Dhe time for tired smiles is long gone when it comes to Chinese cars. The world is being flooded with cheap electric cars from China, warned EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in the fall. At first there was little sign of a flood, even where you would first notice it: in the car terminals of the ports.
The market leader in this business is the BLG Logistics Group from Bremen, which transports five million cars every year. In Bremerhaven alone, 1.7 million cars were handled last year, half exports and half imports. Last year there were only a good 10,000 cars from China. That was already a multiple of the previous year's volume and yet: a market share in the per mille range.
But that will change quickly. “The Chinese want to develop not only the German market but also the European market,” states BLG CEO Frank Dreeke soberly. BLG will benefit from this. The symbol of the expected wave of Chinese cars is the freighter “BYD Explorer No. 1”, which started its first journey in China in December and is expected in Bremerhaven in February to unload 3,000 cars here.
Bremerhaven – the new car hub for Northern Europe?
BYD is the abbreviation for Build Your Dreams. Less than 20 years ago, the former battery specialist built a car for the first time, and BYD now produces more electric cars than any other car company – and clearly wants to supply the whole world with them. BYD has ordered eight Ro-Ro (Roll on-Roll off) ships, each 200 meters long and 38 meters wide, which is currently the largest floating parking garage with space for around 7,000 cars.
Bremerhaven is now being tested by BYD, as they say – but they are already pretty sure that the new car hub for Northern Europe will be built here. “That sounds arrogant – but we simply have the best car terminal in Europe,” says BLG boss Dreeke. “I am sure that both parties will be convinced by the test.”
BLG CEO Frank Dreeke
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Image: BLG Logistics
This also applies to the business with the Chinese container shipping company Cosco, which is best known in Germany for its hotly debated entry into a Hamburg port terminal. Cosco is completely new to the car freight business, and on a large scale: the shipping company will soon have 29 car freighters. The MV Cosco Shengshi called at Bremerhaven for the first time in August. “We are in intensive negotiations. I expect a deal in the first quarter,” Dreeke announced in an interview with the FAZ.
How often Cosco car freighters will head to Bremerhaven in the future depends on how quickly the shipping company finds customers in the automotive industry, or also with manufacturers or buyers of so-called “high & heavy goods” such as cranes, special machines and special vehicles. Since empty sailings are avoided, Cosco will probably also become active in Germany, which will mean that the Chinese will also compete with the German shipping companies.
How BLG benefits from the Chinese success
From the perspective of the logistics company BLG, the success of the Chinese car industry is strengthening its own car division, which recently generated sales of 580 million euros, not only with the handling of sea freight, but also with the hinterland business on trucks and trains and a range of services such as software updates or photo shoots with cars for online offers.
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