Delays at Port of Southampton 26/01/23

The Port of Southampton and local depots are currently running extremely slowly.

The Port:

The port’s average waiting times have grown from average 25 minutes to now 95 minutes. Typically this is a very conservative figure, so likely the ‘true’ figure is 2-3hrs and we’re hearing reports of drivers held up to 5hrs.

VBS Availability:

VBS availability to get onto the port to collect containers is also struggling to keep pace with demand with limited VBS slots being available especially during the night which is where normally most are available at Southampton.

Local Off-Dock depots (Pentalver’s/Solents/Eldapoint):

It’s being reported that local off dock depots are running at around a 2-3hr turnaround.

Collectively these issues stem due to increased volumes against a backdrop of low resource on the port. There’s no official communication from the port to reference exact issues but historically Southampton port has been one of the better running ports, so, whilst disruptive for the moment, we have confidence the port will look to slowly improve.

Traffic teams will look to keep all customers updated on any affected shipments. Suppliers will be doing what they can to mitigate delays such as anticipating longer load times, securing more than needed VBS’s or brining some containers forward where possible. We will also adjust any planning accordingly and will be in contact on any issues effecting your containers as soon as possible.

While this disruption is out of Ligentia's control, as well as that of its network, we are working hard to minimise the effects. Should you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to your Customer team.