evident but the underlying problem is still there and has been for some significant time. One port wins back a huge contract, and even if the immediate terminal can cope, the surrounding infrastructure can’t. The roads are only so big, there are only a fixed number of rail lines. I feel there are a lot of gaps in our strategic thinking in the UK and this is a good example! My major worry is how many hauliers (and other industry parties) have to recruit and then make people redundant to meet swings in demand over this relatively sort of period? or should our truckers all be prepared to all move up to felixstowe in 3-5 years time when they win the work back?