A shortage of space aboard cargo ships, coupled with fewer such vessels being sent to the Caribbean, means hundreds of people in Cayman who purchased used cars from Asian markets will have to wait up to six-to-nine months to get their vehicles.
According to popular Japanese used car supplier Be Forward, the shipping shortage is a knock-on impact of a global scarcity of crucial semiconductor chips, which are used in automobile manufacturing along with 168 other industries.
The chip shortage is said to be worse throughout North and Central America and has resulted in many major automotive companies shifting and consolidating the manufacturing of new vehicles in Asia.
These new vehicles are destined for western markets and, as such, the carmakers are gobbling up the limited space aboard the vessels.
“Asian companies [such] as Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Nissan, Hyundai, Kia… are manufacturing vehicles in Asia and shipping them by [roll-on/roll-off] companies, buying space in bulk for months forward,” a Be Forward agent advised one of their licensed vehicle-importing companies in Cayman which requested not to be identified.
The chip shortage, which is said to have resulted from global supply chain issues brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and worsened by the Russia-Ukraine war, is expected to last until at least 2024.
“Before the war and before COVID, you could order a vehicle and it would be allocated to a ship within a few days and eventually shipped to Cayman within a month, with a voyage time of three months on average,” said the importer. “But now the minimum wait time is six months for us, even though we have a working relationship with several of the larger providers in the used car market in Japan.”
That working relationship would have normally resulted in the importer getting preference when allocations are being made on the ships. However, Be Forward has advised that such arrangements could not be continued at this time.
This is not the first time drivers on island have experienced delays with importing second-hand cars. In April 2021, several hundred used vehicles destined for buyers in Cayman were left sitting at a port in Kingston, Jamaica.
Costly alternatives
If importers in Cayman want to expedite their shipments they will have to explore other, more costly options.
“Since it is not a small parcel as an item from Amazon, it can not be shipped by plane, [however], if the customer can cover it, we can try to ship the vehicle by plane but [it] will cost US$100,000,” wrote the agent in an email seem by the Cayman Compass. “You will need to wait until the shipping line will give a date for shipping. Unfortunately, there is no other way to get a faster shipping date.”
The Cayman importer told the Compass they were granted a refund for five vehicles purchased at least three months ago which have yet to be allocated to a ship.
“We were also advised by our other suppliers that there are fewer ships coming to the central Caribbean markets because of an increase in demand from larger eastern Caribbean countries such as Guyana and Trinidad,” said the importer. “This means businesses and regular consumers are now going to have to face longer wait times. We are fortunate that our customers are understanding.”
There is no way to tell how many consumers in Cayman will be affected by this shipping shortage, and people who choose to import a vehicle on their own are likely to encounter greater difficulties, and additional costs such as storage fees across various ports in Asia while shipping lines continue to sort vessel-capacity issues.
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