The middle of July saw an unusual supply shortfall at the Bremerhaven car terminal. The imminent factory holidays at the manufacturers’ end meant the number of export vehicles rose drastically once again due to temporarily scheduled special production shifts. The higher than average number of port calls was too much for the permanent staff of the BLG terminal operator and the available staff of the port personnel provider, GHBV, to handle. Nine ships thus had to put up with waiting times in calendar week 28.

While an average of 25 car ships normally call at Bremerhaven every week, there were up to 45 ships at the peak time. The staff shortage was, however, fully rectified within a week thanks to a newspaper advertisement. 270 assistant drivers were employed by the personnel provider and immediately trained in terminal operations. This saw the situation normalised within 10 days. Vehicle export is expected to retain its high level in 2010 after the factory holidays. The production peak experienced during the month of July will not, however, be repeated.

After an initially sluggish start in January, vehicle exports at the Bremerhaven car terminal drastically increased over the following months. Due to the high demand in Asia, and also once again in the USA, exports during the first half of the year rose by 78 percent to 564,000 vehicles compared to the same time the previous year. However, imports once again fell back below the previous year’s already low level of 140,000, making them 60 percent below 2008’s record.

The total number of vehicles handled in Bremerhaven in the first half of the year was, at 704,000 units, 40 percent above the corresponding previous year’s figure.

More information:
www.blg.de

print version