Some carriers have indicated a reduction in free-time is being introduced at North European ports, including the UK, despite the desperate issues with container transport.
Free-time is usually a period of seven days after the vessel’s arrival before demurrage and quay rent charges are incurred by importers. We understand that many carriers are now reducing this to five days.
The move has been described as a ‘kick in the teeth’ for UK importers, as the current driver shortage crisis often delays container transport by 2 weeks or more.
The motive to reduce free demurrage times may seem a logical incentive to turn containers around in Europe more quickly, meaning empties get back to Asia faster.
However, for the UK market, it is effectively just adding more revenue to carriers, as the transport issues make it near impossible to meet the current free-time periods.
Meanwhile, container transport delays caused by the driver shortage, port congestion and sporadic restitution issues are continuing to disrupt collections and deliveries.
As ever, the Westbound team are continuing to work extremely hard to provide solutions to mitigate the impact on customers supply chains.
At Westbound Logistics we pride ourselves in offering personalised and tailored logistics solutions. To find out more please call 01375 800800 or email info@westboundglobal.com.
