The Financial Times has reported that some ships were rerouted at Felixstowe. A spokesman for the port said: "The pre-Christmas peak, combined with haulage shortages, congested inland terminals, poor vessel schedule reliability and the pandemic, has resulted in a build-up of containers at the port.

       Empty container levels remain high as import containers are returned and we are asking shipping lines to remove them as quickly as possible."

       The delays come as the Christmas period approaches, prompting concerns for many about deliveries.

       Instead of taking the cargo into the UK, the cargo is being dropped off in Europe and then making the final journey over to the UK in smaller vessels – rather than in the large ships which would need a space in each port.

       Felixstowe, the port which was forced to turn ships away, deals with 36 percent of the UK's containerised freight.

       But it is not only the UK that is experiencing the issues with the cargo ships.

       There have been a large number of container ships having to queue at America's two largest ports. Los Angeles and Long Beach in California.

       These ports take in 40 percent of containerised cargo, but have recently been struggling to cope with the number of ships coming in.

       As well as America’s largest ports struggling to cope, matters have been made worse as China's Yantian port was forced to close.

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       The port, which is one of the busiest in the world, has been forced to close due to the impact of a cyclone on the port, causing further difficulty for supply chains across the globe.

       America’s Port of Savannah has also notably been feeling the effects of container ships entering.

       The port currently has 80,000 containers in the port.

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       The significant issue with this is that it is far more than what the port is normally used to, with the number of containers 50 percent higher than normal.

       Griff Lynch, the executive director of the Georgia Ports Authority, said: “They’re not coming to get their freight.

       “We’ve never had the yard as full as this.”

       Mr. Lynch added: “The stress level has never been higher.”