Europe's ports fell into the dwell trap in 2025 and are building a dwell economy out of it

All volumes in this article relate to CY2025 (January 1 – December 31, 2025) and were supplied directly to Automotive Logistics by the named port authorities and terminal operators, with data collected between May and July 2026. Where these figures differ from those published in earlier Automotive Logistics reporting (April-May 2026), the updated figures have been used here as they are more recent. Comments from Automotive Logistics & Supply Chain Europe (Bonn, March 18-19, 2026) and Automotive Logistics & Supply Chain UK (Mercedes-Benz World, June 17-18, 2026) describes conditions in 2026 and are identified as such throughout. 

The Port of Antwerp-Bruges, which describes itself as the world's largest automotive port, handled 1,527,559 imported new cars in 2025, a fall of 3% on 2024. In the same return, the port recorded that the tonnage of those imports rose by 4.2%, which the port attributed to vehicles becoming heavier. 

Those figures point in opposite directions. Fewer vehicles moved through the port, but their combined weight increased. Taken together, they offer a useful indication of one of the structural changes evident in the 2025 figures for European ports.  

At first glance, the wider dataset suggests a year of contraction. Of the 12 European gateways supplying a directional change directly to Automotive Logistics, nine declined, two grew, and one did not provide comparable figures, with a median fall of roughly 3.9%. Bremerhaven's BLG AutoTerminal fell from 1.3m to 1.25m units; Emden declined 3.9%; HAROPA – Le Havre, Rouen and Paris – dropped 11.7%; Gdańsk's ro-ro vehicle throughput was down 20%. Figure 1 presents all reported figures - click to expand and view the complete set of figures.

But European demand did not fall in 2025. EU new car registrations rose 1.8%, with battery-electric vehicles reaching 17.4% of the market at 1,880,370 units, up from a 13.6% base, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA).  

Viewed together, these figures present a more nuanced picture than the aggregate throughput data alone. Vehicle demand edged higher, while many ports handled fewer units and, by their own accounts, experienced slower vehicle rotation. Rather than pointing to a weaker year, the data suggests a reallocation in how vehicles are flowing through the European port network – one that is not immediately apparent from headline volume figures alone.

CY2025: What Europe's ports reveal about changing automotive flows

The annual figures also mask how unevenly 2025 unfolded. 

At Antwerp-Bruges, US tariffs disrupted shipments and caused congestion at the vehicle terminals, producing an almost 16% drop in volume throughput across the first six months. The port recorded a clear decline in vehicle exports from May, one month after tariffs of up to 27.5% on vehicles entering the US took effect; and pilot strikes compounded it. Then the US rate was cut to 15%, backdated to August 1. By the close of the year exports had recovered to 1,658,647 units, a marginal increase of 0.6%. 

The annual total, then, concealed a downturn followed be a recovery. And the rebound was not only supported by improving US trade conditions. Antwerp-Bruges attributes the levelling-out partly to new vehicle exports redirected to South America and Japan, second-hand exports to Africa, and increased imports from South Korea. 

This suggests that Europe's largest automotive gateway adapted to changing trade conditions by redirecting flows rather than restoring previous ones. 

The downturn was also concentrated in particular parts of the network. The ports reporting lower volumes were primarily export-oriented gateways. Emden, handling Volkswagen Group brands exclusively, moved 841,528 export units against 347,760 imports. Bremerhaven's traffic is split more evenly between exports and imports, while Antwerp-Bruges also continued to export more new vehicles than it imported. These ports are closely linked to European vehicle production and export activity, all reported lower throughput in 2025. Figure 2 sets all reported import figures alongside the corresponding export figures. 

An important exception was HAROPA, which recorded one of the steepest declines in the dataset, falling 11.7%, despite being predominantly an import gateway, handling 162,856 imported vehicles against 73,416 exports.  

"Before addressing the figures, it is important to highlight that finished-vehicle traffic is inherently volatile, with seasonal peaks and variations depending on domestic market demand,” said Kris Danaradjou, deputy CEO in charge of development at HAROPA Port. “In 2025, HAROPA Port experienced a decrease in volumes, reflecting a broader reduction in new vehicle orders. Nevertheless, HAROPA Port and its operators remain fully adaptable to this volatility and to handling peak periods. The port currently mobilises nearly 100 hectares dedicated to finished vehicles at its main ro-ro terminal in Le Havre, plus more than 20 additional hectares across other terminals along the Seine Axis."  

For the French gateway, which handles Renault and Stellantis traffic, weaker domestic demand appears to have weighed at least as heavily as tariff-related disruption, underlining that the decline in 2025 cannot be attributed to a single cause. 

