Firm hit with delays at the ports

Shrewsbury-based Gwaza Ltd only managed to ship five out of about 120 planned orders to customers in Europe in January, with the remaining stuck at the ports.

Businesses in the UK have spoken of losing trade after lorries containing produce were held up at ports since new EU trade rules came into force last month, and there are fears customers may switch suppliers.

Gwaza owner and MD Victor Edwards feels let down the the lack of support from the Government.

"Throughout the tough trading conditions of 2020, and the impact of Covid-19, we continued to trade and assist our customers with products to keep our supply chain running," he said.

"With the onset of 2021 and the scenario of a post-Brexit economy, we have strived to do everything in terms of compliance and legal correspondence, but are being penalised by the lack of support from the Government in our ports and the associated infrastructure.

"This is all about poor planning for capacity and trained staff that was a given 12 months ago and cannot be passed off as a ‘teething problem’.

"Over the weeks in January, where we looked to export around 120 orders into the EU, only five have been shipped to customers.

"The remaining orders are stuck at ports, these orders are late, and customers will have to look elsewhere for this work. We have hundreds of orders ‘on ice’ until we can ship with confidence. Ironically, Norway and Channel Islands with the same process is no problem."

Mr Edwards said products imported from non-EU countries have been continuously delayed because the UK's harbours cannot cope with the regular capacity.

"Vessels arriving are having to ‘cut and run’ to EU ports to maintain their sailing schedules, where despite the pandemic, containers continue to be handled and trans-shipped back to the UK efficiently and competently. This simply raises costs unnecessarily.

"This will ultimately impact orders, sales and potentially jobs for our region. We are just one of the companies being impacted, there are many who simply do not have the time or energy to highlight the issues.

"This matter is now stifling business, stopping exports and imports and will lead to price rises for consumers. None of which is good for the consumer, our businesses or our region," he added.

Christopher Greenough, chief commercial officer at Shrewsbury-based castings firm SDE Technology, echoed his concerns.

"It is a real concern for us as a business that even though we have complied with all the paperwork required, we are facing delays at the ports, that are impacting on our export capability and the import of vitally needed raw materials.

"We have as a nation, over the years, given away our ability to make steel in the volumes we need. This lack of investment now means we are reliant on overseas material to make the majority of our goods.

"The Government needs to act to reduce delays and let us trade our way out of this financial crisis, only by supporting UK manufacturing can we help prevent shortages and price rises to the consumer," Mr Greenough said.