ROLL-ON/ROLL-OFF (RO/RO) CARRIERS are managing their already tight capacity carefully as they brace for increased automobile production, a welcome signal of pandemic recovery but a challenge when ships are already chock-a-block with cargo.
Ro/ro vessels are fully booked, and current and potential new shippers are already hunting for
additional space, carrier executives told The Journal of Commerce.
Consumers are eager to buy cars “all over the world,” according to Flavio Batista, senior vice president of
sales for the Americas at carrier Wallenius Wilhelmsen. Sales are down only because there is not enough
product to sell, he said. Hamstrung by factory shutdowns and a global shortage of semiconductors — microchips that are an essential component of products from automobiles to handheld electronic devices — automobile production has lagged demand for much of the COVID-19 pandemic.