By contrast, the two ports reporting growth reflected very different dynamics. Piraeus rose 17.6%, with transshipment up 25.8% to 138,074 units and an 11.2% increase in local cargo. Drammen handled a record 148,345 imported vehicles, up 27%, supported by Norway's continued transition to battery-electric vehicles, which accounted for 95.9% of new passenger car registrations, according to Arne Fosen, port director at the Port of Drammen. In both cases, growth appears to reflect local market conditions rather than a broader recovery in European vehicle production. 

Piraeus also offered an important operational insight. The port attributed its growth in part to greater terminal space availability, contrasting this with 2024, when downstream supply-chain constraints prevented vehicles from leaving the terminal quickly and extended storage periods. The implication is that terminal capacity alone was not the limiting factor; the ability of inland logistics networks to absorb vehicles was equally important. 

Antwerp-Bruges identified several factors behind slower vehicle rotation during 2025, including high volumes of unsold Chinese imports, changes in dealer operating models, weaker-than-expected sales in north-west Europe, and larger vessel call sizes. 

And conditions have not eased since. Speaking at ALSC UK in June 2026, Nigel Glenn, managing director of BCA Automotive, described UK ports as "absolutely rammed", arguing that post-pandemic reductions in retailer storage space and the repurposing of inland compounds had increased pressure on port facilities. As a result, vehicles are moved more frequently between ports and inland compounds, a process he suggested can itself reduce overall storage efficiency. “Ironically, we're trying to help capacity, but we're reducing capacity by doing that,” Glenn said. At the same event, Stephanie Budd of smart UK Automotive said that where UK port storage demand once peaked ahead of the plate changes, "now the storage is at capacity all year round."

The shifting geography of imports, exports and production

EU imports of China-built cars rose 30.7% to 1,006,188 units in 2025, passing one million for the first time, according to ACEA data published in April 2026. China-built vehicles now take 7% of the EU market, up from 5% in 2024, making China the bloc's largest single source of car imports. EU car exports to China fell 43%. 

The 2025 port data sourced by Automotive Logistics illustrates how those changing trade flows are being distributed across Europe's gateway network. 

At Koper, Chinese vehicles from SAIC, BYD, Chery, Geely and Dongfeng accounted for more than 11% of total import volume in 2025 – some 44,000 units, destined for central and eastern Europe, and split across battery-electric, hybrid and combustion models. Overall imports through the Slovenian port rose 11.5%. In August 2024 BYD's own pure car and truck carrier (PCTC) Shenzhen made its first delivery to the port of Koper, and BYD vessels now call at the port roughly on a monthly basis.  

At Tarragona, SAIC's MG has reached roughly a quarter of the port's total imports, and the import/export mix has moved to 80/20 – driven, on the port's own assessment, by falling exports and rising Chinese-brand imports. HAROPA's brand list now runs BYD and SAIC alongside Renault and Stellantis, and the port noted a SAIC/Anji vessel discharging from China at Le Havre. Figure 3 breaks down the reported port activity by OEM / brand / model. 

Supporting logistics networks are also evolving alongside these trade flows. BLG has signed an agreement with Cosco Shipping Car Carriers to develop Bremerhaven as a hub for Chinese vehicle and equipment imports, targeting at least two vessel calls each month for cargo destined for Germany and onward distribution to Scandinavia, central and eastern Europe and the Baltics. And in May 2026, Leapmotor International – the Stellantis-Leapmotor joint venture – expanded its logistics partnership with the Grimaldi Group, having moved close to 100,000 vehicles from China to Europe in 18 months. In the first quarter of 2026 alone that ran to 15 sailings, calling at Antwerp, Portbury, Valencia, Vigo, Setúbal, Livorno, Civitavecchia and Gioia Tauro. Peak volumes have exceeded 5,400 units per vessel call. 

Those larger consignments also provide useful context for the operational challenges reported by ports. Antwerp-Bruges identified increasing vessel call sizes as one of several factors contributing to slower terminal rotation in 2025. 

The changing import mix also highlights an indirect effect of EU trade policy. Definitive tariffs on battery-electric vehicles built in China range from 17.4% for BYD to 38.1% for SAIC, in addition to the standard 10% import duty, while hybrids and plug-in hybrids are not subject to those additional measures. Manufacturers have responded by adjusting their product mix: imports of Chinese-built hybrids into Europe rose by 155% during 2025, and around one-quarter of all hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles sold in the EU now carry Chinese brands. From a port operations perspective, this distinction is significant. A policy that alters the composition of imported vehicles may have little effect on the number of units requiring handling, storage and distribution. 

