UK retailers and food manufacturers urged lawmakers to investigate ongoing disruption at UK ports, warning that delays were impacting their plans to build stocks ahead of Christmas and the December 31 end of the Brexit transition period.
As Reuters reports, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) wrote to Lilian Greenwood, chair of parliament’s Commons Transport Select Committee, and Angus Brendan MacNeil, chair of the International Trade Committee, requesting an urgent inquiry into ongoing disruption at ports and across the shipping market.
The BRC and FDF informed the two that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global shipping schedules and the shipping workforce, along with a shortage of empty containers, has led to significant disruption at many of the UK’s key ports, such as Felixstowe and Southampton, in the crucial run-up to Christmas.
The disruption also has a major impact on shipping-related costs.
Moreover, food manufacturers were facing additional costs to source key inputs elsewhere, while also losing sales due to missed retail promotions, they added.
Finally, last week, the BRC warned that shoppers face higher food prices from next year if new tariffs are imposed in the absence of a trade agreement with the EU.
