The automotive industry in Europe, like most economic regions, is immersed in a constant spread of costs. In the event and in the field of logistics, especially maritime transport has arisen. In fact, ship charter rates and new building car prices, coupled with fuel, have led maritime logistics costs to be the fastest growing of completed vehicles of all modes of transport, between January 2019 and September 2022, according to the Index of European Logistics Costs Completed Vehicles by the European Association for Logistics Vehicles (ECG) and PwC Austria.
In fact, the analysis carried out confirms that the index corresponding to the maritime mode in Europe has doubled since the first half of 2019, “which is the aggregate of the European Index of Logistics Vehicles Finished Costs, which stood at 153, 9 points”. The route reached a list of 132.8 points; baths, 124.2 points; and terminals, points 121.4.
In the maritime sector, the study confirms the upward trends in costs “equally strong in all countries, with Poland showing the highest growth with 117.3% more, and Spain last with 110.6%”. Similarly, they pointed out that in 2022 “charter rates for ships of 6,500 car equivalent units (car equivalent units, ceu) will have reached an all-time high, with a large shift in demand for larger ships, times. Long waits for new building ships and slower growth of the third class completes. In part 2022, “one-year charter rates for Car & Truck Carrier (PCTC) 6 500 reached $90,000/day, an increase of more than 500% compared to the first quarter of 2022. 2019. “.
Likewise, the European Index of Logistics Vehicles for Final Consumption concludes that another driver “with significant exceptions in the maritime segment was fuel”. In this sense, they pointed out that the conflict “between Russia and Ukraine and the consequent economic sanctions imposed on Russia greatly affected availability in an already scarcely supplied market, and prices skyrocketed across Europe.” In this sense, from the Association of European Logistic Vehicles (ECG) they mention the marine fuel in the port of Rotterdam between January 2019 and September 2022. 32.6% in the port of Rotterdam between January 2019 and September 2022. Research indicates that the maritime trade of cars “follows a strong response to global production during the year 2020 and 2021, towards 2019 levels began to recover in 2022”.
Food and labor costs appear as drivers of growth for several modes of transportation
As for the road, the logistics of completed vehicles experienced an increase in costs of 32.8% between the first quarter of 2019 and the third quarter of 2022. “In Germany with 39 .5% a significant increase was noted, followed by Poland. +35.3%) and the United Kingdom ( +33%). As in the maritime mode, fuel is one of the main factors that drives the increase in costs. According to an analysis carried out by the European automotive logistics operators and PwC Austria, the price of diesel in the examined countries has increased by an average of 40.6% between January 2019 and September 2022. The largest increases (+64.2%) occurred in Germany and the lowest (+20.6%) in France, while in Spain the increase in the price of diesel stood at 61.3% during this period, the second highest of all the countries studied in the cost index.
Another factor is the work that the Association of European Logistics Vehicles and PwC Austria highlighted in the growth of logistics costs. This mode of transport “is characterized by a highly specialized, trained and certified work force”, characteristics that “exacerbate the challenge of many market agents when it comes to attracting and retaining labor”, according to the directors. In this sense, they highlighted that “the gross salary of the drivers of heavy logistics trucks in finished vehicles deviates significantly from the national level of the minimum wage”. Since 2019, “wages in Poland have grown by 33.8%, while growth in France is 10.4% and in Spain 4.3%”. The driver shortage affecting the road transport in general “is also having clear repercussions in the market of players, especially in the complete logistics vehicle, who are constantly looking to fill the void of truck drivers,” the analysis says.
Rail crimes generally increased between January 2019 and September 2012
In the rail transport segment, according to the European automotive logistics index, there has been an increase in costs between January 2019 and September 2022 of 24.2%, with Germany also leading the increase with 29.9% and Italy leading the smallest increase (16.9%). . The European Vehicle Logistics Association and PwC Austria highlighted the growing importance of rail electrification “with car manufacturers moving more volumes from road to rail”. In this sense, they mentioned that the percentage of electrified networks “continues to vary substantially in Europe and in the eight countries examined”. However, they also point to diesel as a railway factor, “because trains from countries with the most electrified tracks continue to run on diesel, especially in areas of lower density.” This, according to the study, “in the density of low lines, the cost of further electric traction to replace conventional diesel traction was too high.”
Along with fuel costs, labor costs are a substantial factor even in transporting finished vehicles by rail. “Actual wages may often exceed the statutory minimum wage level because of allowances, bonuses, and overtime pay that is paid.” On average in the eight countries studied, train driver jobs increased 10.9% between the first quarter of 2019 and the third quarter of 2022, the report states.
Another element to the loading of the rail gates is the access to the track. In this sense, both associations highlighted that although “in some regions according to the official declarations of the network they have grown, in most of the average fees paid per train-kilometers or decreased slightly over time”. This decrease, as we pointed out above, “is partly the support from the governorate to cushion the pandemic burdens that are carried by the railway companies.”
Lower Spanish dependence on Russian gas has softened growth costs compared to other countries
Spain is the country that increases the lowest costs in terminals between the modals between January 2019 and September 2022, according to the index of the Association of European Logistics Vehicles and PwC Austria, when they grew by only 12.7%. The average of the eight countries studied was 21.4%, with Germany leading the growth rate with 26.7%. Among the main factors of growth in this segment are the costs of rent and the acquisition of large areas of land used for finished vehicles. “Suspensions of these goods have grown significantly in the investigated period”, pointed out from the association of European logistics vehicle operators.
The work is also important with personnel loading and unloading vehicles both in the port and inland terminals. Also, the index shows the costs of public services such as electricity, water and gas “in all segments”. In this sense, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine “unevenly affects European countries”. We noted that the highest price increase in the eight countries surveyed between January 2019 and September 2022 occurred in Germany, 629%, “a country highly dependent on gas imports, with sometimes up to 60% of its gas being imported from Russia.” list of authors “In comparison”, they add, “Spain has had to make much smaller increases in energy costs over the same period, since it usually only gets about 10% of Russian gas.”
