THAT was the astonishing plea by freight handlers as a metal mountain of more than 20,000 empty container units pile up at Southampton's congested port, above.

The storage backlog is said to be at saturation point, with a costly knock-on effect for haulage companies, handlers and shipping lines.

The problem is so bad that, in an unprecedented move, a ban has been imposed on lorries wanting to deliver "empties" to the port's quay and storage sites.

A number of lorries have also been sent on costly diversions to other holding depots across the country, including Birmingham and Manchester.

The issue has come to a head because this is the peak season for imports, particularly from China, as companies stock up for Christmas.

But the company in charge of handling deliveries at the port, Southampton Container Terminals, today insisted the container problem is being dealt with.

Its business development manager, Derek Smith, sought to reassure customers, pledging: "We are moving forward."

He said the gates are to be opened to those companies who have empty containers booked on departing ships. However, anyone without a "ticket" will be turned away.

Peter Hogarth, who co-owns port-based freight forwarder Mellfields, hit out at SCT.

He said: "The port of Southampton has said that it will not be able to accept any empty containers back on to the quay. The local holding depots are saturated. This is indicative of the problem in Southampton port. Every year without fail around this time of year the port cannot cope with the throughput of containers."

Mr Hogarth, who employs seven people on delivery logistics, also highlighted lorry delays up to three hours around dawn, blaming "poor planning".

A spokesman for port owner ABP said: "It is well known that the port is currently operating close to capacity, but we are maximising the use of all facilities and land available, and in fact we have allocated additional land for container storage in the last few weeks."

John Leath, operations manager at Southampton Container Logistics, said some of the firm's fleet has "tipped" empty containers at Birmingham, Bristol and Manchester.

He said: "It's obvious there is not enough space at the port."

SCT's Mr Smith confirmed a ban to prevent the flooding of empties had been brought in, but this was being partially lifted.

He said: "There has been an unprecedented surge in volume. There were 20,000 empties on Friday. We are bringing that back under control."

SCT stressed that only lorries returning empties with a ticket on an out-going vessel will be allowed to off-load. Mr Smith said the easing of the container issue should ease delivery delays.

But Mr Hogarth accused SCT of burying its head in the sand, claming the problem of empties was not being addressed despite SCT's assurances.

Storage operator Pentalver Transport, which employs 150 people at Western Docks, has more than 11,750 container units stacking up.

Brian Tattersall, the managing director of Pentalver, which has most of the major names in container shipping on its client list, said there would normally be some 4,000 units at this time of year.

He confirmed the situation was at "saturation" point.

Experts at the port also cited another reason for congestion - the widespread practice by shipping lines of "cutting and running".

It means vessels on tight timetables don't have time to load up the empties back to countries like China, which is a major importer of goods. An example of this is believed to have happened four days ago, when a ship only had time to load up 100 empties instead of 1,000.

Richard Barnes, operations manager for haulier Hanbury Davies, which has 50 drivers, says 11 empty containers are sitting in its own yard because there is no room elsewhere.

He claimed it costs about £550 to run an empty container up to Manchester for storage, and to bring the truck back to base.

It is thought the shipping lines are picking up that cost, but Mr Barnes said hauliers were footing the bill.