Rail activity at the Port of Felixstowe in the UK is the biggest and busiest in the country. Operating over 60 rail journeys in and out of the port per day, the service takes 17,000 TEU (20’ containers or equivalent) off of the UK’s roads, reducing carbon emissions and congestion.
Railing containers out of the port and to destinations such as Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester reduces costs for the customer and offers a service which can avoid the busy roads surrounding London.
Mercator opts to make use of the Port of Felixstowe’s rail services for containers delivering to the north of the country, particularly if we have several loads to deliver to one place. Once the containers have been railed to the rail terminal near the destination, they are transferred onto a truck to make the final journey via road.
Recently the Port of Felixstowe’s rail service has become overrun, and as such there are delays and restricted departures/arrivals. It is hoped that this is simply a glitch whereby the port has a backlog of containers, both empty and full. This has a knock-on effect to space at the depots, reducing the number of empty containers that the port can accept.
This restriction has affected all three rail providers at the Port of Felixstowe. Mercator is working closely with the shipping lines and rail providers to keep in the picture of service status at the port in order to minimise the disruption to our own customers who are expecting deliveries from the Port of Felixstowe.
If you import into the UK and are looking for a freight forwarder to handle everything for you, give us a call for a quote +44 2392 756 575 or email sales@mercatorcargo.co.uk
