PRODUCTION of Ford Transit vans at a Southampton factory has been delayed by a supply shortage because of strike action at a sister site in Belgium, business South can reveal.

Details of the problem emerged after a planned visit by transport minister David Jamieson to the Ford plant in Swaythling had to be postponed.

The MP had been due to unveil a government-backed project tomorrow to develop a new Ford Transit diesel electric hybrid engine.

But industrial unrest at the Ford factory in Genk, which supplies parts for Transit vans assembled in Swaythling, led to the trip being delayed. Bosses at Ford said the dispute in Genk followed an announcement that 3,000 jobs were being axed because of "difficult economic conditions" in the car market all over Europe.

Profits from the European division fell sharply last year from almost £200m to £29m but the workforce in Swaythling was not said to be under threat because the market for the Transit remains strong.

Manager of corporate affairs Tom Malcolm said: "We're dependent on Genk parts coming in so if there's a continuation of the disruption of parts coming in then it will disrupt our production.

"We're keeping an eye on it but the Genk situation has no bearing at all on the diesel electric hybrid.

"We're carrying out the hybrid project to see if it works technically and to see if we could build a business case to make it available commercially in the future.

"The public announcement of the project is being postponed until such time as production is back to full levels.

"Mr Jamieson is going to come down because the Department of Transport is one of the partners in the project.

"He's really looking forward to seeing it and we're looking forward to showing him it but we want to show him a factory at full tilt."

The Southampton factory, which employs more than 1,600 people and works a two-shift system, produces up to 375 Transit vans, buses and chassis-cab units every day.