Tesla announced that the Berlin Gigafactory will suspend most car production from January 29th to February 11th due to attacks on Red Sea ships causing changes in transportation routes and shortages in parts supply.
Recently, Yemen’s Houthi armed forces have frequently attacked passing ships in the Red Sea, triggering a crisis in the Red Sea waterways. Tesla became the first company to interrupt production due to the incident. The shutdown shows how far the crisis has hit Germany. Other companies such as Geely and Sweden’s IKEA have also warned of delivery delays.
Tesla said: “The armed conflict in the Red Sea and related changes in shipping routes between Europe and Asia around the Cape of Good Hope have had an impact on production work at the Grünheide plant.” “Longer shipping times have caused gaps in the supply chain.”
The interruption of production at the factory has brought more pressure to Tesla. Tesla is also embroiled in a labor dispute with Swedish union IFMetall over its refusal to sign a collective bargaining agreement, triggering sympathy strikes by many unions across the Nordic region.
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On November 24, unionized workers at Hydro Extrudes, a subsidiary of Norwegian aluminum and energy company Hydro, stopped producing parts for Tesla electric vehicle products. The workers are members of the Swedish trade union IF Metall.
Tesla did not respond to a request about whether the Hydro Extrudes strike would affect production.
Tesla said production at the Berlin Gigafactory will resume at full capacity on February 12. But the company did not respond to details of which parts were in short supply or how it would resume production at that time.
Attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels have forced the world’s major shipping companies to avoid the Suez Canal. This was originally the fastest sea route from Asia to Europe and accounted for about 12% of global maritime traffic.
Shipping giants such as Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd have been diverting their ships from South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, making transit times longer and shipping more expensive.
Denmark’s Maersk Line said on Friday the diversions would continue for the foreseeable future.
Vessels circumnavigating the Cape of Good Hope add about 10 days to the voyage from Asia to Northern Europe and use about $1 million more in fuel.
European automakers and analysts have warned in recent months that sales across the electric vehicle industry are not growing as fast as expected. Some industry companies have lowered prices in an attempt to boost market demand affected by economic uncertainty.
