Factors such as cutting subsidies for electric vehicles and increasing imports mean that cars have to spend a long time in maritime terminals until they are purchased. Among the proposed solutions, autonomous vehicles that board themselves. Automobiles are a special type of merchandise: on the one hand, more manageable than oil platforms, for example, as they are shipped individually and with “complete assembly”. On the other hand, they are so large that it is not possible to simply place them on the shelf: each unit occupies up to ten square meters, even if it is not used.
Waiting for purchase or boarding, parked cars fill the port of Bremerhaven
Photo: DW / Deutsche Welle
This causes problems for the ports where the ships that transport them are loaded and unloaded. In Germany, the main ones are in the cities of Emden and Bremerhaven. The Bremerhaven Autoterminal in the north is one of the largest automobile ports in the world. According to its own data, the BLG Logistics group ships more than 1.7 million vehicles there per year.
Julia Wagner, spokesperson for this company, specifies that the port, with space for around 70 thousand cars, is used by all renowned car manufacturers and “each year more than a thousand car carriers arrive at the terminal”. But a change in transit has been registered in recent years: “For a long time, we had 80% exports and 20% imports. Now this proportion is 50-50.”
The port of Zeebrügge, in the medieval Belgian city of Bruges, receives twice as many cars as Bremerhaven. Also there, at the moment, a large number of vehicles are parked that have been unloaded, but whose transport has not yet continued.
According to Elke Verbeelen, from the communications department at the ports of Antwerp/Bruges, “this happens in all European ports that transport large numbers of cars.” However, the prolonged stay is less due to the huge volume of imported cars, but rather “because they are not taken away quickly”.
For now, the capacity of the large terminals still allows cars to be parked, and there is no “constipation” of the terminal, as some media claim”, assures Julia Wagner, from Bremerhaven. The same applies to Antwerp/Bruges.
Reduction in sales contributes to strandings in ports
In practice, the maritime transport of cars is a non-transparent business, as there is no way to determine, at first glance, where each one was manufactured, nor where it will be sold. Western manufacturers like Tesla have their cars produced in China and then bring them to Europe. At the same time, many automakers supply Asian markets, or specific branches in the United States – among other reasons, in order to avoid customs duties.
Another aspect is that “we have no idea how many cars are shipped in containers”, admits Verbeelen. This form of transport is usually used by individuals or dealers who only ship a few vehicles. Because they are “packed” all the way, however, these cars do not take up parking spaces.
Several other factors contribute to the accumulation of cars in European ports. One of them is the direct sales model to the customer, adopted by some brands: “Then the car stays at the port [até ser comprado]not actually going to the dealership’s showroom”, explains the person in charge of communications from Antwerp/Bruges.
Situational factors such as “relatively low sales” also generate large capacity in port parking lots. Julia Wagner from Bremerhaven confirms: “The stay of cars from all manufacturers at the terminal was prolonged with the cut in state subsidies for electric mobility”, reducing sales in Germany.
On the other hand, automotive revenue in general grew, points out Verbeelen. The level before the Covid-19 pandemic has not yet been reached, but much more is imported and exported, “compared to 2020-2021.
AutoLog: when freelancers self-embark
The lack of specialized labor in the shipping sector is also noticeable, with a reduced capacity for road transport of cars, due to the shortage of truck drivers. All of this results in longer stays in port parking lots.
The Volkswagen branch in Emden, in northern Germany, and the automobile terminal in the local port are looking for other ways to combat the phenomenon, intending to speed up the loading and unloading of ships, also with a reduction in personnel.
The newspaper Ostfriesen Zeitung reports that the German Ministry of Transport is sponsoring the AutoLog project with 3.2 million euros, to test whether it is feasible for autonomous cars to board and disembark on their own.
The experiments end in 2026. If successful, they will result in “savings” of up to 2,000 jobs in Emden, and the process could extend “throughout the entire distribution chain, from the assembly plant to the dealership”, thus opening up vacancies in European port parking lots.
Deutsche Welle is Germany’s international broadcaster and produces independent journalism in 30 languages.
