In other news, Bellingcat reports that Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny was poisoned using a Novichok nerve agent; the same kind of agent used to attack Sergey Skripal in Britain in 2018. Their report details how the poison was slipped into Navalny's drink at a bar and even identifies the Russian FSB agents responsible for it.
Meanwhile, SolarWind now says up to 18,000! customers may have been compromised by the Russian hack that also hit the federal government.
Finally, British shipping ports are already clogging up ahead of the Brexit as companies rush to import as much as they can before the break.
Southampton is experiencing heavy congestion in its docks, causing long delays to imported goods getting to manufacturers and shops. Last week, it was announced that delays at Felixstowe, Britain’s largest port, which accounts for 40% of the nation’s container trade, have been exacerbated by thousands of containers of PPE stockpiled at the site.
Honda shut down production at its Swindon plant, its biggest in Europe, last Wednesday “due to transport-related parts delays”. Manufacturing and retail tend to run on a “just in time” supply chain, meaning clogs in the system can quickly lead to factory-floor and high-street shortages.
Unable to unload at Felixstowe, container ships have rerouted to Southampton, putting more pressure on the port, leading some ships to divert to Liverpool or even Rotterdam. “Last week, we had 44,000 TEUs [20ft-equivalent unit] on the dock,” says Nathan Carr, operations manager of the haulage firm Abacus Logistics, located in the yard just outside dock 20. “The maximum last year was about 35,000.”
I hope everyone had a good weekend!
Please consider donating during this week's fundraiser. Thank you in advance.