The global automotive supply chain is in dire straits due to a shortage of drivers and ships.

The fourth largest port in Europe and one of the largest car ports in the world - The Port of Bremerhaven in Germany is facing a serious "major traffic jam". Land and sea shipments from automakers including Tesla, Stellantis, BMW, Renault and Volvo are piling up in Bremerhaven. This has led to serious delays in the car export business of car companies.

Wallenius Wilhelmsen, a large car transport company, has stopped accepting car export orders in October and November, and may extend to December ▼

"The delays are significant," said Andreas Braun, regional director of marine products for EMEA at Crane Global Logistics. "It takes months for vehicles to be imported from the US and Mexico to Bremerhaven. The logistics of the brand were delayed for another three months, and the vehicles had to be parked in the port to wait for add-ons such as the iDrive touch controller.”

Bremerhaven is the fourth largest container ship port in Europe, with an annual throughput of more than 5 million TEU containers. It ships more than 1.7 million vehicles a year. According to CNBC (National Broadcasting Corporation Financial Channel) European supply chain heat map, its current overall congestion level is "moderate", except for cars.

A lack of drivers to move containers and cars out of ports, combined with heavy routine trade, is causing a buildup of cars on land and at sea, with automakers including Tesla, Stellantis, BMW, Renault and Volvo▼

VesselsValue, a trade intelligence company, revealed that Bremerhaven has notified container operators that there is a serious shortage of heavy cargo handling drivers and roll-on/unloading drivers in the port, and it is difficult to transport imported cars to the port. Military exercises also take up a lot of dock space that is usually reserved for operators.

Dan Nash, director of vehicle carriers and roll-on/offload carriers at VesselsValue, said there are also not enough arriving vehicle carriers, a situation that has led to shipping company Wallenius Wilhelmsen already stopping accepting October and November 2019. Auto export orders, and may be extended to December.

“We are closely monitoring each port’s ability to operate vessels in a timely manner so that we can adjust the flow into the terminal according to the available capacity,” Delphine Echenique, Wallenius senior vice president of business operations, said in a statement. .

Data from VesselsValue shows that refusing to export cars from Germany has helped reduce processing times at ports. Cargo handling times have spiked in recent months and are now on the rise again.

Nash revealed that the most serious delays were orders for imports from Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory, as well as orders for light vehicles mainly imported from Japan, South Korea and China.

Average waiting time for vehicle carriers in Bremerhaven, Germany▼

In addition to labor constraints at key ports, tight ship capacity is exacerbating delays.

Compared to December 2019, the global shipping fleet is on average short of about 13 shipping vessels, according to VesselsValue. This is caused by the excessive scrapping of ships in the first year of the new crown epidemic. This shortage is expected to continue until 2024, when deliveries of newbuild ships begin.

"While prices across the global supply chain have come down from the peak of the pandemic, ships are operating at full capacity, which could keep shipping rates high." He added, "China's growing demand for electric vehicles, It will put more pressure on future supply."

Here in the Port of Liverpool, UK, if an agreement cannot be reached with the port management department, the fourth strike will be held from November 14th to 21st. Because these strikes are so well organized, there is time to plan ahead and bypass ports and divert trade elsewhere, Braun said.

The earnings of truck drivers and other workers who depend on the normal operations of ports will be hit even harder.

"If there's no containers going in and out of the port, they have no business to do and get out of the container shipping business and do something else," Braun said. "Ultimately, less traffic means less traffic for Peel Ports, which operates the port. ) companies have good reason to lay off workers.”

Peel Ports is the owner of the Port of Liverpool as well as several other ports in the United Kingdom.

Braun said Crane Global Logistics was preparing ahead of time for additional strikes being discussed at Britain's largest container port, Felixstowe, which has seen a series of strikes, as well as London's Heathrow. Possible strike at the airport.