What impact will that have if a major container shipping line announces that its larger ships will no longer use the Port of Felixstowe?
Maersk said the changes would come into effect in February following a review of shipping routes between Asia and Europe.
The company said it had concluded that the London Gateway at the Thames Estuary in Essex is “the most optimal port to serve our customers” in Britain.
The BBC has learned that Maersk is docking two of its giant container ships every week, which will soon be heading to London Gateway.
Mark Ling said huge investments have been made in the London Gateway port [Qays Najm/BBC]
Every year around 2,000 ships call at Felixstowe carrying around four million containers (measured as 20ft equivalent units or TEUs).
Around six giant container ships arrive at the port of Suffolk every week on the Asia-Europe route, two of which are Maersk’s.
About 2,250 people work at the huge site, and in 2022 about 1,900 people took part in industrial action over pay.
Mark Ling, director of Ipswich transport company ICE Transport, said the announcement by Maersk was a “big deal” but not “unexpected”.
“There are jobs at Felixstowe in freight forwarding, warehousing, distribution, trailers and also people working on container lines at the port, who will move from Felixstowe to London,” he said.
Mr Ling said Felixstowe is still a “great port” but problems with transport infrastructure around Ipswich have held back progress:
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the A14 Orwell Bridge closes in high winds or due to accidents
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the Ipswich Northern Bypass proposal is being put on the back burner
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with only a single track railway line between Felixstowe and Ipswich
He said: “It’s taken us 40 years and we haven’t made any progress on our infrastructure. If you don’t progress, other people will take over your business.”
Peter Wilson, director of Ipswich logistics company Cory Brothers, said he had heard the “disappointing” news was coming but it was still a surprise.
Mr Wilson said he expected other shipping companies to fill the spaces left when Maersk moved some of its operations out of the port, which he said would help secure jobs.
On concerns about road and rail infrastructure, he said he did not believe this was a significant part of Maersk’s decision and that they were likely “streamlining the portfolio of ports they visited”.
Gary Jeffreys said shipping giant Maersk had invested significantly in rail [Ben Parker/BBC]
Speaking to the BBC in April, when Maersk announced it was expanding its office facilities in Felixstowe, Gary Jeffreys, the company’s managing director for the UK, said Maersk had worked at Felixstowe for 40 years.
He called Felixstowe “a huge access point for us from a logistics perspective”.
“Felixstowe provides 17 rail services per week for us from the port and several different contractors and partners we work with along the way,” he said.
“We’ve made quite a significant investment in rail; I think that should be the focus of both government and local government to ensure we have the right rail lines.”
In October, a container ship that plans to sail exclusively on green fuels was officially christened in the port of Felixstowe [Jamie Niblock/BBC]
The Suffolk Chamber of Commerce said pressure must be kept on the Government for both the swift approval of the Ely/Haughley rail junctions and accelerated investment in the A14 corridor, including the Orwell Bridge and Copdock Interchange, and the wider road network across the border. all points of the compass in and around Ipswich”.
In a statement on its website, Maersk said the changes were part of the Gemini Co-operation, an assessment of its network carried out with the Hapag-Lloyd shipping company.
“During this optimization process, we concluded that London Gateway is the most optimal port to serve our customers importing/exporting freight to/from Great Britain,” the report said.
“As a result of this change, Felixstowe will not be part of Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd’s shared Gemini network.”
The Port of Felixstowe, owned by Hong Kong-headquartered Hutchison Ports, has been asked for comment.
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