Business plan

A UK book publisher says congestion at Felixstowe Port has left it with no books to sell in the lead up to Christmas.

Colin Hoad and Matt Green run a publishing company, Idesine, which has 4,000 books stuck on a ship that has been trying to dock since 31 October.

They are one of many businesses encountering problems importing goods.

Importers say congestion issues at UK ports have led to shipping firms quadrupling their freight costs.

“People are contacting us saying they’ve paid for books on pre-order as gifts, and we ultimately can’t guarantee delivery,” Mr Hoad said.

Delays at Felixstowe have been caused by a surge in import traffic as companies increased orders after the initial lockdown and some looked to stockpile goods before the end of the Brexit transition period.

The pandemic has made matters worse as large orders of PPE added to the backlog of containers on … Read the rest

Some Cineworld cinemas are set to never reopen after the coronavirus lockdown as bosses consider permanent closures and job cuts in a desperate bid to save the struggling cinema chain.

The company has been hammered by the pandemic, which forced industry-wide closures seeing them shut all 128 of its venues earlier this month of its own accord, rather than under government orders – with 5,500 people said to be at risk of losing their jobs.

A lack of new films has meant cinemas have struggled to draw in audiences in recent months, with the postponement of the latest James Bond picture, No Time To Die, cited as the potential final straw for many.

It was reported last night that Cineworld, which owes some £6.2 billion to its lenders, was lining up a rescue package as a result, and that slashing rents and shuttering swathes of sites could be required … Read the rest

The manufacturers of the UK’s three biggest coffee pod brands have joined forces to set up the sector’s first national recycling scheme, in the face of a backlash against single-serve capsules, many of which end up in landfill.

Nestlé, the owner of Nespresso and Nescafé Dolce Gusto, and Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE) UK – which makes Tassimo – are next year launching the first system to make it easier and more convenient for consumers to recycle pods in a number of different ways.

Local councils are being invited to provide kerbside collection for pods alongside other household recycling. Consumers will also be able to leave them at 6,500 Yodel dropoff points, and, eventually, hand them over on the doorstep when their supermarket online shopping has been delivered.

The overarching national scheme – run by a new not-for-profit organisation called Podback – aims to replace a complex patchwork of different recycling … Read the rest