As you may have heard or read, Southampton Container Terminals Ltd has announced that it will close the gates to laden export containers delivered in by road from the 22nd to the 26th of January. Gates will remain open for outgoing laden import containers. The terminal has reached maximum capacity, and the dwell time has increased significantly following the gale force winds over the past days and weeks.
Nevertheless, we would like to clarify that OOCL remains open for business, and we will continue to accept export bookings, perform collections and connect cargo with the intended vessels over the 4 days mentioned above.
Timely collections and deliveries are a challenge in the present environment, as vehicle turnaround times in Southampton have increased to 4 - 5 hours. We have, however, made alternative arrangements and emphasise that we will operate as normally as possible over this difficult period. Please therefore continue to contact our Customer Service Centres where our experienced staff will offer our best solutions.
Furthermore we would like to remind you that we do have our dedicated train running between Southampton and Manchester every day, and this is not affected by the SCT export gate closure. The northbound (import) train was affected yesterday by weather and power cables down on the west coast lines, but has returned to a pro forma service today. In addition, since November, SCT has been our preferred hub for feeder operations, and feeder cargo can continue to move cargo in and out. The only challenge to our feeder operation has been the gale force winds.
Should you have any questions pertaining to the above, please do not hesitate to contact the OOCL office near you or your Area Sales Manager.
We thank you for your continued support and patience over the forthcoming week.
