Last spring, importers of new cars were seized by a real panic: companies owning auto transporters raised tariffs immediately by 15–20%. With rising gas prices, the cost of transportation also grew in the summer. Naturally, importers could not sharply increase the volume of orders abroad - then each car delivered “above the plan” would bring additional losses.
CAR TRUCKS: QUICKLY, BUT EXPENSIVE
The thing is that over the past 10-15 years, Russia has developed a scheme, deliveries of which up to 80% of new cars arrive by auto transporters. This is convenient: a road train can receive cars in a warehouse and deliver them directly to the “counter”; allows you to quickly respond to the whims of the market.
The Russian Ford plant was one of the first to encounter difficulties in delivering its vehicles to various regions of the country. According to Sergei Bogdanov, vice president of Ford in Russia, carriers cannot cope with the growing supply of cars - there aren’t enough car carriers! “Sales of foreign cars in Russia in 2004 amounted to 400 thousand units, in 2005 - 600 thousand, and in 2006 they expected more than 1 million,” he explains. “As a result, customers in Russia are waiting for cars that have accumulated in Finnish and German ports.” But they account for the lion's share of transit (see. Scheme!). According to S. Bogdanov, for the transportation of all these cars, 4.5–5 thousand car transporters are needed, and today there are no more than 4 thousand of them. Thus, the deficit is 500-1000 cars.
PLATFORMS: CHEAP, BUT LONG
According to experts, the main problem in working with the railway is the inability to respond quickly to changes in the situation: for example, it is necessary to order platforms in 45 days. And the journey itself turns out to be long - for example, it takes 15–20 days to deliver a car from Germany to Moscow by rail.