Felixstowe Port

Perhaps the country now has all the toasters, soundbars and Alexa speakers it needs? ;)

With all those cranes standing idle, do you think they'll be offering cheap deals on boat, mast and engine lifts? :D

Seriously, though, apart from the economy being in poor shape, hopefully Kukri or some else will be along shortly to explain why it's so spookily quiet there
 
It has been v. quiet for weeks. On that day we did the SW Sunk we didn't see more than one distant ship in the Princes Channel in the 6 hours, nuffin in the Barrow and Black Deeps and only one in the Princes. V. unusual. We're doomed I suppose. (y)
 
I was at SYH yesterday and thought it odd that the port was empty. Looking at Marine Traffic right now, there are 5 ships alongside and 3 off shore at anchor, so looks like we'll be able to buy all the Amazon tat we need on next day delivery for a while yet.
 
My other half works down the docks.... Not offering acts of comfort to visiting seamen, but arranging clearances for certain cargos. She says the port always has a quiet time soon after Chinese New Year but that this year is longer and more pronounced due to Chinese lockdowns together with increasing competition with London Gateway.

It presents a gloomy perspective for a once great maritime nation; a major port that we don't even own, visited entirely by foreign ships, carrying foreign goods, helped to their berths by foreign tugs.

I wonder how long before Tilbury closes?
 
Top of the class: the knock on from the shut down of Shanghai
Going off at a tangent..... I took a boat to Woolverstone recently and noticed you weren't there. Is she based somewhere else this season? Always loved how she looks and am assuming she's the same Kukri who placed well in a few Fastnets? Would love to invite myself on board one day for a cuppa!
 
& Br**it impacting on european trade?
Just look at the trade figures since 2007 & you will see that is not exactly so. In fact the effect has only had the usual blips in the gradual upward trend
I would suggest that trade with China might be the reason. Of course other factors could have come into play, such as world recession etc & shortage in supply of certain components slowing manufacture of some items. A lot depends on what sort of goods Felixtowe usually brings in & sends out. Do they have a predominance of a sector. ie food & other agricultural products might not be on the list as that might come by road, or products by bulk carriers (aggregate, cement, grain etc) into other ports. Others more connected with the port might know
 
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The port has been in a steady decline since volumes peaked in 2017 - poor productivity with cranes handling less moves per hour means vessels are in port longer which doesn't help.
 
So where are the boxes coming ashore then?
Felixstowe is still by far UK's largest contianer port, isn't it?

But perhaps if vulume is falling this is a positive indication that we are lessening out dependence on Chinese imports (suggested entirely tongue-in-cheek, though with hope)
 
London Gateway, owned by DP World and built on the site of the former Shell Haven refinery, opened in 2013 but in 2017 it gained the UK calls of THE Alliance - Hapag- Lloyd, ONE (the three Japanese lines) and Yang Ming (the Taiwanese Government line). This gave London Gateway a throughput of 1,804,871 TEU in 2021 - most of which would have gone to Felixstowe.

Felixstowe are a bit vague about their current numbers but they claim 4 million TEU.

So probably they would have had 5.5 million TEU without London Gateway.
 
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