automotive
Manufacturers such as General Motors, Mercedes, Audi, BMW and Volkswagen initially got their production operations there up and running using a lot of components sourced from the US and Europe. Soon, though, Chinese component manufacturing operations were set up around the automotive plants to supply the production lines,” Wraight said. “What has happened more recently is that the quality
and price of the components being produced in China has outstripped anything suppliers in Europe or the US can do. So multinational automotive manufacturers have started moving components out of China back to their production plants in Europe and the US,” he noted.
CHINA TRENDS “I would suggest that the trend for increased component movements between Asia and Europe has nothing to do with the ability of European component suppliers to recover from the economic slowdown – it has everything to do with trends in the Chinese automotive industry.” Whatever the longer term trends in terms of component
sourcing patterns, there is general agreement among international air logistics industry players that the automotive industry is currently generating strong air freight traffic volumes. That situation is confirmed by Ole Constantinescu, a spokesman for global service provider DB Schenker Logistics. “Although levels have not yet reached those of 2008, there has been a recovery in air freight business from DB Schenker’s automotive customers, with the industry benefiting from positive sales developments in
22 AIR LOGISTICSCHINA
the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries and North America,” he noted. He went on to explain that DB Schenker was involved
with the movement by air of spare parts and also of finished vehicles. “In addition, there has been a trend towards the use of air freight services for direct production supply which has increased due to OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) reducing stocks during the global financial and economic recession in 2009. Air freight services are now increasingly requested for production supply, especially to the BRIC countries, in order to maintain the OEMs’ worldwide quality standards.”
ONE SECTOR of the automotive industry air cargo business held up comparatively well during the global economic recession of 2008/09 – the movement of new models to various parts of the world for testing under extreme conditions. Now, reports one of the airlines involved with
such activities, Luxembourg-based B747-400 freighter operator Cargolux, that sector is showing even greater strength. “Test vehicle traffic slowed slightly in 2009, but not that much, and in 2010 it is again very strong,” confirmed Robert van de Weg, the carrier’s senior vice president, sales and marketing. He explained that the vehicles being
transported were new-generation models, which needed to be tested in a variety of harsh
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