Port operations in Liverpool continue to be heavily disrupted by escalating strike action, with no signs either party is willing to compromise in an increasingly bitter pay dispute.

Runaway inflation has driven up union pay demands that employers are unwilling to meet, escalating industrial disputes in several sectors across the UK.

The industrial action hanging over Germany’s busiest container ports has been resolved, but there is no agreement in sight at the increasingly bitter Felixstowe strike in the UK.

Easing container congestion and the summer “doldrums” have sent MPV rates drifting downward, but carriers expect energy-related demand and tight capacity to keep the sector healthy in the long term.