UK Port Strikes: Felixstowe & Liverpool

Felixstowe Port is on the verge of an eight day strike, which starts this Sunday, 21st August, and now workers at Liverpool have also voted to strike.

The Felixstowe strike was called by members of the Unite union, after an offer of a 5% pay increase was made by the port’s management. Almost 2,000 members were balloted and they voted overwhelmingly for industrial action. Right now, the strike looks inevitable as later talks broke down despite an increased offer of 7%.

Ocean freight carriers have largely planned around the strike, including changing vessel rotations so that vessels call before or after the strike, and also offloading Felixstowe cargo at other ports. However, there will be disruption during the strike period as little or no collections and deliveries can be made from the port.

The Unite union have subsequently announced that their Liverpool dock workers have now been balloted, with 99% of the votes in favour of strike action. No date has been set for a strike on Merseyside, although the union is believed to have a ballot of the port’s engineers still open, which will likely mean this does not clash with Felixstowe.

Felixstowe is the UK’s largest container port and Liverpool the largest in the North. The Evolution team are monitoring this closely.