Pile-up of vehicles at European Ports blamed on logistics and sales issues

Imported vehicles are piling up at European Ports, turning them into what many industry executives have described as “car parks”, The Financial Times reports.

Automakers and distributors have been grappling with sluggish sales and logistics bottlenecks which have resulted in large amounts of vehicles being stuck at European ports.

“Car distributors are increasingly using the port’s car parks as a depot. Instead of stocking the cars at the dealers, they are collected at the car terminal”, said Port of Antwerp-Bruges, speaking to the Financial Times.

The impact of this congestion is frustrating many shipping operators, who have been forced to divert or delay their car shipments from these terminals.

One cause of this issue has been a pile-up of Chinese electric cars, a product of an active drive to boost the Chinese economy by producing more EVs, to keep Chinese factories going and tap into demand in European for greener vehicles.

Chinese carmakers such as BYD, Great Wall, Cherry and SAIC have all been a part of this big export push.

Last year, BYD exported $8 billion of cell and power batteries and SAIC exported $11 billion of vehicles according to ALPS Marine.

Many of these destinations have been European nations including Belgium, Netherlands, UK and Germany.

However, as many insiders have noted, many of these companies ordered shipping delivery slots without ordering onwards transportation.

Consequently, as the FT reports, many Chinese EVs have been sitting in European ports for up to 18 months, as ports authorities request proof of onward transport. This is not just an issue for Chinese carmakers, with other carmakers reporting similar issues with sourcing onward transportation too.