Businesses across Suffolk are preparing for a financial hit as workers at the Port of Felixstowe announce a second round of strikes.

The industrial action is due to start at 7am on September 27 and will last eight days.

Daryl Bridges is transport manager at Parkside Warehousing and Transport in Stowmarket.

"We're expecting a loss of around £10,000," he said.

"We only operate nine lorries and we're quite a small business so that will hit us hard.

%image(15262971, type="article-full", alt="Daryl Bridges, transport manager at Parkside Warehousing and Transport, said he is expecting a loss of "around £10,000"")

"There's nothing we can really do to prepare for it. We'll just have to keep going.

"But if strikes continue, workers that are striking will lose the sympathy of the haulage sector."

Last month, Unite members voted in favour of industrial action for the first time since 1989 as part of a pay dispute.

Strikes began on August 21 and lasted eight days.

The latest walkout will clash with action taking place at the Port of Liverpool, which will run from Monday 19 September to Monday 3 October.

"I'm disappointed it's got to this stage," said Adam Searle, managing director of CP Transport.

"It's going to cost me and everyone else based around the port a lot of money again.

"Last time, it cost me around £70,000 and I'm expecting something similar to that again.

"I'm not too concerned about supply chains at the moment as they became quite robust during Covid.

"But the financial impact is going to be significant."

Last week, bosses at the Port of Felixstowe decided to implement their pay offer without any agreement with union leaders.

The offer stands at an increase of 7% plus £500 which is backdated to 1 January 2022.

Unite said the imposed pay deal is a “sizeable pay cut” because of the soaring inflation rate, adding that its members had rejected it by 82% on a 78% turnout.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said Felixstowe and its owner, CK Hutchison, are “eye-wateringly wealthy”, adding: “Rather than offer a fair pay offer, they have instead attempted to impose a real-terms pay cut on their workers.

“Since the beginning of this dispute Unite has given its total support to its members at Felixstowe and that will continue until this dispute is resolved.”