At the same time, European vehicle production continues to face structural pressure. Tatiana Hristov, director of EMEA light vehicle sales forecasting at S&P Global Mobility, told ALSC Europe in March 2026 that European exports are "stagnating and imports increasing", against a backdrop of manufacturing overcapacity. At ALSC UK in June 2026, her colleague Henner Lehne estimated global installed vehicle production capacity at around 158m units in 2025, compared with production of approximately 93m units, implying utilisation of just over 50%, down from around 82% in 2017. 

Hristov also pointed to a longer-term transition from globally integrated production towards more regional manufacturing strategies, and a second phase of Chinese expansion in which vehicles are built in “Europe for Europe” rather than shipped to it. That transition is already beginning to take shape. Leapmotor is planning full-scale European production at two Stellantis plants in Spain, at Figueruelas near Zaragoza and Villaverde in Madrid, and in June 2026 SAIC formally applied to establish its first European industrial project, in Galicia.

How geopolitical disruption reshaped maritime and inland logistics

The maritime pressures affecting European automotive gateways today are not identical to those reflected in the CY2025 data, and distinguishing between them helps put the annual figures into context. 

Throughout 2024 and 2025, disruption was dominated by the impact of the Red Sea crisis. Grimaldi, whose European terminal network includes Antwerp, Le Havre, Piraeus, Koper, Setúbal, Barcelona and Portbury, reported that attacks on commercial shipping forced vessels to reroute around the Cape of Good Hope, adding around 15 days to transit times as well as increasing fuel and insurance costs. The company also pointed to congestion at ports including Livorno and Portbury. Luka Koper similarly attributed its slight decline in passenger-car throughput during 2024 primarily to shipping delays linked to the Red Sea. In each case, the principal effect was longer voyaging times, reducing the effective capacity of a fixed vessel fleet. 

A different set of challenges emerged after the close of the 2025 reporting period in February 2026. Following military action involving Iran, Israel and the US, disruption around the Strait of Hormuz created new uncertainty for vehicle shipping. Speaking at ALSC Europe in March 2026, Kay Lemcke chief operating officer of Sallaum Lines said, “The Strait of Hormuz has trapped 16 car carriers," about 2% of a world fleet of some 800 pure car and truck carriers. He argued, "there's already so much cargo piling up that this will have an impact in the market."

Because the Gulf functions primarily as a vehicle import market rather than a major export origin, European trade lanes were less directly exposed than some other regions. Nevertheless, the knock-on effects were still felt. Cornelia Gheghesan-David, head of transformation and excellence for vehicle logistics operations at Stellantis, described managing the disruption in three stages: "production that will remain in Europe and waiting… [and] in the ports, waiting until it's possible to be delivered." For ports, that final stage translated into additional vehicles remaining in storage while export routes recovered. 

Viewed together, these events point to a broader structural issue. Red Sea diversions continued through much of 2026, with analysts at Lloyd’s List Intelligence expecting normal Suez routings to remain limited in the near term, while Chinese vehicle exports reached 7.1m units in 2025, an increase of 21.1%, according to China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). Longer voyage distances and sustained growth in Asian exports have kept demand for vehicle carriers relatively strong, even as European port throughput has softened. One consequence is that lower European volumes have not necessarily translated into greater vessel availability, because shipping capacity has continued to be absorbed elsewhere in the global network. Some market analysts view a wider return to Suez transits as a key factor that could eventually ease this balance. 

Trade policy provided a parallel illustration of how geopolitical developments affected automotive logistics during 2025. Around 30% of vehicle throughput at BLG's AutoTerminal Bremerhaven is linked to trade with the US, making it the terminal's single largest corridor. "On the export side, trade flows were directly impacted by US tariff policy," said Axel Bantel, managing director and global director of sales for BLG's automobile division. Across BLG's wider network including inland logistics, 4.2m vehicles were handled, transported or technically processed in 2025, down from 4.4m, while automobile division revenue declined 1.4% to €678m ($790m). 

The eventual impact, however, was more moderate than some had anticipated earlier in the year. During spring 2025, when US tariffs of 27.5% were in force, BLG modelled scenarios involving declines of up to 15%, while some industry observers suggested US-bound exports could fall by half. The outcome at Bremerhaven was a fall of 3.8%. Antwerp-Bruges, which sends roughly 12% of its volumes to the US, compared to Bremerhaven's 30%, finished the year broadly unchanged.

Ports as strategic nodes in resilient automotive supply chains

If vehicle dwell time is becoming a more significant operational constraint, a related question follows: how can that time be used more effectively? Recent investments across Europe's automotive ports suggest three broad approaches. 

