Most of the stone used in the UK is imported and it is already being held up at the docks, says the Builders Merchants Federation (BMF).
It has warned the government that congestion at UK ports is already affecting the availability of construction materials.
BMF Chief Executive John Newcomb, who is also co-chair of the Construction Leadership Council, of which Stone Federation is a constituent, says: “There is a concern over the availability of products imported in containers, mainly from the Far East, such as ironmongery, plumbing items, tools and natural stone.”
Congestion at UK container ports became apparent last month, with coronavirus-related imports combined with Covid-secure measures leading to throughput difficulties at the terminals.
The BMF does not say so, but a new IT system installed at Felixstowe in Suffolk, where half of all the containers landed in the UK arrive, has also been part of the problem, creating a knock-on effect at Southampton, where there are also now delays as the port tries to take backed up containers from Felixstowe.
It could mean worktops promised to be finished before Christmas are not installed. Other products bought as Christmas presents and for stock by retailers might also be delayed.
An unusually large number of empty containers, normal pre-Christmas peak volumes, a shortage of drivers for UK container haulage, poor schedule performance by the shipping lines, the threats of strikes by dockers earlier in the year and stocking up ahead of the end of the Brexit transition period have all been blamed for exacerbating the problem. Southampton and Felixstowe are said to be at crisis level.
John Newcomb says: “There appears to be an increasing issue getting products through ports, with some ships being stopped from landing and sent back to Rotterdam.”
In some cases, unloading times have already gone from one week to four and further delays seem inevitable from 1 January when the Brexit transition period is over. It will be worse if no trade agreement has been reached.
“We’ve raised this matter with government and asked about the readiness of ports and customs as we head into Brexit,” says John.
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