Unsold Chinese EVs Are Piling Up At Ports
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Thousands of imported vehicles are currently stockpiled in several European seaports, many of them from China.
Several automakers have leased large areas in the ports for vehicle imports that so far have no customers for the cars.
Logistics companies are also renting additional parking spaces outside the ports.
"This situation currently affects all European ports where large quantities of vehicles arrive," Gert Ickx, spokesman for the administration of the Belgian ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge, told Automotive News Europe sister publication Automobilwoche.
The port authority did not give exact figures, but the port is currently occupied with significantly more vehicles than in 2020 and 2021, the spokesman said in the report.
The problem has been exacerbated by several unfavorable effects, Ickx said.
"There is a lack of capacity for car transport trucks and there are too few truck drivers,” he said.
In addition, weak sales of new cars in Europe are also causing stockpiling.
A move by some car companies to sell directly to customers instead of through dealerships is also adding to the congestion.
"Some brands are now selling directly to the customer and they leave the cars in the ports for longer instead of transporting them to the dealers," Ickx said.
Wolfgang Goebel, president of the European Association of Finished Vehicle Logisticians (ECG), said ports are full but added that this is not fundamentally new.
"The ports have been overcrowded for a long time," said Göbel, who is also a member of the board of the Mosolf Group, one of Germany's largest logistics service providers with more than three million vehicle transports annually. The group is also active in Zeebrugge.
"We have a weak market, which leads to few outflows. Chinese vehicle imports are only one part of this."
The German government's decision to end EV subsidies is another reason for electric cars staying longer in ports.
"This affects imported electric cars of all brands," Goebel said.
He said Mosolf Group has rented additional space outside the harbor terminals.
Ref: Unsold Chinese EVs Are Piling Up At Ports (yahoo)
Photo Credit: (yahoo)
