Talks are taking place today in a bid to avert strike action at the Port of Felixstowe.

Bosses from the Felixstowe Dock and Railway Company and Unite The Union, which represents 1,900 dock workers, will meet with ACAS to try and find a solution.

Strikes are planned for the UK's biggest container port to take place for eight days later this month in a dispute over pay, after workers turned down a seven per cent pay rise.

Dock workers, including crane drivers, machine operators and stevedores will walk out on 21 August and action is set to continue until Monday 29 August.

Talks at Acas failed to reach a satisfactory conclusion yesterday after the employer the Felixstowe Dock and Railway Company failed to improve on its offer of a seven per cent pay increase, which is significantly below the real (RPI) inflation rate of 11.8 per cent. Industrial relations were already strained as workers only received a 1.4 per cent, below inflation, increase last year.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "Both Felixstowe docks and its parent company CK Hutchison Holding Ltd are both massively profitable and incredibly wealthy. They are fully able to pay the workforce a fair day's pay. 

"The company has prioritised delivering multi-million pound dividends rather than paying its workers a decent wage.

 "Unite is entirely focused on enhancing its members' jobs, pay and conditions and it will be giving the workers at Felixstowe its complete support until this dispute is resolved and a decent pay increase is secured."

Felixstowe is the UK's largest container port and 48 per cent of containers brought into the UK are transported via the port.

It is expected strike action will have a huge effect on the UK's supply chain and will also cause severe disruption to international maritime trade, as well as the UK's supply chain including the logistics and haulage sectors.

Unite argue that The Felixstowe Dock and Railway Company is extremely profitable; its most recent accounts show that it made pre-tax profits of £61 million in 2020, when it also paid out £99 million in dividends.

The company's dividends are paid into a complicated company structure but are principally received by the organisation's ultimate holding company, CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd. It is registered in the Cayman Islands and listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

A spokesperson for Felixstowe told the BBC the company was "disappointed" and that it was "determined" to help its workers tackle rising costs.

"The port has not had a strike since 1989 and we are disappointed that the union has served notice of industrial action while talks are ongoing.

"The port provides secure and well-paid employment and there will be no winners from industrial action." the spokesperson said.

The strikes are set to spark major disruption to logistics and supply chain in the UK, with around half of all containers brought into the UK transported via Felixstowe.