The Christmas shop could be affected by goods shortages if further strike action takes place at Felixstowe, with experts warning sought-after presents may not be available.

A supply chain specialist and an economist said there could be ramifications for the festive period if more walkouts take place in September.

On Wednesday, Sharon Graham, general secretary of union Unite, threatened more strikes could happen following the end of the current eight-day stoppage if the port failed to reconsider its position over the workers’ demand for a pay rise.

During a visit to rally the 1,900 striking staff at Dock Gate One, she called for a 10% pay rise after the port’s offer of a 7% pay rise plus an additional £500 was rejected in a ballot.

She said there would be a ‘small amount of time’ following the end of the strike on Monday for the port to reconsider, after which a decision would be made on further industrial action, which could be ‘wider’ in scale and ‘escalate.’

But Dr John Glen, chief economist at the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS), which works for the procurement and supply profession, said there could be ‘significant disruption’ to UK supply chains as the port supplies around 40% of the UK’s container capacity.

He said: “It’s difficult to say which supply chains will be disrupted, but you’ve got to look at the aggregate volumes that are going through Felixstowe, probably our most important port in terms of bringing in containers.

“That’s going to significantly disrupt UK supply chains and now we’re potentially seeing shortages of goods, particularly going into Christmas.

“So you may not be able to get the Christmas goods that you wanted.”

Simon Geale, of supply chain specialists Proxima, echoed Dr Glen’s concerns, especially as retailers started unloading Christmas stock in September.

He said: “If it does rumble on even through September, that’s when the serious disruption starts.

“What’s happening at the moment is that the ships that would go into Felixstowe, particularly the larger berth ones, will either be sat outside Felixstowe or they’ll be having to divert, perhaps to Rotterdam.

“The cargo will have to be unloaded, shipped in on smaller ships to different ports, potentially adding a further week.

“You can see how things can start to back up and stack up.”

The strikes have already had an impact on businesses in Suffolk, including Bury St Edmunds-based warehouse and logistics firm Century Logistics, which handles between 100 and 120 containers from Felixstowe in an average week.

The company’s managing director Stuart Ager said there were not just the delays for the firm’s customers in receiving their stock, but also the disruption to patterns of work for his staff as there was likely to be a rush of delayed goods arriving once the strike ended.

“It certainly causes our customers real pain. It certainly causes our customers extra costs. It delays their products getting into our warehouses which in turn causes delays getting to the consumer,” Mr Ager said.

He was working with customers to look at alternative routes, including bringing in goods through other UK ports, such as Southampton.

He added his clients would prefer the extra time needed for shipments to come through Southampton rather than having products queuing on containers waiting to reach Felixstowe.

With regard to Christmas, Mr Ager said the supply chain issues could not just result in shortages of goods, but could lead to businesses losing customers if they chose to shop with another retailer that had received stock.

On the positive side, he said: “If there is anything to come out of COVID and Brexit, it is that we have become used to being very resilient and dealing with issues with the supply chain.”