Global supply chain delays and increasing costs continue to disrupt the vehicle import industry with some dealers such as Toyota NZ warning customers could wait up to six months for some stock to arrive.
Autohub chief executive Frank Willett says used vehicle shipping out of Japan is also facing “reasonably large backlogs at present”.
He estimates there is collectively up to one month’s average volume of used imports in Japan awaiting shipping.
“There are delays for multiple reasons in almost every port in Japan,” he says.
“Often, due to the narrow window between MPI inspections to vessel loading, vehicles can only be processed once vessel bookings are confirmed.
“This in turn will depend on confirmation from shipping lines on what space allocation is given.
“This in turn will depend on other priority contract vessel bookings for new vehicles and/or machinery and equipment.
“We are very lucky to have solid relationships in place with our shipping service providers which pays off in time such as these,” Willett says.
With global shipping impacted by COVID-19 disruptions, containers are now fetching a premium price and this is having flow-on effects for vehicle imports.
It has forced the vehicle industry, both new and used, to solely depend on RoRo services, Willett says.
“This demand now puts a strain on the number of RoRo vessels available, and vessel charter rates have more than doubled in many instances. This situation is likely to take quite a while to settle,” he says.
“I think it’s fair to say that globally, lockdowns have changed the way many of us live and work permanently.
“The rapid increase globally in online shopping during lockdowns is one thing that has put a tremendous strain on the global freight shipping industry, and this trend may continue for some time yet,” Willett says.
Toyota NZ facing 10,000 back orders
Toyota NZ says it is focusing on finding solutions to minimise wait times while maintaining accurate timely communication with its customers.
Toyota NZ new vehicles and product planning general manager Steve Prangnell says the company is doing its best to get more stock into the country.
Global demand is impacting all areas of Toyota NZ’s business including new vehicles, used vehicles from Japan, while parts and accessories are having a varying effect on delivery schedules for customers, he says.
“The effects of COVID-19, closed borders and delayed shipping and logistics into New Zealand are impacting all operational areas of the local business.
“We are experiencing demand like never before, especially for our hybrid variants and seeing customers opt to wait upwards of six months for vehicles like the RAV4 hybrid in order to get what they want,” Prangnell says.
Delivery times for new Toyota vehicles, and especially those in hot demand such as the hybrid RAV4 and the latest Hilux, are ranging from a four to six month wait for customers.
Delivery of other new models into New Zealand are delayed by an average of 16 weeks due to production and international shipping constraints.
“The problem we are facing is we are now at more than 10,000 back orders and we just can’t get the supply to be able to fill these in a fast manner,” he says.
“We currently have over 350 orders on our new generation Highlander, without customers having even seen a demo vehicle in the store.
Prangnell says orders are now being taken for the second half of the year. “My advice to customers is get your order in for Christmas delivery now,” he says.
Shipping costs increase
Toyofuji Shipping recently sent an update to customers saying it would be increasing its freight fees for imported used vehicles in New Zealand in order to maintain its services including two charter vessels.
It will be increasing freight fees by NZ$200 per unit effective from July 1 from each load port in Japan to each discharge port in New Zealand.
Toyofuji Shipping overseas sales director Hidetaka Wada says the company has experienced delayed schedules caused by changes to MAF inspections.
“In efforts to keep our ships schedules and to avoid our services from being lowered, we are currently obliged to use additional vessels in Japan, which costs us more since last April 2020 up until now.
“Additionally, in accordance with the automobile market recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, the charter vessel market has become tight and charter prices are rising, our vessel operations are currently in an extremely harsh condition,” Wada says.