The first is to increase storage density. In November 2025, after almost two years of permitting, International Car Operators (ICO) began construction in Zeebrugge of what is expected to be Europe's first fully automated multi-storey storage facility for finished vehicles. The 13-storey structure, around 44 metres high, will accommodate approximately 10,000 vehicles on less than 2.5 hectares as part of an investment of more than €50m with Belgian partners Stow Group and Ceratec. When it opens, currently planned for late 2027, ICO expects to increase annual handling capacity from 2.5m to 3m vehicles while using a footprint more than 10 times smaller than an equivalent open storage compound. At Antwerp, Sallaum Lines has added a 47,000 sq m multi-storey car park providing 15,000 vehicle spaces, with a further 17,000 planned in a second phase. 

A second approach is to expand the range of services provided while vehicles are on site. At Bremerhaven, BLG opened its approximately 60,000 sq m Roter Sand development in May 2026 to support technical operations and project logistics adjacent to the quayside. Tarragona has similarly expanded vehicle processing capabilities, with CEVA Logistics providing inspection, system resets, recall work, EV charging and accessory installation, while Noatum introduced its own pre-delivery inspection services during 2025. At Drammen, Wallenius Wilhelmsen and Bertel O. Steen are establishing a joint-venture vehicle processing centre, which is expected to open in late 2027. Grimaldi's European hubs, spanning nearly six million sq m of equipped port area, now provide preparation, maintenance and battery charging as part of the Leapmotor programme. 

Manufacturers themselves increasingly see these activities as part of the role of automotive compounds. Speaking at ALSC Europe, Rossella Nieddu, EMEA procurement manager for finished vehicle logistics at Stellantis, said, “We always think about compounds for parking of our cars. But now this is not really the case… with all the customisation that we need to satisfy the expectation of our customer." 

A third strategy is to reduce dwell time wherever possible through changes to logistics processes. Stephanie Budd described how smart UK Automotive redesigned its import flows for vehicles built in China. The previous model relied on weekly feeder sailings from Belgium to the UK using shared vessel capacity, followed by seven to 10 working days before delivery to retailers. The revised approach introduced daily chartered sailings, relocated storage to Zeebrugge, and adopted what Budd described as "over the horizon load build", allowing vehicles to remain in bond until sold and dispatched. According to Budd, this has reduced the time from vessel discharge to dealer delivery to around 24 hours, while also giving retailers greater certainty over delivery schedules and enabling pre-delivery inspection planning before vehicles arrive.

Infrastructure, capacity and operational transformation

Many of these operational improvements, however, depend on a factor that ports themselves can influence only indirectly: the ability of inland transport networks to move vehicles away from the terminal efficiently. 

Speakers at ALSC UK highlighted how the economics of vehicle distribution have changed in recent years. BCA Automotive’s Glenn, said the cost of a car transporter had risen from around £175,000 before the pandemic to approximately £300,000 today, while contracts often remain relatively short-term. He argued that this mismatch makes investment in new capacity increasingly difficult. Awais Ajmal, supply chain general manager at Kia UK, described a similar structural challenge, noting that many smaller transport operators left the market during and after the pandemic, while drivers migrated into general haulage. At the same time, changing retail models have increased the number of delivery movements required for each vehicle sold. 

Then there is weight. As Glenn observed: "With a big car we run out of space, with a small car we run out of weight." A high-volume small-car manufacturer electrifying is a bigger load-factor problem than a premium SUV maker doing so, because the transporter hits its weight limit before its deck length. Glenn said BCA has invested in around 150 additional trucks to help maintain network capacity under these conditions. 

Taken alongside Antwerp-Bruges' finding that imported vehicle tonnage increased even as unit volumes declined, these observations point to a broader impact of electrification. 

Rail is increasingly being developed as part of the response to these pressures. At Barcelona, the port has awarded NYK a 27-year concession to develop a third vehicle terminal through a €75m investment. Construction began in April 2026 on a 101,000 sq m site capable of handling up to 180,000 vehicles annually. The project includes an automated storage facility with capacity for 8,160 vehicles, fully electric handling equipment, rooftop solar generation and direct access to the Príncep d'Espanya rail terminal, which accommodates 750-metre trains on international, Iberian and metric gauges. Operator ICO describes the project as an expansion of its automotive logistics activities beyond Belgium into southern Europe. 

