Tesla to Idle German Gigafactory Due to Red Sea Shipping Delays
We’ve been hearing about attacks on shipments on the Red Sea for a while now, but the violence has probably felt like an isolated problem to many people. Shipping delays and logistics challenges have real consequences, though, and Tesla is finding that out the hard way.
The electric automaker is idling its Berlin Gigafactory for a couple of weeks as it grapples with parts shortages from the Red Sea attacks. It plans to shutter the factory at the end of the month to give extra time for parts to show up. Unfortunately for Tesla and others, the disruptions are unlikely to stop anytime soon and may accelerate as the U.S. and others intervene.
Tesla just rolled out the new Model 3 and Cybertruck here in the States, and the automaker has been building the updated sedan for a while in Europe, so the shipping delays couldn’t have come at a worse time. That said, the company operates factories around the world, so
Houthis in Yemen have declared a blockade of a strait leading into the Red Sea in response to Israel's attack on Gaza. The shipping route is a significant thoroughfare that prevents thousands of miles of additional travel to get around Africa. The U.S. and others have launched retaliatory strikes against the Houthis, but they’re unlikely to stop the attacks.
[Image: Tobias Arhelger via Shutterstock]
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Chris grew up in, under, and around cars, but took the long way around to becoming an automotive writer. After a career in technology consulting and a trip through business school, Chris began writing about the automotive industry as a way to reconnect with his passion and get behind the wheel of a new car every week. He focuses on taking complex industry stories and making them digestible by any reader. Just don’t expect him to stay away from high-mileage Porsches.
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"they’re unlikely to stop the attacks" due to excessive political "sensitivities" and the need for "proportional response". The purpose of military action (as I was led to believe for my 21 years in the Navy) is to kill people and break their toys until the are unable or unwilling to continue. In the current world Tesla needs to reschedule for ship routings around the Cape of Good Hope.
Time to do away with that sandbox!
Here's a deep dive. (Posted it once but you were all busy insulting each other, why listen to TG. Still well-qualified, still drug-free, Tesla Board are you listening?)
I don't know the inventory numbers for Tesla in Europe, but I just read that in the US, All BEVs have an inventory twice as high as the alleged optimum of 60 days (Toyota has proven that the optimum is much less with their LEAN production).
Since TESLA dominates the US BEV market, owning more than HALF of it, I assume its own inventory in the US should be bloated too.
IF the same is true in Germany, then the delays will have NO negative effect whatsoever, they can sell from their inventory for three months if they need to, without producing one new unit.