Automotive industry

Automotive logistics covers two different flows. The first serves production: components arrive at assembly plants and supplier plants on a schedule that the assembly line depends on. The second serves the spare parts market: distributors, warehouses and service networks receive thousands of part numbers in small quantities.

• Production components: body parts, electronics, wiring harnesses, seats, glass, tyres, fasteners.
• Major assemblies: engines, gearboxes, axles, steering gear.
• Aftermarket spare parts of every size, from sensors to body panels.
• Traction batteries for electric and hybrid vehicles, starter batteries.
• Tooling: dies and moulds, often heavy and oversized.
• Prototypes and test vehicles that need confidentiality.
• Finished vehicles on car carriers, in containers and on ro-ro ships.

Components mostly travel in returnable packaging: small plastic bins, large containers and racks designed for a specific part. The packaging belongs to the plant or the supplier, and getting it back is a logistics task of its own.

• Each package carries a label to an industry standard (VDA, Odette or GS1) that the plant’s warehouse scans.
• Electronic despatch data (EDI) lets the plant know what a delivery contains before it arrives.
• Empties are counted, sorted and returned to the supplier, because a shortage stops shipments.
• Body parts and glass need racks that prevent rubbing and impacts in transit.

The threat of a line stop changes the economics of a trip: a stopped line costs more than any express transport. The industry has specific answers for such cases.

• A dedicated vehicle of small or medium capacity with no transshipment and two drivers to cut travel time within the driving and rest time rules.
• Air freight on a scheduled flight or a charter; chargeable weight is the greater of actual and volumetric weight (6000 cm³ per kilogram).
• A combination of air to the nearest airport and road to the plant.

An urgent delivery only works when the paperwork is ready in advance: customs documents, data on dangerous components, contacts at the plant for receiving outside normal hours.

An automotive shipment often contains many tariff lines, each with its own UKT ZED code. Parts and accessories of motor vehicles are classified in heading 8708, but engines, bearings, electrical equipment, tyres and glass have their own headings in other chapters. A classification error changes the duty rate and can lead to additional assessments.

• Origin. Components from the EU can enter at a preferential rate if they meet the rules of origin and come with an EUR.1 certificate or an origin declaration.
• Customs warehousing allows a buffer stock to be held without paying duties until release for free circulation.
• Temporary admission suits prototypes, test vehicles and exhibition items, including under an ATA carnet.

The cost of automotive logistics depends not only on distance but on the precision required. Price and timing are affected by:

• the width of the time window and the plant’s penalties for late delivery;
• volume and regularity, and whether consolidation is possible;
• packaging type and the flow of empties;
• dangerous components;
• the number of borders and customs procedures on the route;
• the need for express transport or a buffer warehouse.

The main risks sit in the chain rather than in a single trip: a delay at the border, a shortage of empties at the supplier, a mismatch between the packing list and the actual cargo. Each is built into the plan in advance so the cargo does not stop production.