Maersk, the world’s largest container shipping company, has
diverted some vessels from Felixstowe port in eastern England
because a lack of truck drivers means there is nowhere left to
stack containers at the port.
"I'm confident that people will be able to get their toys for
Christmas," Conservative Party co-Chairman Oliver Dowden told
Sky. He said he was sure Christmas gifts would be delivered this
year.
Dowden, who is a cabinet minister without portfolio in the
Cabinet Office, said the issues at the port were easing and the
supply chain problems facing the world's fifth largest economy
were global - such as a shortage of truckers and port
congestion.
"The situation is improving," Dowden said, referring to
Felixstowe, which handles 36% of the country’s containerised
freight.
Asked whether people should start to buy now for Christmas, he
said: "I would say just buy as you do normally."
He said Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is on holiday abroad,
was very much engaged with domestic and international issues.
"He's very much engaged with the job."
Britain's economy is forecast to grow at 6.8% this year, the
fastest growth in the G7 leading economies, though supply chain
disruption and inflationary pressures are constraining the
global economy, the International Monetary Fund said.
Britain's economy returned to growth in August after contracting
for the first time in six months in July.
But its exit from the European Union has exacerbated some of the
problems by constricting immigration.
Britain is short of about 100,000 truckers, leading to queues at
gas stations and worries about getting food into supermarkets,
with a lack of butchers and warehouse workers also causing
concern.
Two sisters running a pig farm in northeast England urged
Johnson to lift strict immigration rules for butchers or risk
seeing the pork sector collapse under the weight of overly
fattened animals.
(Reporting by Sarah Young and Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by
Alistair Smout and Barbara Lewis)
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