Koper is pursuing a similar long-term strategy. Planned developments include a new 200-metre berth and dedicated ro-ro ramp by the end of 2026, a 3,000-vehicle open storage area and two 700-metre rail sidings in 2027, followed by a multi-storey storage facility with capacity for a further 11,700 vehicles and an additional ro-ro berth in Basin 3 in 2028. Rail already accounts for 51% of the port's inland transport. Tarragona also expects standard-gauge rail access in early 2027, extending its hinterland reach beyond the limitations of the Iberian gauge network. 

Responding to a discussion on infrastructure investment at ALSC Europe, Peter Hörndlein, managing director of vehicle logistics at Volkswagen Group Logistics, said that "there will be a high need for railway networks, for railway infrastructure, for trucking capacities and for shipping capacities." He also highlighted the workforce challenge, warning that "it will become more and more difficult in the future to find skilled people to move cars, to transport cars, to load trucks." A point VW’s Regan also shared with Automotive Logistics last month.

Digitalisation, visibility and the next generation of port operations

Digital tools are increasingly being used to help ports manage limited space while meeting growing expectations surrounding flexibility and efficiency at ports. At ALSC Europe, Hörndlein presented Volkswagen's AutoLog pilot project at Emden, launched in 2025, which uses data-driven intelligence to automate vehicle movements within the logistics environment, improving operational efficiency, forecasting and yard management. The pilot automates parking, reshuffling and vehicle extraction from rows, operates alongside manually driven vehicles, and has been validated for emergency-stop scenarios.

More from Volkswagen's Peter Hörndlein

VW Group's Peter Hörndlein discusses its autonomous vehicle pilot at the Port of Emden, standardisation and demand forecasting for finished vehicle logistics.

Two operational benefits directly address the dwell problem: parking damage declines as human error is removed, while vehicles can be parked with tighter clearances, increasing storage density. Volkswagen is also using reinforcement learning to refine its parking strategy, moving from a park-once, retrieve-once approach towards continuous optimisation. 

Dennis Feddern, senior vice-president for vehicle logistics at INFORM, argued that this has implications beyond efficiency gains, potentially changing the way compounds are designed. Traditionally, compound optimisation has involved a trade-off between providing more space to reduce driver walking distances or using less space at the cost of additional labour. As the cost of vehicle movement approaches zero, that trade-off begins to weaken and the compound becomes, in his words, "an organism". Even so, continuous reshuffling only delivers value when paired with demand planning capable of anticipating each vehicle's next destination. 

Terminal operators are investing along similar lines. Luka Koper has extended its terminal operating system partnership with Tideworks Technology by 10 years, to December 2035, introducing enhancements to its planning, traffic control and forecasting modules from January 2026. Antwerp-Bruges is integrating its Nxtport platform alongside the Zeebrugge-specific RX Seaport system, while also introducing a ro-ro and breakbulk sailing list that allows carriers to publish services through the port's own website. Although modest in scope, the tool addresses a practical information gap by giving customers a single view of available short-sea connections.

Beyond throughput: Dwell, density and network adaptation

CY2025 is likely to be remembered as a weaker year for Europe's vehicle ports in terms of throughput. Yet the decline in unit volumes alone does not fully capture the operational changes that took place across the network. 

The year reflected a gateway system responding to several pressures simultaneously. Export volumes fell sharply in the first half under tariff-related disruption before recovering as trade flows were redirected. At the same time, imports increasingly originated from different markets and arrived through a changing pattern of ports, while the vehicles themselves became heavier, remained in storage for longer and required additional processing before onward movement. As a result, European vehicle ports handled fewer units while also experiencing slower asset turnover, a combination that is only partially reflected in conventional throughput measures. 

These developments suggest that handling capacity alone is becoming a less complete measure of competitive performance. Increasingly, the ability to manage dwell appears to differentiate gateways as Europe's ports become a dwell economy – a network organised around dwell as the binding constraint and responding by absorbing it more densely, earning from it or engineering it out. Zeebrugge's multi-storey compounds, Barcelona's vehicle silo, Bremerhaven's Roter Sand development, Koper's rail expansion and smart UK's emphasis on daily sailings each represent different responses to this broader objective. 

The pace at which such approaches can be adopted, however, is unlikely to be uniform. Infrastructure investment remains constrained by planning, permitting and concession timescales that operate over many years. ICO waited almost two years for approval to proceed with its Zeebrugge expansion, Barcelona's concession extends for 27 years, and Koper's current investment programme runs through to 2028. These long investment horizons contrast with vehicle trade flows that have already shifted direction more than once since 2024, illustrating the challenge of aligning long-lived infrastructure with an increasingly volatile operating environment. 

CY2025 North American ports review

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How ports are becoming strategic logistics partners: North America’s CY2025 automotive port data