This is how Houthi pirates deflate the tires of cars produced in Europe
The first to admit possible delays due to the shifting of routes was the Chinese Geely. Now attacks by Houthi pirates stop the German Tesla and Volvo factory
The recent pirate attacks by the Yemeni Houthi rebels on merchant ships and oil tankers transiting the Bab el Mandeb Strait, as well as having provoked a heavy military reaction from the US and British navies and generated new fears about the spread of the current Middle Eastern crisis in other scenarios with heavy repercussions on the oil markets are also having consequences on the automotive industry of the Old Continent, in particular that of the continental bloc, already bruised for other contingent reasons .
HOUTHI ASSAULTS STOP TESLA
Tesla, previously slowed down at the end of 2023 by the recent strike in Northern Europe , opted for a two-week shutdown of the Grünheide factory, on the outskirts of Berlin, which had already been defined in the past by Elon Musk as dissatisfied with its production capacity , a “money burning furnace”.
WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT THE SYSTEM
The statement reads: “Due to a lack of components, we are forced to suspend vehicle production at the Berlin-Brandenburg Gigafactory between January 29 and February 11, with the exception of certain subareas.”
PURE GEELY FEARS PIRATES
Already in recent days, given the worsening of the situation along that maritime artery essential for trade to and from Europe, the Chinese manufacturer Geely had also taken into account possible delays.
ROUTE CORRECTION LEAVES EUROPE DRY
“The disturbances of the last few days in the Red Sea and the related shifts in the transport routes between Europe and Asia via the Cape of Good Hope have an impact on production in Grünheide”, they explain from Tesla, attributing the decision to the fact that “transport times significantly longer are creating a gap in supply chains.”
This is because the main shipping companies, from Maersk to MSC via Hapag-Lloyd, in order to avoid the risks of being crossed by the pirates who infest the Red Sea, are moving their traffic around the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa), a route which, in addition to being more dangerous from a meteorological point of view, exposing boats to ocean disturbances, increases navigation times between Asia and Northern Europe by around 10 days and requires around 1 million dollars more in fuel . Prices that could rise, given that the current tensions in the area are already contributing to the rise in barrels.
NOT JUST TESLA: THE HOUTHI ALSO STOP VOLVO
For the same reasons, Volvo has temporarily frozen the production of the XC40 and C40 at the Ghent plant in Belgium although, at least for the moment, these should be more limited stops than those decided by Tesla.
THE WORST MARITIME CRISIS SINCE THE EVER GIVEN ACCIDENT
The situation, which is not currently creating similar delays in the plants of other brands located in continental Europe (from Volkswagen to BMW) risks causing greater damage to trade compared to the accident in Panama in 2021, when the Ever Given, among the most largest container ship in the world (400 meters long), remained stranded in the strait of the Suez Canal for 6 days, sending global maritime traffic into a tailspin and blocking 12% of shipments by sea.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/cosi-i-pirati-houthi-sgonfiano-le-gomme-alle-auto-prodotte-in-europa/ on Mon, 15 Jan 2024 09:50:51 +0000.