Friday 21 November 08 - 23:09
 

Auto-trade Europe

Moving up a gear

With many car manufacturers facing tough times, it's no surprise that this filters through the supply chain, leading to significant pressure on port and stevedore rates. Felicity Landon finds out what the customers want - and how the ports are working to deliver it What must ports provide for their vehicle trade customers?

Roy Postlethwaite, the UK director of vehicle carrier and ro-ro operator Grimaldi, succinctly sums it up: "At the end of the day, we want competitive rates, we want quality and we want fast turnround, " he says. "A lot of the car manufacturers are going through difficult times. They are looking for good economics - in other words, very competitive rates. They want rates held.

Images for this article - click to enlarge

Unless otherwise stated, all images copyright © Mercator Media 2008. This does not exclude the owner's assertion of copyright over the material.

Motorship