b'32American Journal ofTransportation ajot.comSome easing of congestionRO/RO TRANSPORTATION 2024at European auto portsTheresatrafficjamatEuropesautoportsas Chinese EVs plug up the auto supply chain. But the good news is that it now may be easing.By Stuart Todd, AJOTLast month, a report in FrenchWilhelmsen, which has its main newspaper Le Monde carried theEuropeanhubatAntwerp-dramatic headline: BelgiumsZeebrugge, played down the ports drowning under glut ofimpact of the congestion.Chineseelectriccars:SomeIcantspeakforother areparkedhereforayear,terminal operators but for us, sometimes more. weareoperatingasnormal It went on to note that dueatAntwerp-Zeebrugge.We to Chinas surplus productionhave two terminal sites at the and a surge in exportsas itport where import and export aims to capture a quarter ofvehiclesaretemporarily the European electric vehiclestored before they are either (EV)marketthenow- loaded to vessels (exports) or merged ports of Antwerp andonto trucks (imports) to their Zeebruggewerecurrentlynextdestination.Neitherof inundated. these sites are close to full.However, several weeks on,(EASINGcontinued on therearesignsthatcongestionpage 37)iseasingatEuropesbiggestACL_AJOT_RORO_Layout 16/6/245:19 PMPage 1maritimegatewayfornew vehicleimportsandexports andwherecloseto3.6Flatrack?millionunitswerehandled last year compared to the pre-pandemic total in 2019 of 3.8 million units.In our view, I think things have moved on a bit and settled down since earlier this spring. WhileEuropeanautoports arestillfullandtheresalot of stock on the ground, there appearstobeareductionin thelevelofcongestionand inthedelaystoshipping,at least for now, Mike Sturgeon, ExecutiveDirector,ofthe Brussels-based European Car-TransportGroup(ECG),also known as the The Association of European Vehicle Logistics, told AJOT in an interview.Revealingtheimpactthe congestionhadatitsheight, the ECGs Executive Director designate,FrankSchnelle, highlighted the dramatic sit- FLAT WRONG! uation of vessels waiting out-side ports for up to seven days before unloading vehicles.Thiswassomethingthe shippinglinescouldill-afford and along with all stakeholders in the auto supply chain, they are now committed to finding and implementing contingency solutions to lower the cost ofWhy would you consider shipping your high valued, out-of-gauge cargo on a flatrack, when theres a 100% underdeck alternative?this disruption. Make The Right Choice For Your Cargos Safety!Forexample,shipsare being re-routed to alternative ports,suchasVlissingen,Not Grounded Secure Safe From The ElementsintheNetherlandsandLe Havre, in France.Meanwhile,theefforts ofportauthoritiesandauto terminal operators are focused on creating additional storage capacitybutsecuringspace to rent in the vicinity of the portstakestime,Schnelle underlined.Evidence of the squeeze on space in vehicle compounds, atAntwerpmulti-deckcar parksareunderconstruction and are already starting to be used for storage.One major Ro/Ro shippingNorth America: rorona@aclcargo.com1-800-ACL-1235www.ACLcargo.comlineandvehiclelogistics specialist, Norway-based Wallenius'