Hutchison Ports' Port of Felixstowe in Suffolk, UK, has had major delays after the introduction of its own modular terminal-management platform nGen on Sunday.
Lorry drivers trying to use the UK's busiest container port have experienced tailbacks of up to 16 hours.
The port successfully completed its system migration on June 10, 2018, but “communication inconsistencies” within the container yard affected its performance, according to letter sent to customers from Stephen Abraham, Chief Operating Officer of Hutchison Ports' Port of Felixstowe.
nGen is in use at 25 Hutchison Ports around the world.
In the letter dated June 12, Hutchison Ports said it expected its team to resolve the issue and normal operations to resume within 24 to 36 hours.
A picture our driver took this morning at the customer service desk at the port of Felixstowe… Hopefully we can get our drivers moving soon. pic.twitter.com/pgH6M8gaQR
— RayCole (@RayColeglobal) June 13, 2018
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A message displayed on Hutchison Ports' website on June 14 stated: “We have seen improvements in the last 24 hours to both quayside productivity and land side turn around times.
“As a result, we are continuing to handle near-normal levels of road vehicles per day at the port, although at a slower rate than our usual high standards.
“We expect further improvement will be made in the coming days as our dedicated staff work tirelessly round the clock supported by a team of experts from our Head Office.
“We are confident that any short term glitches will be resolved and that operations will soon return to normal.”
“We have had great cooperation and support from our customers and port users who realise that this is an important system change that will deliver long term benefits for all users of the port, and this is greatly appreciated.”
“We thank our customers for their understanding and patience and would like to apologise to any customers or port users who experienced delays.”
