European trade switches emphasis

There’s a change of emphasis on the European trade which is moving from southbound- to northbound dominant, says Deutsche Afrika Linien managing director Ron Frick. “We see the fall-out from the car industry affecting manufacturers and subsuppliers of components. “We’re already starting to hear of subsuppliers shutting down and although the percentage decrease so far has been in the region of 5-10%, we haven’t seen the worst of it yet. “Some manufacturers closed down for Christmas holidays and some like Volkswagen are retooling for the new Polo, so we really don’t know what the consequential effects will be. But clearly new cars are not being sold and a lot of local manufacturers who are manufacturing for export to the US are not getting the orders.” Movement of dry cargo to Europe has however not been as badly affected as the Far East, which was heavily dependent on minerals, ferro-chromes and chrome sand – and that sector has virtually dried up overnight. Since the Europe market has traditionally grown no more than 1-2% per annum, the downturn is also likely to be less significant than the likes of the Far East – although the automotive industry could still have a major dramatic effect. “From a DAL perspective, as a familyowned organisation it’s always been more conservative in its investment policies and therefore is less likely to be as severely affected by the global downturn,” said Frick. A recent new development has seen the appointment of Hartmut Luhr as managing director. Previously with Hapag Lloyd, he brings a wealth of industry experience to the position.